Old Milwaukee Rye Recipes

Steps:

• Prep:.
• To make the sponge, blend all ingredients of the Sponge above and stir 25 times with a wooden spoon. Cover tightly with plastic wrap to prevent moisture loss. It will rise and fall over the course of 3 days. Stir each day. Watch and smell the magic!
• This can be used as little as 6 hours after mixing, but I went the full three days with wonderful results.
• On the day you're baking, uncover and add the water, molasses, 1 tbsp caraway, egg, salt,rye flour, and about 2 cups of the white flour. Beat until smooth, about 100 strokes and add the shortening.
• Add the remainder of the flour, 1/2 cup at a time and stir or mix by hand until the dough is somewhat sticky still.
• Kneading:.
• Turn the dough out on a floured work surface and knead by hand with a strong push, turn and fold method for 8-10 minutes. Use a dough scraper to help and add sprinkles of flour to control stickiness.
• First Rise:.
• Place dough in a greased bowl and cover with wrap again. Leave at room temp until doubled, about an hour.
• Punch down and let rise an additional 10 minutes.
• Shaping:.
• I shaped mine into 2 round loaves as I mentioned, but I'm sure this could be panned or shaped how you'd prefer.
• Second Rise:.
• Cover loaves and let them double, about 40 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 375F 20 minutes before baking.
• Baking:.
• Rye loaves should be cut on top. Diagonally for long loaves, or tic tac toe for rounds, but it's up to you.
• Brush tops with the egg/milk mixture and sprinkle with the last tbsp of the caraway seeds.
• Bake for 40 minutes until they pass the thump test or until they're done by your method of testing.
• Cool on metal racks.
• Keeps for a week in a plastic bag, or you can freeze it for months!
• Enjoy!

Steps:

• In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Beat in the molasses, butter, rye flour, cocoa, caraway seeds, salt and 2 cups all-purpose flour until smooth. Stir in enough remaining all-purpose flour to form a stiff dough., Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1-1/2 hours. , Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide in half. Shape each piece into a loaf about 10 in. long. Grease 2 baking sheets and sprinkle with cornmeal. Place loaves on prepared pans. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour. , Bake at 350° for 35-40 minutes or until bread sounds hollow when tapped. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool.

Steps:

• SPONGE: Dissolve yeast in water. Stir in rye flour. Cover tightly. May be used any time after 6 hours up to three days. On bake day, uncover sponge, sprinkle on the new yeast and add water. Blend well. Add molasses, egg, salt, rye flour and 2 cups white flour. Beat until smooth. Add oil, stir in the balance of the flour 1/2 cup at a time. Knead for 5 minutes. Let rise 1 hour & 10 minutes. Punch down and let rise 10 minutes. Shape into 2 loaves. Let rise 40 minutes. With a razor, slash diagonal cuts on loaves. Bake at 375F for 40 minutes. Brush with butter after removing from oven.

Steps:

• Spoon sugar into a shaker and add about a teaspoon of very hot water for a simple syrup. Stir until dissolved, adding a little more water if needed.
• Add whiskey and bitters, and stir again. Add several ice cubes and stir well to chill. Strain into an old-fashioned glass, add 2 or 3 big ice cubes, twist lemon peel over the top and drop it in.