This is a traditional recipe for a very sweet, rich rye bread. It's a bit too rich for a serious Dagwood, I think, but with a bit of butter, a thick slice is almost a meal in itself. A favourite at pot-lucks and family dinners.
This recipe requires a fair amount of time to complete. Give yourself at least 5 hours from start to finish. But it's worth the time and effort. No, really!
Ingredients:
Scald milk, pour over rye flour, mix to make a smooth paste, and set aside to cool to luke-warm (if you don't let it cool, the heat will kill the yeast). Dissolve the yeast in the warm water, and set aside. Add the brown sugar, and molasses to the cooled rye flour paste, and mix well. Add the dissolved yeast. Mix well. Add one cup of white flour and mix well (the better it's mixed at this point, the less kneading you'll need). At this point the mixture should be about the consistency of a thick porridge, not like bread dough at all.
Cover, and let rise for 45 minutes in a warm place.
Add the salt and shortening, and mix well. Add enough white flour, a cup or so at a time, until you have a medium soft dough, and knead for 5 to 10 minutes. Cover, and let rise in a warm place until double (30 - 45 minutes). Lightly oil the surface of the bread, so that a crust will not form during rising.
Punch the dough down, and let rise again, till double. (If you are pressed for time, this second rising can be omitted. The result is a denser version of the longer process.)
Punch the dough down, pinch into two halves and form loaves. Let rise again until double. Bake for 50-60 minutes at 350F. The crust should be dark.
Cool before serving (hot bread is very hard to slice).