Here's my "beloved" rye bread recipe...very different from a traditional Jewish sour dough rye with caraway seeds. This is more like a Swedish limpa.
Makes 6 loaves.
Cook 4 medium potatoes (peeled), drain saving the water and put through a
sieve (or mash)
proof 2 pkts of yeast (or 3 1/2 teaspoons) in 1/2 cup warm water with a t.
of sugar. Mix 4 c. of buttermilk, 3/4 c. dark molasses, 1/4 cup of
shortening (she used Crisco, I use butter) and 1 t. baking soda and
1T.salt. Add 3/4 c. brown sugar and 3/4 c, of the potato water. Add enough
rye flour to make a dough ( still able to be stirred, but getting pretty
stiff).Add the yeast mixture and mix well Add enough white bread flour to
(as Mrs. Faust said)work it up, That is until it is stiff enough to knead.
knead about 6 to 8 minutes, let rise till double, punch it down and shape
into loaves. this works best in bread pans due to the long cooking time--if
you don't have 6 bread pans, just "free form" the rest and maybe take it
out of the oven a little sooner. Butter top of loaves and raise until it
almost cracks on top (this is a very heavy bread!) Bake 350 for 1 1/4
hours. Mrs Faust used to divide the dough in half and add about a t. of
anise seed to -one half of the dough--I like it--almost like a tea bread..
Good Luck--I'm getting hungry just reading the recipe--it's really a
fabulous bread!

Becky, this is a tried and true recipe. I've also made a sourdough version.

If you don't care for caraway seeds, just leave them out. No need to make any substitutions.

Home Cookin Chapter: Recipes From Thibeault's Table

Rye Bread
=========
1-1/2 cups rye flour
3 cups bread flour
1/2 cup whole wheat
2 teaspoons yeast
2 to 3 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon molasses
2 tablespoons melted butter
Approximately 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups water

Egg Wash

Stir together all the dry ingredients. Add the molasses, butter and 1
1/4 cups of water. Mix until dough comes together. Add more water if
needed. Knead until dough is smooth and supple. Dough should not be
too stiff.

I used the Food Processor to knead the dough.

Oil a large bowl and roll the dough to coat it wth the oil. Cover with
plastic wrap.

Let rise until double, approximately 1 1/2 hours.

Knock dough down, divide in half and form two loaves. Free form or in
a loaf pan.

Dust the loaves with a little flour and cover with a tea towel.

Heat oven to 350ðF.

Slash loaves and brush with an egg wash. Bake on a stone or on a
parchment covered baking sheet for approximately 45 minutes or until an
instant read thermometer reads 190ðF.

I use the recipe from the Outback Steak House. I make it a couple times a month DH loves this bread. If I remember I do add caraway seeds but I forget most of the time. It�s dark and moist bread perfect with a salad.

Ingredients
2 packages dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1 tablespoon sugar
1 cup warm water
1/2 cup dark molasses
1 tablespoon salt
2 tablespoons oil
2 cups rye flour
2 1/2 -3 cups bread flour
Directions

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

Soften yeast in 1/2 cup warm water.

Stir in the sugar and let stand 6 minutes or until it�s bubbly.

In large mixing bowl combine the yeast/water combo above along with 1 cup warm water the molasses, salt, oil and rye flour.

Mix this until it makes a nice smooth batter.

Work in the bread flour until the dough is smooth and no longer sticky. It should be very pliable and elastic.

Knead the dough for a few minutes and then let it rise in a greased bowl until it�s doubled.

Punch the dough down and shape into 2 large round loaves.

Placed the loaves a few inches apart on a greased and cornmeal dusted cookie sheet. Sprinkle a bit of the cornmeal over the top of the loaves as well.

Let loaves rise in a warm place until doubled.

Bake loaves at 375 for about 30 minutes or until the crust makes hollow sound when tapped.

booberry - I hate licorice flavors, but I like caraway seed. These rye bread recipes look good and I am going to try one of them. I tried one the other day that had sourcream in it and it was the worst loaf of bread that I have EVER made in my life, and I make a lot of bread. I have not found the exact recipe I want, so I too am still on that search.

I've come to the conclusion people associate the taste of caraway seeds with rye bread, and not with rye flour, so I did a test. I made a light wheat loaf and added a small amount of ground caraway seeds (no telltale seeds that way), and everyone who ate it thought it was rye bread. I made the same light wheat loaf and used rye instead of whole wheat - NO caraway seeds - and everyone thought it was wheat bread...

Maybe use less caraway instead of a substitute. I usually use 1/4-1/2 as much as is called for in the recipe and grind it before adding it to rye bread so it's not as prominent. My husband likes the caraway flavor when I use less and doesn't like the seeds, so I grind it.

I use rye flour in cookies and quick breads - anywhere I don't want a lot of gluten-development. Never has anyone said they tasted just like rye bread...(LOL)

-Grainlady

Thanks for the advice and recipes everyone! I was looking at King Arthur Flour's website and a few others and getting a little overwhelmed. I knew the answers would be here. I thought this shouldn't be complicated.

I'll be baking bread for the New Year!

Sorry booberry85, I am too lazy to retype my whole bread story here, hence the link. This is our everyday bread that is now baked by my husband when needed, usually every other day a loaf.
We are originally from Estonia, where dark bread is the bread and white bread is dessert ;) We missed our childhood bread while living in US and few years ago started baking the version linked and never buy bread from store anymore. I do not like the seeds either, never did, so we do not use them. The bread we make is not really the dark bread but much lighter version but still very good, healthy, easy to make and affordable :)
Happy baking.

Here is a link that might be useful: 5 minute rye bread :)

Punamytsike, your reasoning of dark bread being bread and white bread being dessert reminded me of a story. My granny was from eastern Europe. We she came to the United States and asked for a sandwich. She couldn't understand why they made it on "cake" (American white bread)!

Yep, we even have a different words for each- dark bread is "leib" and white bread is "sai". You would put jelly and preserves on white bread, not make sandwiches out of them :)

I bought pumpernickel flour from King Arthur and have been making pumpernickel bread with it, but no rye bread per se. I use this recipe, but omit the caraway seeds because my brother doesn't like them, although I think I will try grainlady's method of grinding the caraway seeds, as I like them! Since this recipe has cocoa in it, it definitely does not taste like whole wheat bread, but it is almost too sweet for me, although I have not adjusted the recipe. I agree with Ann that it is better to omit the caraway seeds than to substitute something else for them.

Lars

So I made my first loaves of rye bread this weekend. I followed King Arthur Flour's recipe out of their baking book. It's very similar to Ann's. I did add 1 teaspoon of caraway seeds and 1 teaspoon of flax seed (the recipe, optionally, called for 2 TABLESPOONS of caraway seed. I think that would have been way too much). I'm glad I did. I think it might have been missing something if I hadn't. I might up the caraway to 1 1/2 teaspoons next time. The loaves of bread were DH approved and even I liked it. I'll play a little more and keep you updated as to what works and what doesn't (at least for me)!