While living in German, we used to hear the refrain quite often (from Germans) “how can you eat that bread in America?” (referring to Wonder bread).  Every Saturday morning, we’d walk down to the local farmer’s market and pick up some fantastic German Rye bread and that’s when I realized what I had been missing out on my whole life!  Now that we’re back in the states, I can’t find a good substitute anywhere so I stumbled upon this recipe in “Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day” which I adapted and it’s almost a perfect match.  In fact, I think it’s better.

My sister introduced me to “Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day” about 3 years ago after many failed attempts at making my own bread. And I have to say, I have not messed up one loaf since I started.  It’s a super easy and rewarding way to make bread.  No kneading involved – at all!

Here is the recipe for German Rye bread that I have adapted.

3 cups lukewarm water
1.5 Tbsp yeast
1.5 Tbsp salt
2 Tbsp molasses
1/2 cup rye flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
5.5 cups white flour

Bake at 450 degress for 35 minutes.

To understand the method, view the following YouTube video.

I use a gallon juice plastic container that fits well in my fridge and I typically will make 3 loaves even though the recipe will make 4 loaves as I like my loaves a little larger.  Also, I substitute an edgeless cookie sheet for the pizza peel and use rye flour instead of cornmeal.  I make all 3 loaves at one time since the oven is on already and then after they cool, I slice them and put them in a ziploc bag in the freezer.  The bread doesn’t keep more than a day or two.

My neighbor who lived in Germany has a standing order for a loaf every time I make it.  If they only knew how easy it was to make!