Sourdogh Czech Style Rye Bread

[Delmonico]

Sourdough Rye Bread Czech Style
In the 1870's the CB&Q railroad owned a lot of land in South East Nebraska and they sent agents over to Europe to find buyers for it. A lot that settled south west of Lincoln, my home town, were Czech, so I have had a lot of exposure to this type of cooking.

Talking with some of the local Czech Historians I have done some back engineering and came up with what we think is a recipe that would have been similar to what the Czech who settled here in South East Nebraska would have made, in the 1870's.

About a quart of sourdough starter
4 handfuls of rye flour
white flour (about 4 handfuls)
lump of lard about the size of a meduim chicken egg
1/2 handful of brown sugar
double pinch of caraway seed

Put the starter in a crock bowl the night before, stir in the brown sugar and a handful of white flour. Cover with a towel.

In the morning mix in the rye flour, lard, caraway seed and enough white flour to make a workable dough. (Rye bread will be more sticky than other bread doughs) Let rise till doubled. (A good starter will not take more than 2-3 hours at the most)

When it has doubled in size punch down and form into round loaves (2 or 3) I place mine in a greased 15 inch skillet. Let rise till doubled and bake in a medium hot oven for 35-45 minutes.

Cool on a towel or rack and spread the tops with melted butter.

I have decided in my not always humble opinion that this is the best bread in the word for a meat and cheese type sandwich.

I have to do a bit more searching when buying the rye flour, I do not use stone ground flour if I can find steel ground flour. I do this to honor the Czech who settled in this region. They are credited with bringing the steel roller mill technolagy to this area from Central Europe. It seems wrong to use stone ground flour in it.

By the turn of the century there were a lot of small flour mills in Saline County, grinding both rye and wheat. A popular product was a 50/50 mix. The white flour was a luxury back in the Old Country because of the climate and type of wheat used then. The 50/50 mix makes a light product that tastes a lot like the heavy breads made with pure rye.

Although I am not of Czech decent many of my friends are and I have been told I am an Honorary Czech several times by Czech folks who have eaten some of this rye bread. If ya do sourdough give this a try.

Use plain water and two packages of yeast to make it a non-sourdough type.

Vita Vaas
(Welcome Friend)

[Dr. Bob]

Howdy Del,

I have to give you an unsolicited testimonial.  This bread is GREAT!!!!!!!  I am generally not a rye bread fan, but this one is the best rye bread that I have ever tasted.  It was one of the highlights of the meals at the GAF Muster.  Thnanks Del.

[Delmonico]

It was to chilly to make sourdough, which is even better that the version we had made with regular yeast.

Most folks think of rye bread as Pumpernickle which uses molasses as a sweetner.  I have a bunch of different rye breads I make, but the Czech is always a hit and gets a lot of requests, like the Czech style pork and saurkraut that folks who claim they hate kraut often come back for seconds.

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[dmiranda91]

This is a fantastic recipe a  Sourdogh Czech Style Rye Bread this is my first time to read a bread recipe like these. However, I will try to bake it one day, so I can testify to myself how delicious is these recipes.

[Texas Lawdog]

I'm anxious to try the Czech rye bread and the Czech style pork.

[Russ McCrae]

and saurkraut that folks who claim they hate kraut often come back for seconds.

People hate Saurkraut? I thought this was America what the heck?!?!?! 

[Cary Kid]

Good bread can not be beat in the taste department........The staff of life......I think they were talking bread...................

Things historical should not be lost, especially recipes of yesteryear.........Be it whatever.........

Mom was Slovak very close to Czech.........But don't you dare have called her Czech.........

She was about the best bread baker on the planet.......

My bride is a noodle person................Too bad................

I been making her bread for 43 years, she's ok with it.............Which means of course it's not noodles..............

I do make her noodles once in a while....................Just for her...........With not a lot of enthusiasm...............

This thread of yours, with the Czech bread recipe was what kicked off the memory of first reading "My Antonia"

It was a while ago, but it was a great story, I'm glad you read it.........

[Delmonico]

You did check out the noodle thread didn't you?

[Gypsy Bob]

not as good as Bunica's (grandma's) but 'good enough'......