Mustard Rye Sandwich Bread

The Bread Experience -- www.breadexperience.com

This soft, moist rye sandwich bread has a hint of mustard, a hint of onion... It's just right for America's favorite sandwich, ham and cheese; or for a Reuben, pastrami and Swiss, thick slabs of liverwurst and onion, or the deli favorite of your choice.

Ingredients:

1 cup (8 ounces) lukewarm water
2 tablespoons Dijon or hot-sweet mustard
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 tablespoons (1 ounce) butter or oil (3/4 ounce)
3 tablespoons (7/8 ounce) mustard seeds, brown, black, or a mixture
2 cups (8 1/2 ounces) Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
2 tablespoons (3/8 ounce) dried minced onions
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 cup (4 ounces) pumpernickel
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
2 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast

Directions:

Yield: 1 loaf, 12 servings

Mix and knead together all of the ingredients--in a bowl, mixer, or bread machine--to make a smooth, but quite sticky dough. (Polysaccharides in pumpernickel called pentosans are responsible for this stickiness; they’re the reason rye dough will never attain the silky, delightful finish that wheat-based doughs are capable of.) Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, cover it, and let it rise for an hour; it’ll become puffy, but probably won’t double in bulk.

Transfer the dough to a lightly greased work surface, and gently deflate it. Shape it into an 8-inch log, and place it in a lightly greased 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan. Cover the pan, and allow the loaf to rise till it’s crested a good inch or so over the lip of the pan. This should take between 60 and 90 minutes; give it more time if necessary. This bread doesn’t have much oven spring, so you want to get as full a rise in the pan, before baking, as possible.

Bake the bread in a preheated 350°F oven for 35 to 40 minutes, until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center registers 190°F. Remove the bread from the oven, and turn it out of the pan onto a rack to cool.