New York Style Deli Rye Bread Recipes

NEW YORK DELI-STYLE RYE BREAD

Steps:

• In the bowl of a standing mixer, whisk together the flours, caraway seeds (if using), salt and yeast. Put 1 1/4 cups lukewarm water into a small bowl, then stir in the honey and oil.
• Using a dough hook attachment at low speed, gradually pour in the liquid mixture. Mix just until a cohesive dough starts to form and no streaks of dry flour remain, about 2 minutes. Scrape down sides of the bowl halfway through. Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let dough rest for 20 minutes.
• Turn mixer to medium-low and knead until smooth and elastic, easily clearing the sides of the bowl, about 8 minutes. The dough should be moist but not sticky; if needed, add more flour 1 tablespoon at a time.
• Lightly oil a medium-size mixing bowl. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead 30 seconds, shaping dough into a smooth round ball. Place seam side down in the oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in size, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
• Stack 2 rimmed baking sheets and line the top sheet with aluminum foil. Punch the dough down to deflate. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Press and stretch into a rough 6-inch square.
• Lift and fold top 2 corners of dough into the center of the square and press gently to seal. Lift and fold down the upper third of the dough toward the center and press gently to seal. Lift and fold down the top half of the dough to form a loaf, and pinch the seam closed. Turn the loaf seam side down, gently slide hands underneath, and transfer to the prepared pan. You should have an oval loaf about 8 inches by 4 inches; use hands to shape as needed. Cover with oiled plastic wrap and let rise until loaf increases in size by about half, 30 minutes to 1 hour.
• Meanwhile, place a rack in the lower third of oven and heat to 450 degrees. When the dough has risen, make 3 deep slashes across the top, using a sharp paring knife or razor blade. Place in oven, reduce heat to 375 degrees and bake until deep golden brown, 35 to 40 minutes, rotating pan once during baking.
• Meanwhile, dissolve cornstarch in 1 cup cold water. Simmer in saucepan or microwave until clear and syrupy. Transfer hot, baked bread immediately to a wire rack and brush top and sides with cornstarch mixture until glazed and shiny. Let cool completely before slicing.

NEW YORK STYLE DELI RYE BREAD

Steps:

• First make the sponge. Combine all the ingredients for the sponge in a large bowl and whisk until a smooth and thick batter results. The idea is to incorporate air in the batter. Keep aside. If you're using a mixer or a processor to knead your dough, you can do this in the bowl of the machine you'll have one bowl less to wash up.
• In another bowl, lightly whisk together the remaining dry ingredients except the oil and the gently sprinkle all of it over the sponge such that the sponge is completely covered by the flour mixture. Cover the bowl with cling wrap and leave this to ferment at room temperature for between one and four hours (I let it sit for 3 hours). You will find that the sponge would have bubbled up through the flour mixture in places.
• When ready to knead the dough, add the oil and knead until the dough is very smooth and elastic. If the dough seems quite sticky stop the machine in between and let the dough rest for about 15 minutes. Then start kneading again, adding a little flour (not too much) if required. When the dough is of the correct consistency, if pressed with a fingertip, the dough should be springy and "jump" back. If it feels sticky, turn it out onto your counter and knead in a little extra flour.
• Put the dough in a large oiled bowl, turning it well to coat with oil. Cover it and let it rise until double in volume. This should take about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. When done, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured counter and press it down gently. Fold it and shape it into square-ish shaped ball (this is an easier shape) and put it back into the bowl after re-oiling, this time for about 45 minutes. (I ended up doing this rise in the fridge for almost 3 hours because I had to step out unexpectedly!)
• When this is done, turn out the dough onto a lightly floured counter and gently deflate the dough. Then shape it into a round or oblong ball and place it on a sheet lined with parchment or dusted with cornmeal or semolina. Loosely cover and let it rise until almost double in volume. This should take about an hour or so. When you gently press the dough with a fingertip, the depression should fill out slowly. If it springs back quickly, let it rise for a little longer and check again.
• If you have a bread stone place it to preheat in the oven, otherwise use a baking sheet. Preheat your oven to 230C (450F).
• To slash and bake the bread: With a sharp knife or singled-edged razor blade, score 1/4- to 1/2-inch-deep slashes in the top of the dough. Spray the top of the dough with a fine mist of water and quickly but gently place the dough on the baking sheet/ stone in the oven.
• Bake for 15 minutes and then turn the heat down to 200C (400F) for another 30 minutes or so, until the bread is done, golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom. Let the bread cool down completely before slicing.

REAL NY JEWISH RYE BREAD

Steps:

• Place bread flour, rye flour, potato flakes, caraway seeds, demarara sugar, yeast, and sea salt in the bowl of a large stand mixer. Turn mixer to low and thoroughly mix dry ingredients. Beat warm water, canola oil, and pickle juice into dry ingredients. Fit dough hook onto mixer and beat until dough is rough and shaggy-looking.
• Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let rest for exactly 30 minutes. Remove plastic wrap and knead dough in stand mixer with dough hook until smooth, firm, and only slightly sticky, 6 to 8 minutes. Turn dough onto a floured work surface and knead until smooth, 1 to 2 more minutes.
• Form dough into a ball, place dough into an oiled bowl, and turn dough around several times in bowl to coat with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, set into a warm place, and let rise until nearly double, about 1 hour.
• Grease a 5x9-inch loaf pan. Turn dough onto a lightly oiled surface, shape into a log, and place into prepared loaf pan. Cover with a cloth kitchen towel and let rise until top of dough has risen slightly over top of pan, 60 to 90 minutes.
• Place rack in middle of oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Bake loaf until golden brown and cooked through, about 35 minutes. The internal temperature of the bread should be 190 degrees F (90 degrees C). If loaf browns too quickly, cover loosely with a tent of aluminum foil with shiny side out. Remove from pan and cool on wire rack.

NEW YORK DELI RYE BREAD

Steps:

• The day before you want to bake the bread, mix together the starter, rye flour, and water. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside.
• Dice the onions and saute in oil until they sweat. Cool onions until they're no longer hot. Mix them into the starter, cover, and let dough ferment until it bubbles. (I did this in a warmed oven. It still took several hours.) Refrigerate overnight.
• Remove the starter from the fridge 1 hour prior to making the dough. Combine starter with all remaining ingredients except water and egg white in the bowl of a stand mixer. Stir together. (Reinhart suggests with a wooden spoon or paddle attachment; I used the dough hook.) Add water as necessary to form a soft but not sticky dough. Let dough rest for 5 minutes to allow gluten to develop.
• Knead the dough with the dough hook, adding bread flour as needed to make a firm, tacky dough. (Reinhart says to complete this within 4-5 minutes, because rye flour can make your dough gummy when worked too much. However, I took longer than this to get the dough right, and my dough didn't suffer.) Windowpane your dough to see if the gluten is well developed. Transfer the dough to a large greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise until the dough doubles in size, about 1 1/2 - 2 hours.
• Divide the dough into 2 equal pieces. Shape into sandwich loaves and place into greased 9x5 inch loaf pans, or shape into freestanding loaves. Shaping is similar for both kinds of loaves. On a floured surface or sheet of parchment, flatten dough into a rectangle roughly the size of a sheet of paper. Fold the dough like a trifold letter; fold the top third toward you and tuck the seam into the dough. Fold the bottom part up and over the rest of the dough, sealing it back into the dough. This should increase the dough's surface tension. Work with the dough until the top of the loaf looks tense and stretched. The dough should be a little shorter than your loaf pans; place in greased pans and pat the dough to the edges. For freestanding loaves, let the dough rest for a few minutes, and then stretch out to the desired length. Spray the loaves with oil, then cover with plastic wrap and let proof about 90 minutes, until the dough has grown roughly 1.5 times in size. Sandwich loaves should have risen 1 inch over the top of the pans.
• I do not recommend you make one of each (as I did) because they bake at different temperatures and times. This meant that I baked the loaves one after another, rather than at the same time. I preheated the oven to 350F, placed the sandwich loaf on a sheet pan to protect the bottom, and baked it for about 35 minutes, rotating it when halfway through. The internal temperature was about 190F when I took it from the oven. (I don't recall the exact time, but I did take the temperature for each loaf.)
• I heated the oven to 400F for the freestanding loaf. I brushed it with the egg wash and baked it for about 35 minutes, rotating once, until its temperature was about 190F. Thanks to the egg wash, the freestanding loaf had a deep golden color. I cooled the bread for 1 hour before cutting.