Family legend has it that this is a recipe straight from the Old Country. I got it from my grandmother, who must have gotten it from someone on my grandfather's side of the family. Regardless of whether or not its authenticity is true, I really like this bread. Of the recipes I've seen, this is the rye bread that has the most rye in it. The one I found on Gourmet's web site had 1 part rye to 6 parts white flour. What's the point?

A word of warning: this dough is *very* sticky, especially when you first start to knead it. Use lots of flour to cover everything; hands, breadboard, knife, etc. You may want to just strip naked and roll around in a bunch of flour.

SWEDISH RYE BREAD

• 1 envelope yeast
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup melted shortening
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 cups dark rye flour
• 4 cups of white flour, plus additional as needed and more for flouring things
• 2 cups water

Proof the yeast in the sugar and 1/4 cup water. Once it's foamy, add the rest of the water, shortening, molasses and brown sugar and mix well. Stir in the rye, then the white flour, and add addditional white flour as necessary to form a dough.

Turn out onto a floured bread board and knead until smooth and elastic. The dough will be very sticky. Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl, and turn so both sides are oiled. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 2 hours.

Punch down, and form into loaves. Put into two ungreased loaf pans and let rise again until doubled, about 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350 F and bake for 45 minutes or until they sound hollow when thumped on the bottom.

Makes 2 loaves.

Source: Winnie Ruth Olson