After a couple miserable months of unending heat and rain, we finally – finally - caught a break last Sunday. The temperature (and humidity) dropped, the sun was still out, and it was as if everyone took a collective sigh in my city. I turned off my AC, opened the windows, and decided to make something hearty and warm for dinner. Kielbasa, sauerkraut, and potatoes roasted in the oven. An old family favorite from growing up. Too easy really to post for a recipe, but since the weather was just nice enough, I decided to froufrou it up and bake some fresh bread to go alongside it.

I’m a caraway fanatic. Growing up, I was obsessed with rye bread – specifically making sandwiches on those obnoxious little loaves of cocktail rye. You can easily see this is not rye bread (no rye flour, for one thing), but caraway seeds are the gateway to rye flavors, and by steeping the water used to make the bread in caraway seeds, it’s a nice mild profile, without the dark earthiness of rye. Total disclosure – I didn’t feel like going to the store to get rye flour and wanted to use what was in my cupboard. Let’s just call this bread a happy product of good weather laziness.

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Caraway Bread

Makes 1 small loaf.

Based on the recipe from The Fresh Loaf.

Ingredients

• 1 cup water
• 2 Tbsp. brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 2 tsp. caraway seeds
• 1 package dry active yeast
• ¾ tsp. kosher salt plus  more for sprinkling
• 2 cups bread flour

Directions

1.) Boil the water, brown sugar, butter, and caraway seeds in a small saucepan for 3 minutes. Let cool completely.

2.) In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine the yeast, salt, and flour. Stir in the cooled liquid mixture and knead on medium-low speed for a few minutes until everything comes together nicely.

3.) Cover and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour. Punch down and shape into loaf or place in loaf pan. Let proof once more until doubled, about another hour.

4.) Preheat oven to 355° F. Bake loaf for 30-40 minutes or until an instant-read thermometer reaches 190° F when inserted in the center of the loaf. Let cool COMPLETELY before slicing – it’s such an important (albeit difficult) step to follow in bread baking.

5.) Serve warmed with salted butter and kielbasa baked in sauerkraut.