St. Patty's Day

   We went to our hunt camp for St. Patrick's Day. I do love all the holiday festivities, theme parties and cooking that goes along with this holiday and I didn't want to miss out. So I made some rye bread and bought a cornbeef roast to take to camp to make some reubens.
   I started the dough on Wednesday night. Bread flour, rye flour, sugar, honey, yeast and water. I let the sponge rest for a whole 24 hours. Thursday night, I added the dry ingredients: bread flour, salt, yeast, and caraway seeds by pouring them over the sponge to let it bubble through. After about 3 hours, I added the oil and kneaded it all into a dough. I let the dough rise over night. Friday morning, I punched it down and covered it again to rise Friday while I was at work. Friday night, I punched it down one more time and then divided the dough into 2 torpedo loaves. While the oven was preheating to 450, the dough rises a little bit more. Bake at 450 for about 15 minutes. Then turn the oven down to 375. This helps the crust form.

   I didn't slice the loaves until Satuday once we got to camp and began making dinner. But the inside was exactly perfect. Light and fluffy with a chewy crust. The caraway seeds give rye bread it's amazing flavor.

   We put the cornbeef roast in the crockpot for about 6 hours with 1/4 cup brown sugar and a 12 oz. bottle of Guinness - my favorite recipe for cornbeef! Add some thousand island dressing and sourkraut. Delish!