I glommed this recipe together to serve with a Hungarian themed meal. I wanted to serve rye bread, but in an easy to eat little piece since I was also serving Dilly Casserole Bread (recipe coming soon) that would be baked in a loaf pan. (I always try to keep food visually interesting as well as delicious.)

So I decided to pat the bread dough into a half sheet pan (13x18x1-inch) and see what happened. Well the bread turned out delicious, really chewy, and just tall enough to make a perfect size piece of bread when cut into squares or rectangles. And easy to prepare? Oh-my-gosh yes! This would be the perfect bread to fix if you were considering giving bread baking a try.

And don’t worry about the caraway seeds. They are there, but not in your face crazy. Just subtle and splendid.

So give this easy bread a try. We had some toasted for breakfast this morning, and what a treat to go along with our eggs and sausage. Yum, if I do say so myself!

• 2 c. warm water
• 2 pkgs. or 2 scant T. active dry yeast
• 2 tsp. sugar
• 1 T. kosher salt, plus more for sprinkling
• 4 tsp. caraway seeds
• 1 c. rye flour
• 2½ c. whole wheat flour
• ¾ c. bread flour, or more as needed
• olive oil

Sprinkle the yeast and sugar over the warm water in the bowl of your stand mixer. Let sit for 10 minutes. Add the salt and caraway seeds. Mix using your dough hook.

Add the rye and whole wheat flours and mix until well combined. Add as much of the ¾ cup bread flour as needed to make a stiff dough. (The ball of dough should completely pull away from the bowl.)

Pour a little olive oil over the dough, and using your hands, form dough into a ball and spread the oil all over. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 1 hour.

Pour a bit of olive oil on a 13x18x1-inch baking pan. Spread the dough out with your fingers. Slather a bit more olive oil over the dough and sprinkle lightly with kosher salt.

Let rest again for 30 minutes.

Bake in a pre-heated 400 degree oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden and crusty. Let cool completely before cutting into squares or rectangles.

Note: If in doubt whether or not your bread is done, stick it with an instant read thermometer. If it registers 190-200 degrees, your bread is baked to perfection. Take it out of the oven – immediately!