I baked rye bread only once a few years ago, but not as a plait. I’m not used to baking my bread like this because I find it easier to put it the baking tray as it is. For the cozonac I’m making the plait from 2 strands of dough. This is one of my first attempts to make a 3 strands plait and I think it looks pretty good.

For me the perfect balance of flour is 50% wholemeal – 50% white when it comes to flour for bread. It can rise good and it also has the wonderful taste of the wholemeal. As rye is more difficult to work with, I’ve decided to try a different percentage. So, for this bread, I’ve used a combination of organic wholemeal rye with strong white flour and it worked out beautifully.

Ingredients for 1 big loaf of Rye plait bread:

– 300g wholemeal rye flour
– 600g strong white flour
– 15g easy bake yeast
– 600 ml lukewarm water
– salt
– herbs: 1 teaspoon of dried parsley and 1 teaspoon of dried marjoram

Mix the flour with the herbs thoroughly. Make a well in the flour and put the yeast in the well, the salt on a side, not touching the yeast. In the well add the water and start to stir with a spoon. When the batter gets thick, tip it onto a floured worktop and start incorporating all the flour. Knead the bread for a few minutes and leave it to rise for an hour.

After it doubled in size, tip the dough on the worktop, cut it in 3 to make the strands. Plait the bread and tuck the ends underneath the loaf to help it keep its shape. Leave it to rise for another 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven at 200C / 180C fan and bake the bread for 30-40 minutes. Try it with a wooden skewer to see if the bread is cooked all the way through.