Instructions: Heat 3 cups apple cider and 2 tablespoons caraway seeds to boiling; pour over 3 cups of coarse rye flour and stir. Let mixture cool. Add 1 cup active sourdough starter and mix well. The mixture will resemble heavy porridge as the rye flour absorbs the apple cider. Sprinkle 1/2 cup coarse rye flour over the mixture but do not stir at this point.

Cover your bowl with a dish towel, and then wrap the covered bowl with a beach towel or blanket. Put wrapped bowl in a warm spot (next to a heat register is good) and allow the mixture to ferment for up to 24 hours (less time if you think it will be too sour).

Dissolve 1 tablespoon yeast in 1/2 cup warm (105-115 degrees Farenheit)

apple cider. Let the yeast mixture bubble and then add it to the sourdough mixture. Gradually add 1 teaspoon salt, 2-1/2 cups bread flour, and 2 cups coarse rye flour. Knead with your heavy-duty electric mixer. If the dough seems too wet, add more rye flour (wet dough will result in a soggy baked brick). This type of bread is tricky to make, as the dough is always very sticky from the rye; it takes some trial and error to get a feel for the dough. If the dough is too wet, it becomes slack after a while; the correct consistency of dough remains rather firm.

Spray a Formica countertop or a marble pastry board with vegetable cooking spray. Use a small plastic pan scraper or something like that to scrape your dough out of the bowl and onto your work surface. Using a bench knife/dough scraper, divide the dough into two equal chunks. Wet your hands with water and keep a bowl of water handy for additional dipping. Form the dough into two loaves on the oiled surface, using just your wet hands; do not add flour at this point. Place the loaves into oiled bread pans (8-1/2" x 4-1/2"). Cover with a dish towel and let rise in a warm place. Believe it or not, this very heavy dough WILL rise. OPTIONAL (not a traditional method): Brush on glaze made with 1 egg thats been mixed with 1 tablespoon of apple cider; sprinkle with rye flakes (obtainable from a food co-op).

Bake for 15 minutes at 400 degrees Farenheit; then turn heat down to 350 degrees Farenheit and continue to bake for an additional hour. Dont underbake. Remove loaves from pans and allow to cool on a rack.

POSTSCRIPT: When measuring flour, I do not fluff and scoop into separate measuring cups; rather I just use my measuring cup to do the scooping and then level it off with a spatula. My resulting "cups" are probably somewhat on the dense side as a result of this.

If anyone is interested in a "true sourdough" Latvian rye bread (using only sourdough starter but no additional yeast), I can post a recipe for it later on. The recipe differs from the one here in several ways: by including water and sugar, rather than apple cider; it uses a different

(coffee flavored) glaze; its a one-day process, rather than two-day like the recipe posted here; it uses a different type of sourdough starter.

If you would like to email yourself the recipe for later use, or share the recipe with your friends or family, enter the email addresses below and this recipe will be emailed to you and others as well.