Aunt Joan's Rye Bread

When I was a little girl, Aunt Joan made the BEST rye bread I ever tasted. She'd sometimes give us a whole loaf and I'd have to make my brother and sisters promise not to eat it all.... For Christmas I asked Aunt Joan to write down her recipe and share with me. I'm putting it here for everyone's enjoyment. Note - it isn't very explicit, so you'll have to have some experience to get it right.... I hope some of you enjoy this.

• Ready In: 1 hr 10 mins
• Yields: 4 Loaves

Ingredients

• 3  teaspoons salt
• 3  tablespoons sugar
• 2 (1/4ounce) packets dry yeast (appx 5 tsp)
• 5  cups warm water
• 3 3⁄4 tablespoons shortening (Joan uses oil)
• 9  cups white flour
• 3 1⁄4 cups  rye flour
• 4  tablespoons caraway seeds (Joan uses more or less...)

Directions

1. Joan's directions were:
2. 4 loaves; Bake 40 minutes at 375 degrees.
3. Let rise, punch down and let rise again.
4. When I called her to ask for clarity, she said she just mixes it all together, kneads until elastic and then lets it rise. Sometimes use more water, sometimes less flour -- Sometimes it takes half the day to rise, depending on how cold the house is -- When doubled, punch down and rise again. After comparing to some other directions, I'm thinking you may need more yeast too! She also said she'd put two loaves together in a 9X13 pan when baking.
5. UPDATE: More specific - mixed all ingredients by hand - adding more flour as needed until mixture stops sticking quite so much to your fingers. I added about 3/4 C additional flour today. Then mixed thoroughly and needed for about 8 minutes till soft and elastic. I then put it into a greased large bowl - and sprayed some plastic wrap and put over top. Let raise 1.5 hours till doubled. Then punched down (slightly - not aggressively) and separate into 4 loaves. Pinch dough together and roll out - don't completely deflate the air bubbles -- form long rectangular loaves. Place on greased jelly roll - 2 loaves to one pan. Cover with sprayed plastic wrap let rise again - say 45 min till doubled. Warm oven during second raise - then bake. Hope this helps!