100 Rye Sourdough Bread Recipes

Steps:

• Day 1: To begin your starter, mix 50g of the flour with 50g tepid water in a jar or, better still, a plastic container. Make sure all the flour is incorporated and leave, covered with a tea towel, at room temperature for 24 hrs.
• Days 2, 3, 4 & 5 : Mix 25g flour with 25g tepid water and stir into yesterday's mixture. Make sure all the flour is incorporated and leave, covered with a tea towel, at room temperature for 24 hrs.
• Day 6: The mix should be really bubbly and giving off a strong smell of alcohol. A teaspoonful of the starter should float in warm water if ready. If not, continue adding 25g flour and 25g tepid water into the mixture daily until it becomes active.If your jar is becoming full, spoon half the mix out of the jar and continue. You now have rye starter, which is a malty flavoured base to sourdough bread. Keep it in the fridge (it will stay dormant) and 12 hrs before you want to use it, spoon half of it off and feed it with 100g flour and 100g water. Leave, covered, at room temperature.
• Tip 100g of the starter into a bowl and add 400g of tepid water. Whisk or rub the two together with your hands, don't worry if there are a few lumps. Add the flour and bring together (with a spatula or your hand) into a thick, sticky dough, making sure all the flour is mixed in, including any dry bits on the sides of the bowl. Cover with a damp tea towel and leave at room temperature for 2 hrs.
• Work the salt into the dough then leave, covered, for another 2 hrs.
• Heavily butter a 900g loaf tin. Dust the work surface with more rye flour, then scrape all the dough out. Mould the dough into a block roughly the same size as the tin and sit it in the tin. Press the dough down so it fills it completely and scatter the top generously with more flour. Leave the loaf out, uncovered, for 2 hrs until it's risen by about a quarter and gone craggy on the top, or leave it in the fridge, uncovered, overnight. This will give it an even deeper flavour.
• Heat the oven to 230/210C fan/gas 8 with a shelf in the middle of the oven and a shelf below with a roasting tray on it. Put the loaf on the middle tray and carefully pour a small glass of water into the roasting tray. Cook for 50-55 mins until hollow sounding when tapped. (The middle of the loaf will read 98C on a digital thermometer when ready.) Remove the tin and leave to cool on a wire rack for at least 4 hrs. Will keep for 3-4 days in an airtight container.

Steps:

• The day before making the dough, make the rye starter. Mix together the barm and rye flour in a bowl, adding only enough water to form a ball. It should be firm and a little tacky but not sticky or spongelike. Work quickly. It is not necessary to develop the gluten, only to hydrate all the flour and form a shaggy but firm dough. Lightly oil a bowl and transfer the starter to the bowl, rolling it around to coat it lightly with the oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.
• Ferment at room temperature for 4 hours or longer, or until the dough doubles in size (it will become softer and stickier as it rises). Refrigerate overnight.
• Also on the day before making the final dough, make the soaker. Combine the coarse rye flour and water in a bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit at room temperature overnight.
• The following day, remove the rye starter from the refrigerator 1 hour before making the dough. Cut the starter into about 10 small pieces with a pastry scraper or serrated knife. Mist with spray oil, cover the pieces with a towel or plastic wrap, and let sit for 1 hour to take off the chill.
• To make the final dough, stir together the rye flour, salt, and seeds in a 4-quart mixing bowl (or in the bowl of an electric mixer). Add the soaker and the starter pieces. With a large metal spoon, stir in enough lukewarm water to bring everything together to form a ball (or mix on low speed with the paddle attachment).
• Sprinkle rye flour on the counter and transfer the dough to the counter. Sprinkle the dough with more rye flour and gently knead the dough until all the pieces of starter are assimilated into the dough and the dough forms a very tacky ball (or mix on medium speed with the dough hook). This will take 5 to 6 minutes by hand (4 minutes by machine). Add flour as needed (or small amounts of water if the dough is tight). Let the dough rest on the counter for 5 minutes, and then give it a few more turns to complete the kneading. It should register 77° to 81°F. (This dough will not make a good windowpane when stretched because of the low gluten content.) Lightly oil a large bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling it around to coat it with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.
• Ferment for approximately 4 hours, or until the dough nearly doubles in size.
• Sprinkle rye flour on the counter and transfer the dough to the counter, being careful to degas it as little as possible. Divide the dough into 2 equal pieces, sprinkle them with rye flour, and gently shape them into bâtards. Line a sheet pan with baking parchment and sprinkle the parchment with coarse rye flour, semolina flour, or cornmeal. Place the loaves on the pan at least 4 inches apart. Mist the dough with spray oil and cover loosely with plastic wrap.
• Either proof the dough for 2 hours at room temperature or slip the entire pan into a food-grade plastic bag and immediately refrigerate overnight. If you are holding the dough overnight, remove the pan from the refrigerator 4 hours before baking and proof the dough at room temperature, or until about 1 1/2 times its original size. It will have spread sideways as well as upward.
• Prepare the oven for hearth baking as described on pages 91-94, making sure to have a steam pan in place. Preheat the oven to 500°F. Remove the pan from the bag or lift off the plastic, and let the dough sit exposed for 5 minutes, then score it.
• If you are baking on a stone, slide the parchment and dough onto the back of a sheet pan or onto a peel and then transfer it to the stone (or bake the bread directly in the sheet pan on which it was rising). Pour 1 cup hot water into the steam pan and close the door. After 30 seconds, mist the oven walls with water and close the door. Repeat twice more at 30-second intervals. After the final spray, lower the oven setting to 425°F and bake for 10 minutes. Rotate the loaves 180 degrees, if necessary, for even baking and continue baking for another 10 to 15 minutes, or until done. The internal temperature should register approximately 200°F and the crust should be hard and somewhat coarse (it will soften as the bread cools).
• Transfer the breads to a rack and let them cool for at least 1 hour before slicing or serving.
• Lean, standard dough; indirect method; wild yeast
• Day 1: 4 to 5 hours firm rye starter and soaker
• Day 2: 1 hour to de-chill starter; 6 minutes mixing; 6 hours fermentation, shaping, and proofing; 25 to 30 minutes baking
• The bread is best when made with a variety of grinds, from fine white rye to coarse pumpernickel or even rye chops (cracked rye kernels). This version uses a blend and also utilizes the soaker method to condition the grain and develop enzyme activity.
• If you make rye bread regularly, you can keep a rye barm on hand in addition to your regular barm. Otherwise, you can use your regular barm starter and turn it into a rye starter, but it will contain a proportion of wheat. To make a pure rye-only starter, consult the Commentary on page 229.
• Allow 3 days to make this bread (or start early on the second day to bake it around dinnertime). Because it is low in gluten, the bread will have a fairly tight crumb, not large and irregular as with standard hearth breads. The dough is slightly softer than French bread, but not as wet as ciabatta and other rustic doughs. This added hydration provides some physical leavening (steam) in support of the biological (wild-yeast) leavening provided by the starter. The result is a relatively dense loaf with a long shelf life.
• This same formula also can be used for making spelt bread, another wheat relative that is lower in gluten (mainly it is lower in gliaden, which is the offensive half of gluten to those with sensitivities). Just substitute spelt for rye and follow the same directions.
• As always with rye breads, the use of caraway, anise, or other seeds is optional. This bread is delicious with or without them.
• 100% Sourdough Rye Bread %
• (FIRM RYE STARTER)
• Barm: 77.8%
• White rye flour: 100%
• Water (approx.): 44.4%
• Total: 222.2%
• (SOAKER)
• Coarse rye flour: 100%
• Water: 200%
• Total: 300%
• (FINAL DOUGH)
• White rye flour: 100%
• Firm rye starter: 74.1%
• Soaker: 44.4%
• Salt: 2.8%
• Caraway seeds: 3.7%
• Water (approx.): 51.9%
• Total 276.9

Steps:

• Starter:.
• Day 1: In a 1 quart jar with a lid mix 100 g rye flour with 100 ml lukewarm water. Stir well to completely mix. Don't mind if it seems not to be enough water and the dough is sticky. Just mix well to have a homogenous dough.
• Close the lid of the jar loosely and let stand for 24 hours at room temperature, maybe not in the coolest room of the house --.
• Day 2: Stir the starter well, close the lid again and let stand for another 24 hours.
• Day 3: Stir in 100 g finely ground whole rye flour and 100 ml lukewarm water, cover again and let stand for another 24 hours.
• Open the jar and check the smell: DON'T stick your nose into the jar! I did that with my first attempt and nearly burnt off my mucosa with the cloud of acetic acid that evaporated from the vinegar starter I produced -- So, open the jar and carefully check the smell. If it doesn't sting but smell pleasantly sour, proceed. The colour of the starter should be greyish brown.
• Bread:.
• Place the flour in a large bowl, make a well and fill the sourdough starter into the well. Hold back about 2 tablespoons of the starter, put it into a glass jar, tightly close the lid and keep the jar in the refridgerator. It will not rise while in the fridge nor produce gas, so don't be afraid of tightening the lid.
• Mix the starter with some of the flour, then add the salt and water and knead for about 15 minutes. The dough is very heavy, so most machines give in and collaps. I always kneaded by hand on a floured surface until the dough was smooth.
• Form a ball and dust with flour, cover and let rest for 2 hours.
• On a dusted surface, knead lightly, form an oval loaf, cover and let rest for another hour.
• Preheat oven to 250 degrees Celsius (220 fan assisted).
• Place bread on a baking tray layered with nonstick parchment paper, prick bread with a fork in a regular pattern all over and brush with water.
• Place an ovenproof bowl with hot water on the bottom of the oven, then slip the baking tray into the oven and bake for 15 minutes.
• After 15 minutes reduce heat to 200 degrees Celsius (180 fan assisted), continue baking for 30 minutes.
• Put off the oven after 30 minutes, but don't open yet. Let the bread rest.
• for another 15 minutes in the hot oven.
• Take it out and knock at the bottom of the bread. It should sound hollow.
• Let completely cool on a wire rack.
• You need not keep the bread in the fridge.
• If you use the starter for the first time, it works better if you add some yeast to the bread dough because the fresh starter is not very strong.
• The starter which you hold back will be strong enough without adding yeast if you feed it again for 3 days like described above.

Steps:

• Refresh a portion of your sourdough starter using equal parts rye flour and water. This will give you a rye starter that you can maintain like your other starter if you wish.
• This dough is very sticky and cement-like. I find that frequently dipping spoons, scrapers and your fingers into water helps reduce the mess that this dough loves to make.
• Make the sponge using a cup of the refreshed starter, the 3 cups of water, and the 4 cups of flour. Let this ferment, covered in a 70F to 80F area for 4 hours or until it doubles in volume. I use a clear, straight sided container to know when the fermentation is complete.
• After fermentation, place the sponge into a large bowl and add the sugar, salt, molasses and caraway. Add the rye flour a portion at a time until all is well mixed. Cover and let rest for 20 minutes.
• Scrape the dough onto a wetted counter. Traditional kneading is not possible. Using a wetted bench scraper and wet hands, just fold and mix as well as you can for a few minutes.
• Divide the dough in half and form two balls of dough.
• Spray two 8" x 4" bread pans (standard loaf pans) with oil and line with parchment paper. I spray the parchment paper as well.
• Preheat your oven to 375°F.
• Press the dough into the pans, smoothing with wet hands. Seeds or white flour can be added to the surface if desired. Cover with oiled plastic wrap. and let rise in a 70F to 80F area until the loaves rise about 30% (about 2- 3 hours).
• Bake for 45 minutes or longer until the internal temperature is 200°F I rotate the loaves in the oven after 20 minutes of baking.
• Remove the loaves from the pans and cool on a rack thoroughly before slicing. The taste improves with time and the bread will last for several days or more at room temperature.
• Slice thinly - enjoy.