Polish Sourdough Rye Bread Recipes

Steps:

• The night before making the bread, in a medium-sized mixing bowl, dissolve one packet of yeast and the sugar in 2 cups of water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes. Stir in the rye flour until the mixture is smooth. Add the onion slice. Cover and let stand overnight.
• The next day, dissolve the remaining package of yeast in the buttermilk. Add the rye flour mixture, baking soda, salt, 4 cups of the bread flour and stir to combine.
• Add the remaining 4 cups of bread flour, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring well after each addition (you may not need to add all the flour).
• When the dough has become a smooth and coherent mass, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and supple, about 8 minutes. Sprinkle the caraway seeds on the dough and knead them in until they are evenly distributed throughout the dough.
• Lightly oil a large mixing bowl. Place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with the oil. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place for about 1 hour until the volume has doubled.
• Preheat over to 350 degrees F.
• Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and divide into three pieces. Form each piece into a loaf and place in 3 lightly greased 9x5 inch bread pans. Cover and let rise until nearly double, about 1 hour.
• Bake at 350 for about 35 minutes 0r until the loaves sound hollow when tapped.

Steps:

• Mix sourdough starter with warm water with a whisk until thoroughly combined.
• Add rye flour a little bit at a time, incorporating well before each addition.
• Add bread flour in the same way, first in the mixing bowl and then turned out on to a floured surface while kneading, until you get a uniformly elastic ball of dough that is tacky but not sticky. This may take about 10 minutes.
• Make a hole into the center of the dough and add the salt and caraway seed, and continue kneading another 5 minutes or so, until the seeds are dispersed throughout the bread dough.
• Coat a bowl with a thin layer of canola oil, add the dough and roll the dough around until all sides are covered with oil. Cover well, and refrigerate for 24 hours.
• Punch down dough, cut in half and form loaves.
• Leave out on a warm counter, covered, to rise until doubled in size. The length of time will depend on the vigor of your starter, but this may take a few hours.
• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Bake for 30 - 35 minutes, bread will appear lightly browned.
• Cool on racks.
• Freezes well.

Steps:

• In a large bowl, combine 3 cups all-purpose flour, rye flour, sugar, salt and yeast. In a saucepan, heat water and butter to 120°-130°. Add to dry ingredients; beat until smooth. Stir in sauerkraut and enough remaining all-purpose flour to form a soft dough. , Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour., Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide in half. Shape into two loaves, about 9 in. long. Grease two baking sheets or 9x5-in. loaf pans and sprinkle with cornmeal. Place loaves in prepared pans. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 45 minutes., Lightly brush tops of loaves with water. With a very sharp knife, make four to five diagonal slashes across the top of each loaf. Bake at 400° for 20 minutes. Reduce heat to 350°; bake 10-15 minutes longer or until lightly browned. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool.

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.