Sourdough Rye Bread
Sourdough Rye Bread
This sourdough rye bread recipe has only four ingredients: Water, salt, molasses and rye flour! It is 100% rye flour. It is surprisingly fluffier than most sourdough rye recipes that I’ve tried. The flavor is amazing and goes well with tuna salad. (Yum!) Yet, this recipe does not include any type of commercial yeast.
About the Starter
You will need a starter for this sourdough rye bread recipe. If you do not have one, and would like to make your own, I highly recommend the lazy sourdough guy, Ben Starr. I first developed a wheat sourdough with Farmhouse on Boone. She is great also, but, Ben touched on some details that really helped me. And I love his snarky voice. Seriously though, both are great resources on how to get started.
I have had my first starter about 4 years, and my rye starter about 2 years. I created my rye starter, by adding rye flour to my starter to make it a “rye starter” but I don’t recommend that. It was just easiest for me at the time. The process involves mixing flour with water and letting it sit. The next day, remove half and “feed” the starter another batch of flour and water. It can be tedious which is why I recommend going to these sources first. Then, with a good understanding, my recipe will make more sense to you. Maybe at some point, I’ll create a video on it. But then again, why? The chef does an excellent job.
Why Sourdough Rye Bread?
When I first developed this recipe, I was looking for a sourdough recipe that didn’t have to be watched to determine when the starter was at it’s peak to use it. Also, my body seemed to adjust well to rye bread even though I kind of try to stay away from wheat. If I eat fermented wheat bread, it really doesn’t bother me unless I eat a LOT. When I look at the foods recommended for my blood type, it tells me that rye is neutral for me, so I set out to find a sourdough rye recipe that could maybe even be a little beneficial for me. (Check out the D’Adamo website, ForYourtType.com to find out more about blood type foods.) However, fermented foods are tremendously healthy for all blood types (in my opinion) and are really fascinating to learn about. It is worth the effort to learn!
Making Sourdough Rye Bread
This recipe takes time. You might want to allow yourself 2 days before you need to have it made.
First Day:
Put the ingredients together. You will definitely want to use a digital scale for the first time making this. I haven’t been able to make it perfectly without it. Add the water and starter first in the bowl and mix. Add flour and salt. It feels great to mix with your hands, because somehow you get a better feel of how long to work it. When you mix it all together, it doesn’t have to be perfect. The dough will change as you allow it to sit for 24 hours. Place a plastic covering over the dough in a clean bowl and set it a space that isn’t too cold or isn’t too hot. I’ve included photo of how I cover my sourdough however, feel free to use a plastic bag as well.
Second Day:
Sometimes I will hear the bread crackling right around 24 hours! Almost like you can hear it fermenting. Either way around 20-24 hours, I remove dough from bowl. It could be moist at this point. Put a lot of flour on a countertop and gently move the dough around. Fold it in gently and roll it around until it becomes a soft dough ball with flour around it. It may take some practice! This is where I like to use a Banneton basket or parchment paper to put my dough ball into. Place into bowl and let it sit, covered with a clean towel, for about 2-3 hours.
When the dough has been sitting for an hour, its a good time to put your dutch oven into the oven to preheat. After the dutch oven has been preheated at 525 degrees for an hour, carefully place parchment/dough into the dutch oven and bake at 425 degrees for 32 minutes covered. Then, take the cover off and bake an additional 8 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on a rack for at least an hour. Enjoy!
Equipment Used:
Weck Jars (for keeping sourdough)
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This sourdough rye bread recipe has only three ingredients: Water, salt and rye flour! It is surprisingly fluffier than most sourdough rye recipes that I've tried. The flavor is amazing and goes well with tuna salad! Yum!
Ingredients
14 oz of Water
20 oz of rye flour (a mix of dark or light works great!)
.6-.7 oz of sea salt
1 tsp of molasses
1 tsp of maple syrup (optional)
Instructions
1. In a medium size bowl, measure .4 oz of rye flour starter, cold from sitting in fridge for about a week or more.
2. Add 14 oz of filtered water and then 1 teaspoon of molasses and mix.
3. Mix in 16.4 oz of rye flour
4. Add sea salt.
5. Mix thoroughly and place into a clean bowl and allow to ferment over night. You may use a plastic bag or a bowl cover (as mentioned above).
6. After 10 - 24 hours, remove the dough from the bowl and massage into a round shape (for a floured beneton basket, or form into a bread pan shape and allow to sit for 4 more hours.
7. After 3 hours, heat the dutch oven in a 500 degree pan for one hour.
8. After 1 hour, place the dough from the beneton basket into the dutch oven lined with parchment paper.
9. Bake for 30 minutes at 425 degrees, covered.
10. Bake for 8 more minutes uncovered.
11. Remove from oven or bread pan and allow to cool on a rack.
5. Use your hands to work in the mixture until it somewhat forms a ball and all dry ingredients are worked in.
6. Place ball into another clean bowl and cover with plastic wrap over the bowl.
7. Let ferment 20-24 hrs. Sometimes, the flour will make a crackling sound. That's when I feel like it is ready for the next step.
8. Pour/remove dough (It might be moist. That's ok!) onto a floured counter top. Lightly roll the dough around until it forms a soft ball that you can lift into a shape similar to the size of your dutch oven. Put the dough ball, into that bowl, with parchment paper underneath. Cover with light, clean towel.
9. Wait 2-2.5 hours.
10. After an hour has passed, preheat dutch oven in a 525 degree oven. Let dutch oven sit in there with cover the whole time.
11. After the dutch oven has been in oven for one hour, Carefully place the dough ball and parchment into the oven, and drop the temp to 410 degrees.
12. Bake dough covered for 32 minutes.
13. Uncover and bake for an additional 8 minutes.
14. Remove bread and immediately put parchment/bread onto a bread rack and allow to cool for an hour before cutting into it.
Prep time: 20
Cook time: 40
Total time: 28
Servings: 10
Serving size: 1 slice
Meal type: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Sidedish, Appetizer, Fermented, Sourdough
Special Equipment needed: digital scale works best, dutch oven