I absolutely love rye bread and decided very soon into my sourdough journey to make a loaf. Based on Celia’s tutorial, I tweaked and tweaked until I could get it right. The only time I have ever used rye flour to bake breads with is when I have used my bread machine so I was not sure what the texture of the dough should feel like. The first thing that struck me about the dough is that it feels more like play dough as opposed to bread dough. I did not let that put me off, and I continued playing around with the bread until the end result was what I would expect from a store bought loaf of rye. I love the flavour that the caraway seeds impart into this bread, but I would not state that they were a must have ingredient. If you don’t like them, leave them our, or substitute them with another flavour seed such as celery or fennel. This is not a 100% rye bread. In order to do that I would need to make a rye starter and there is no ways that is going to happen. I also fed my starter with normal bread flour as I used the one lot of fed starter to make rye bread, hot cross buns and lunch rolls. If you would like some starter and live close to me just shout, I have enough to share 🙂
What is your favourite type of bread?
Sourdough Rye Bread
Ingredients
for the starter
- 38 g bread flour
- 63 g water
for the rye bread 6.30am feed
- 125 mls sourdough starter
- 76 g bread flour
- 126 g water
for the rye bread 3pm feed
- 38 g bread flour
- 63 g water
for the rye bread 6.30pm feed and getting your ingredients ready
- 38 g bread flour
- 63 g water
- 10 g fine salt
- 500 g rye flour + extra for dusting
- 250 g water
- 25 g olive oil
7am
- 20 g caraway seeds
- Vegetable oil
Method
6.30am
- Take your jar of starter out of the fridge
- Give it a gentle stir (I use a flat whisk)
- Place 125mls of the starter into a bowl
- Feed your starter with the flour and water
- Whisk in gently and put back into the fridge
- To the bowl add the feed flour and water
- Whisk in gently and cover with cling film
3pm
- Add the flour and water
- Whisk in gently and cover with cling film
6.30pm
- Add the flour and water
- Whisk in gently and cover with cling film
- Measure the salt and flour into a large bowl
- Measure the water and oil into a jug
9.30pm
- Add 150g starter to the flour and salt mix
- Add the water and oil and mix in until just bound together
- Cover with cling film
- Cover your fed starter with cling film for use the next day
10pm
- Dust the top of the dough with flour and then dust your hands
- Lift the dough out of the bowl and dust the bottom of the bowl with more flour
- Knead the dough in the bowl until it comes together
- Cover with cling film and leave overnight
7am
- Turn the dough out onto a floured board
- Flatten the dough using the palm of your hand
- Add the caraway seeds
- Shape the dough into a round loaf
- Place seam side down onto a baking tray
- Lightly oil the cling film and place over the dough
7.30am
- Preheat the oven to 220° Celsius and if you have a baking stone, place it into your oven now
7.45am
- Check your dough to see if it has finished proving – press the tip of your index finger into the dough and if it slowly springs back then it is done
- If not, check every 15 minutes – you don’t want to over prove the dough
- When the oven has reached the correct temperature slash your bread and dust with flour
- Throw a handful of ice blocks into the oven and then add the bread
- Cook for 20 minutes and then reduce the heat to 175° Celsius and bake for a further 30 minutes
- Test for doneness by tapping the bottom – you should get a nice hollow sound
- Turn out onto a wire rack and allow to cool completely before slicing
Notes
Click on the links for conversions and notes.
What I blogged:
- one year ago – Sweetcorn and Basil Velouté
- two years ago – Chicken A La King
- three years ago – Tuna With Ginger Relish
You are doing so well with your bread baking.
🙂 Mandy
thank you Mandy, I am loving the sourdough 🙂
This bread looks well worth the effort my friend, healthy and delicious 😀
Cheers
CCU
Effort is the key word here!
Sourdough, one of my favorite. Thanks
my pleasure 🙂
Tandy, I love that we’re using the same starter (or version thereof) but our breads are so completely different. Your loaves have been just so fabulous, words fail me.. xx
You have inspired me so much with your breads that I am loving each experiment 🙂
Terrific looking loaf of bread.
Thank you Karen 🙂
I really need to attempt sourdough one of these days! Great loaves!
You will love the process!
Your bread loos marvelous Tandy! Bet it tastes even better x
Thank you Lisa, it is a hearty loaf!
I haven’t made sourdough before. This sounds good!
it is quite a process, but so worth it!
Fantastic instructions, Ill book mark them for when i have enough time. Your bread looks so good. Congratulations
Thank you so much, and do let me know once you’ve made it 🙂
Rye bread with caraway was my all time favourite growing up. Now the girls love rye bread too…although I haven’t been brave enough to give them the caraway version. Tandy, you post a lot of bread recipes and they always look so good. I keep meaning to try my hand, but I just never get to making bread. I really must! I wish I lived close enough for some of your starter…
I am going to dry some and then I can post it to you!
Lucky you, I made a rice bread 3 times and it did not grow well, but it was very tasty.
I am loving the sourdough starter that I was given 🙂
We have a very similar method of making sourdough Tandy! Even down to the ice blocks! 😀
I saw that when I read your blog post 🙂
Book marked. I’m going to start baking with sour dough……very soon! (as I keep saying)
You will love using it Sally 🙂
Absolutely gorgeous looking loaves, Tandy. I also baked today, but you’ve clearly mastered the slash much better than me!
some of the slashes work better than others – I should make a note of which knife works best 🙂
this looks divine—i use rye flour to make rotis–never made rye bread
Those must be very healthy rotis Usha 🙂
Your bread looks delicious!
Thank you Tok 🙂