Rye Sourdough Bread Recipes

Steps:

• The night before you want to bake the bread, feed your active sourdough starter with 1 cup rye flour, 1/2 cup bread flour, and 2/3 cup water. Mix until fully combined, cover, and let stand at room temperature overnight.
• The next morning, mix together the expanded starter and 1/4 cup water. Stir in 1 cup rye flour, 1 cup bread flour, salt, sugar, olive oil, and caraway seeds.
• Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead until satiny. Place in a well oiled bowl, and turn once to oil the surface. Cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rise in a warm spot until doubled.
• Punch down dough, and shape into loaves. Place on a greased baking sheet or in greased loaf pans. Allow to rise until doubled in bulk.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Score the tops of the loaves with a serrated knife. Bake in preheated oven until deep brown and loaves sound hollow when thumped on the bottom, about 40 minutes.
• Alternate baking method for chewier, salty crust: Bake 20 minutes at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). In a small bowl, mix together 1/2 cup water and 1 teaspoon salt. Remove loaves from oven and brush crust with salt water. Continue baking for 25 minutes more, brushing at 10 minute intervals.

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:

• In a large mixing bowl, combine yeast and the warm water; let stand until yeast is dissolved and bubbles form on the surface, about 5 minutes.
• Heat buttermilk in a small saucepan over medium heat until it is warm to the touch, and add to yeast mixture. Using a wooden spoon, gradually stir 3 cups flour into yeast mixture until it is combined but mixture is still soupy. Cover with a kitchen towel; let stand in a warm place 8 to 12 hours.
• Add 1 cup flour to mixture, and let stand, covered, 12 hours more.
• Add 5 cups flour and the salt, and stir until mixture just comes together. Turn out onto a well-floured work surface, and knead 5 minutes, adding more flour as necessary; the dough will be very sticky. Place in a lightly oiled bowl, and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise until it is doubled, about 2 hours.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and lightly dust parchment with flour. Using floured hands, punch down dough and turn out onto a lightly floured work surface. Form into a large round loaf. Place on prepared baking sheet, and cover with a damp kitchen towel; let rise until dough is doubled and beginning to crack on the surface, 45 to 60 minutes.
• Bake until loaf is nicely golden and makes a hollow sound when tapped on the bottom, about 60 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool before serving.

Steps:

• Put all ingredients in the bread machine in the order specified by your machine's manufacturer.
• Set on the dough setting. Let it do it's thing, checking after 10 minutes or so to see if you need to adjust the liquid or flour.
• Let rise, take out and form as desired.
• Let rise again, and heat your oven to 350.
• Slash and bake for 15 minutes, turn and bake another 15 minutes. Test for doneness. I use an instant read thermometer, and shoot for 195-200 degrees.
• Let cool completely, slice and enjoy!