Sourdough rye bread
Sourdough rye bread, a very thick, heavy bread similar to pumpernickel. It takes a few days to make but has a unique flavor worth the preparation.
Servings: 20
Preparation Time: 9 hours
Ingredients
- 1/2 tbsp dry yeast
- 1 cup warm water
- 1 cup rye flour
- 6 cups warm water
- 20 cups rye flour
- 1/2 cup barley malt syrup
- 1/2 cup brewer’s yeast or soy protein
- 2 tbsp sea salt
- 1 cup mixed grains
Steps
- Soften the yeast in the water until it bubbles.
- Stir in the rye flour
- Cover and let rise and fall, without stirring or punching down.
- Keep it at room temperature 2-3 days or until it smells sour and has a sticky consistency.
- Mix the sourdough with the water and six cups of flour.
- Cover and let stand in a warm place for at least three hours. The longer it stands, the sourer the bread.
- Scoop out 2 cups and refrigerate for the next baking session.
- Blend in the remaining ingredients.
- Knead the dough until smooth and elastic.
- Shape into four loaves and place on greased cookie sheets.
- Cover and allow to rise in a warm place 3-4 hours. (They’ll only rise another third.)
- Bake at 350F for 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours.
This is only a slight variation on Beatrice Trum Hunter’s sourdough rye, which can be found in her Whole-Grain Baking Sampler. If you bake breads, you want this book.
- Whole-Grain Baking Sampler
- This marvelous book contains recipes for a variety of breadstuffs: breads, rolls, biscuits, cookies, bars, and other sticky things. Most of them use whole grains (obviously) and are fairly easy to make.
More bread
- Half-hour biscuits
- There’s no reason to settle for lesser prepared biscuits when you can make these in half an hour.
- The Complete Bread Cookbook
- This small book covers a lot of ground, but is nothing special. All the recipes I’ve tried work fine. All in all, it’s a worthwhile choice if you need more bread recipes.
- Buggy bread
- A mixed-grain bread with aniseed and blue corn meal, and several different grains.