Sourdough Rye Bread

To make a sourdough bread forget everything you ever learnt about making bread. 

This is a recipe from 5+ different sources and experiments. My aim was to come up with a bread that I remember my grandma used to making. So no other ingredients than flour/salt/water. This is the time we wish we payed more attention, listened better and wrote down all the recipes and especially tips that our grandmas and mom shared with us. 

Ingredients:

250g Stone Ground Organic Whole Grain Rye Flour

250g Stone Ground Whole Grain Wheat Flour

375g (yes, gram not milliliter) water

125 g Sourdough Starter

10g Himalayan salt

1-3 tbsp oil

Direction:

Make your starter.

This can take a couple of days to a week or so. You can also use acquired starter that you got from a friend or family member. I followed this direction ( http://www.weekendbakery.com/posts/rye-sourdough-starter-in-easy-steps/ ) because of the small measurements in case it didn’t work or I mess it up that way I am not throwing away tons of food. It actually happened and I had to restart. For the starter you want a 50-50 ratio of flour to water. For the bread you want a 75% hydration (75% flour to 25% water).

Bread:

1. If your starter is in room temperature, active and alive you don’t need to feed it before your make the bread. If your starter is dormant and kept in the refrigerator take it out at least 6 hours before but the night before is even better. Feed your starter with equal flour and water and leave it at room temperature to wake up and double. 
2. When you have an active starter measure out what you need, add the water, mix it
3. Add the flour and salt and make a dough. This dough will be sticky but give it a couple of minutes and it will be formable. Do NOT add more flour to it! You can also try stirring it instead of kneading. 
4. Oil a glass or ceramic bowl and place your dough in the bowl and cover with a lid or plastic wrap
   
5. Leave it to rise until it doubles in size which can be 8-12 hours. I left mine overnight. As you can see I even put a towel around my dish to create the warm environment. 
Note: Some recipe says to proof the dough in the refrigerator for 12 hours then form it and leave it at room temperature for 12 hours. I did not do this step for 2 reasons. One: Did not know about it at the time. It was only drawn to my attention after the bread was baked. Two: I do like the idea of putting the dough together the night before and bake it in the morning. If you have the time and patience, certainly try it with proofing.
6. After the 12 hours when you poke your finger into the dough the indentation should stay in the dough for several seconds; this is how you will know that the dough is ready for the next step.
   
7. Preheat your over at 500F with the Dutch Oven (DO), lid included 
8. While the oven is heating up take the dough out on a floured surface. Form it into a round or rectangular loaf, whatever your desire is. 
9. Then cover with the bowl and leave it for about 30-60 minutes to rise again.
   
10.  You can put some oil or cornmeal or flour on the bottom of your DO, I did nothing and my bread did not stick to the dish. Place your dough in the HOT dish. BE CAREFUL not to burn yourself. 
11. Score the top of the dough 
    
12.  Turn heat down to 450F
13. Place bread in the oven with the lid on and bake for 30 minutes
14. Take the lid off and bake another 10-15 minutes. 
15. When bread is nice and brown take it out from the oven and take it out from the DO immediately as well.
16. Cool on cooling rack and store wrapped in a tea towel. 
    
17. Feed your starter to replace what you used up. I actually fed it 100g/100ml immediately after I was done making the dough and then fed it one more time with the same amount the day of baking. This way I have enough starter to use whenever I need to make bread.  
    
    

This bread will not rise as much as regular bread made with commercial yeast. It will be more dense and that will also depend on how much rye flour is used.

Good Luck and Enjoy!