Best Artisan Sourdough Rye Bread Recipes

QUICK SOURDOUGH RYE BREAD

Steps:

• In a large bowl, dissolve liquid malt extract in warm water. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix until combined. The dough will be very sticky (but not wet) and that's to be expected. If too wet, add more flour. Scrape the dough off your hands. Wash your hands, this will make it much easier to knead the sticky dough. Knead for about 7 minutes inside the bowl. You can also use a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment. In a stand mixer, knead for 3 minutes on low and 4 minutes on medium speed.
• Cover the bowl and let the dough rest in a warm place for about 30-40 minutes. During this time, give the dough 3 stretch and folds, where each time you would pull each corner of the dough and fold onto itself. If it's easier, just knead the dough briefly, about 5-10 seconds each time. This will help it develop gluten and build strength.
• On a lightly floured work surface, shape the dough into a ball and flatten slightly. Place on a piece of parchment paper. Using a serrated knife, make scores as shown in the picture.
• Cover the dough and let rest for 45-60 minutes. It should rise by at least 30%.
• Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 475F with a heavy-duty baking sheet and a bread pan filled about 1/2" with hot water.
• Once the oven is preheated, slide the dough with the parchment paper onto the hot baking sheet. Spray a little bit of water on the walls of the oven and close it quickly. Bake at 475F for 10 minutes. Remove the water pan, drop the temperature to 425F, and continue baking for another 35 minutes.
• Remove the bread from the oven, transfer to a cooling rack and let cool for at least 1 hour at room temperature before slicing.

RUSTIC RYE SOURDOUGH BREAD

Steps:

• Before beginning, it will be helpful to watch this SHORT VIDEO to see me make this bread, noticing that the dough will be stickier than normal because of the rye flour, but it will come together - you just have to trust!
• Add starter, water, and honey to a bowl. Whisk thoroughly until combined, with a fork. Add flours, and mix together first with the fork to start to incorporate, then with your hands until a shaggy dough is formed, and the bits of flour left just disappear. Sprinkle the salt on top and do not mix in, just leave it on top. Cover with a damp cloth.
• Autolyse: let dough sit for one hour, covered and undisturbed.
• Bulk ferment: Now you will knead the salt that is sitting on top, into the dough for about 1 min 15 seconds. There is no precise way to do this, just think of working the dough through your hands and up against the bowl, push and pull. You will start to feel the dough relax a bit around 1 minute. Continue for about 15 or 30 seconds more. Then leave the dough alone, covered, for 30 minutes. This counts as what would be your first set of stretch and folds.
• After those 30 minutes pass, perform a set of stretch and folds. Repeat 2 more times.
• Now you will let sit, undisturbed and covered with a damp cloth, for about 7ish hours at 70 degrees F. If the temperature in your home is above 70, this will take less time, vice versa. You will know it is finished with its bulk ferment when the dough has risen about double, is smooth and puffy on top, with a few bubbles. It will not be as jiggly as some sourdough you've made before.
• At this point, lightly dust your work surface with flour. Put dough onto the work surface, and pre-shape. This video will show you what that means. Let sit for 15 minutes on your work surface.
• Then shape your dough, using this method as a guide.
• Place dough into your flour dusted banneton, (or flour dusted linen lined banneton) seam side up. (Optional, you can wait 15 minutes after placing it in banneton, and pinch the perimeters of the dough into the center to hold the shape even more, called stitching.) The dough will now go through its final rise. You can do this on the counter, which will take about 2 hours at 70 degrees F for the dough to puff up and be jiggly. It will not double. OR you can do the final rise overnight in the refrigerator, with the banneton covered in a plastic bag or with a very damp cloth. You need this for holding moisture in.
• Time to bake. Preheat your oven to 500 degrees F, with your dutch oven preheating inside the oven. When the oven is preheated, flip your dough out gently onto parchment paper and score your dough. If you did the final rise in the refrigerator, take it straight from fridge to scoring. You should score it cold, and DO NOT need to let it come to room temp.
• Then put dough into the dutch oven on the parchment, and put cover on. Turn oven down to 450 degrees F and slide dutch oven in. Bake for 20 minutes, then remove cover.
• Turn heat down to 430 degrees F, and bake for 25 more minutes, until crust is golden brown and crackly. Remove from oven, and remove bread from dutch oven and place onto a cooling rack.
• Wait AT LEAST one hour to cool otherwise, the interior will be gummy.

RYE SOURDOUGH BREAD

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.