Rye Sourdough Bread Recipe (Beginner Friendly)
This recipe is a great place to start using your Dough My God starter. Rye sourdough usually contains 10-20% rye flour. As the proportion of rye in the dough increases, the behaviour changes from what you'd normally expect with wheat. You'll notice the dough becomes more sticky and less elastic as the rye content increases, so the dough can be more difficult to handle. Start with 10% rye (recipe below) and increase the amount until your reach your preferred rye loaf. Remember that you'll also be adding rye into the mix if you're using a rye starter!
This is a 70% hydration recipe; anything lower than 70% tends to be a little too stiff. While higher hydration generally leads to a more airy or bubble crumb in the final product, increasing hydration can make the dough a little hard to handle and takes some practise.
If you want to learn more or calculate your own hydration, head over to the DMG bakers calculator.
Ingredients
495 g quality bakers flour
55 g whole rye flour
50g sunflower seeds/pepitas/linseed (optional)
370 g water (room temperature)
100 g active starter (at peak rise)
12 g sea salt
Method
1. Mix starter and water
Its important to make sure your starter has been fed before you bake and is at its peak (doubled in volume). In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the water and active starter until the starter is mostly dissolved.
2. Add flour
Add both the bakers flour and rye wheat flour to the water and starter mix. Combine by hand until a shaggy dough forms with no dry flour remaining.
3. Autolyse (fermentolyse)
Cover the bowl and let the dough rest for 30 minutes.
4. Add salt
Sprinkle in the salt and mix well, pinching and folding the dough until it smooths out and shows some gluten development (this is the process of creating a stretchy, elastic network of protein strands in your dough, which can be seen and felt as it changes from a shaggy mixture to a smoother, more pliable structure)
5. Bulk fermentation with folds
Over the next 3 hours, perform 6 stretch-and-folds every 30 minutes. After the final fold, let the dough rest until it has risen about 50% and feels airy. Cover the bowl with a damp tea towel when you're not working with it.
6. Pre-shape
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Using a dough scraper or cutter, gently shape into round, pulling the sides of the dough slightly under itself to create some tension in the outer layer. Rest for 30 minutes.
7. Final shape and proof
Shape into your preferred loaf shape and place seam-side up in floured banneton/proofing baskets. Cover lightly with gald wrap or a tea towel/baking linen and proof overnight in the refrigerator. (This step is optional but we highly reccommened it if you have the time).
8. Bake
Preheat oven with a Dutch oven inside to 240°C. If you dont have a dutch oven, an oven safe pot with a lid also works well
Transfer loaf to Dutch oven/pot, score, and cover with lid.
Bake 30-40 minutes with lid on, then uncover and bake until the crust reaches your desired color (usually 15–20 minutes more).
9. Cool
Remove loaf from Dutch oven and cool on a wire rack for at least 1 hour before slicing.