Rustic Rye Sourdough Bread Recipe

I just had my first slice of bread made using this recipe, and it is outstanding. It was the first loaf I made with the first starter I’ve made in years. I admit I was not having high hopes during the process. The dough was very sticky, and I didn’t have regular bread flour around, so had substituted a combination of All Purpose (King Arthur Organic) and High Gluten Bread Flour (Central Milling) in a ration of about 60/40. I am a fairly experienced bread baker, but was not feeling confident in the stickiness (as opposed to tackiness) of the bread after 5 or 6 stretch and folds, so on the last stretch and fold, I added about a quarter cup of the High Gluten Bread Flour, and that gave the dough a silkier, tacky – but not super sticky – texture that more resembled the video and made the dough easier to handle. I don’t currently have a banneton, so used a tea cloth lined glass bowl, sprinkled with organic brown rice flour for proofing over night. The results were stunning. A pretty little loaf with fabulous flavor, wonderful texture (soft w a light crunch to the crust), and lots of lovely big nooks and crannies. It was a bit labor intensive, but one of the best tasting loaves of bread I have ever made. Regarding some folks who are concerned about the honey, I don’t like sweet bread, and I rarely add sweetener to bread I bake (unless it’s a sweet bread or a festive bread like Challah), but I think the bit of honey in this loaf brings out the flavor and helps the leavening. It doesn’t taste sweet at all. Thank you for this exceptional recipe and for the reassurances on persevering with the sticky dough in previous comments. I highly recommend this to anyone who loves sourdough rye.

This is so good! Thank you for the recipe! I doubled the recipe and baked one loaf in a loaf pan and one in a dutch oven. Both came out beautiful.

Amazing – turns out beautifully every time.

Super clear instructions! This loaf came out beyond superb!!!! Have to hold myself back from eating the whole thing myself!

Baked this this morning, after leaving overnight in fridge.
It is superb.

A lot of information! Also creates a loaf that is just the right size for two people.

I just took this bread out of the oven -I can’t wait to cut in….looks fabulous!
It was easy to make and directions were well explained!
I made it look like a pumpkin- wish I could post pic here.

Worth the time spent with the rise and rest. My sourdough bread came out perfect! I wish I can post the picture. Thank you!!

Thank you so much for this fabulous recipe and great instructions! Just made my first loaf and we are loving it.
I am wondering if there is a way to make the loaf more sour? I have read through all the comments and made some adjustments to the recipe based on what I understood from the comments. I replaced the whole wheat flour with bread flour, and did a 5 hour (just how the timing worked out) autolyse with just the bread flour and a portion of the water (equal to the % of bread flour used). Then added the rye flour, remaining water, honey and the starter (which I decreased to get a slower bulk fermentation). After 25 minutes I added the salt and some caraway seeds with a touch of water (to compensate for the decreased starter amount). After bulk fermentation I put the sourdough in the fridge for 48 hours and then baked which gave me what I think is a great oven rise. It was absolutely fabulous, however my kids are asking if I can make it more sour. Any suggestions?

Could I switch out the honey for white sugar or maple syrup?

Thank you so much. After a year of trials your advice gave me the near perfect loaf. I just need to perfect the slits. Maybe the s ally isn’t deep enough

This came out perfectly! And it has a delicious rich flavour and beautiful soft texture.

This recipe has some of the best tips and tricks for a perfect loaf. It also tastes amazing!!! Love the flavor, texture, crumb and crust. I’ll be making this regularly.

After trying many sourdough recipes unsuccessfully, this new baker finally managed to pull off what I consider a perfect cob loaf. This simple recipe delivered Aa crunchy crust with a soft and slightly chewy bread. I loved the addition of the honey. It will now be my go to recipe.

After my first 20 tries, I am now making fabulous sourdough bread. Next stop is your sourdough rye. I would like to add caraway seeds. How much do you suggest for 2 loaves?

I started this recipe late last night and did the bulk fermentation overnight. This bread turned out just like your photos! This is my first successful sourdough loaf, after a bunch of disappointing attempts with other books/sites. Thank you so much!

Do you think it would be worthwhile to try combining gluten free flours with sourdough starter and rye?

I am not celiac but I react more to wheat flour and have almost no reaction to solid 100% rye which I don’t like that well.

I’ve read that whole psyllium and flax can make enough of a binder to have some rising.

Thanks for your recipe – it looks amazing! Wish Icould tolerate the wheat!

Best regards,

B. Maurene White, Montreal QC, Canada

When you say “After those 30 minutes pass, perform a set of stretch and folds. Repeat 2 more times.” does this mean to repeat waiting 30 minutes as well? or just the stretch and folds?

Hi Amanda, thanks for sharing the recipe. I bake a lot of sourdough bread, mostly a mix of whole wheat and good all-purpose flour (like King Arthur) or whole rye and AP flour. I have a couple of questions:
– Why the honey or some other sweetener? What purpose does that serve in the recipe? I have tried adding molasses to my rye breads a couple of times in the past; don’t really like the taste that it adds, and it makes the dough a bit stickier (as if rye wasn’t already sticky enough!).
– Why do you emphasize that the dough needs to be baked cold (if overnight retarded), and not warmed up on a counter first? I have done both actually in the past, I find that the crumb tends to be more open if I let the dough sit on a counter for about an hour first. Interested in your thoughts.

By the way, love the way you scored your loaf, I just did mine in a similar way too, and it looks very pretty!

Thank you glad to know it’s just not me with sticky dough

I have a cast iron Dutch oven that has no lid (really it’s a cast iron pot that’s very deep) . My Dutch oven from Lodge has a lid but the lid isn’t certified to 500 degrees or even 430 degrees due to the plastic handle. Several questions:
1) I could invert my cast iron skillet over the top of the cast iron Dutch oven and make a lid that way (not too stable, but it might work). or possibly make an aluminum foil lid or
2) might it work to use my baking stone without using a Dutch oven at all? (I will have to check it’s upper temperature limits)
3. OK to sub in molasses for the honey?
4. Do you mist the oven with water at all as the bread is first going in or use steam in any way?

Hi, what altitude are you baking this at? I’m in Denver at >5000 feet so want to make sure I can do this with appropriate high altitude instructions.

Thanks!

I’m just in the middle of making this loaf and have followed the measurements to the gram, but at the moment the dough is extreeeemely sticky – to the point where i can barely stretch and fold it because half of it sticks to my hand! Is this normal or do you know why this is?

Oh yay!!! I’ve been looking for a Sourdough Rye Bread recipe to make! This will be my next loaf! If I want add toasted seeds & nuts do you have any suggestion of how & when to incorporate them into the dough?