A Simple Loaf of 100% Rye Sourdough Bread

It has been quite some time since I last baked with rye sourdough. After writing 100% Rye I took some time away from baking with rye, both because I was baking more wheat or gluten-free sourdough for other projects and also because I don’t like to stick with the same thing for a long time. I guess I get bored easily.

Also, I am terrible at closing cabinets, finishing jobs, and remembering why it is that I walked into a room.

My inadequacies aside, I recently purchased a bag of rye flour when I discovered (once again) how much less expensive it is than spelt and einkorn and kamut flours. And so I rediscovered why it is that I got started baking with sourdough rye in the first place: the economics, the simplicity, the easy digestibility of the bread, and the versatility of a thin slice.

A loaf like this is not a light and fluffy one. Instead, it is sliced thin and smeared or topped with all manner of things sweet or savory. It is an open-faced sandwich or an egg yolk-dipper or a soup accompaniment. It holds Mabel’s cream cheese or good butter or a smashed avocado and salt. It is the simple bread I’ve been throwing together first thing in the morning and throwing in the oven just after supper. The loaves bake in the time it takes me to feed the meat birds, water the kitchen garden, and make sure the boys have evening chores covered.

If you’ve baked from 100% Rye, you know there is a recipe very similar to this for a No-Knead Sourdough Rye Loaf. That dough is just barely higher in hydration than this and, as such, tends to fall a bit if it is left to rise too long in the pan. This bread doesn’t seem to do that so if you’ve had any difficulty with that one, give this loaf a try. But now that I have rye flour on hand again, I think I’ll go ahead and make the focaccia and tortillas from that book while I’m at it… and maybe the chocolate chip cookie bars that were really, really yummy too.

A Simple Loaf of 100% Rye Sourdough Bread

Makes 2 9×5″ loaves

Ingredients

• 2 cups active rye sourdough starter
• 2.5 cups water
• 5 cups rye flour
• 1 Tablespoon salt

Directions

In a medium mixing bowl, combine the sourdough starter and the water and mix until combined. Add in the flour and salt and stir until a sticky, homogenous dough forms. Cover the dough and allow to ferment for at least 4-6 hours, or overnight.

Grease and lightly flour two 9×5″ bread pans. Uncover the dough, divide it in half and scoop one half into one of the loaf pans. With wet hands, smooth the surface of the dough until it fills the pan just over half way. Repeat with the second half of the dough. Sprinkle the tops of the loaves with flour.

Cover the pans with a towel or plastic wrap and allow to rise for 2-4 hours or until it just reaches the edge of the pan. Preheat oven to 450 degrees when the bread is nearly finished rising.

Uncover the bread and place it in the preheated oven. Immediately turn the oven temperature down to 350 degrees and bake the bread for approximately 50 minutes or until golden brown on top and cooked through.

Remove bread to cooling racks and allow to cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing.

More Rye Sourdough

For more 100% sourdough rye breads and treats, see…