Michael

Sourdough Rye Bread

A naturally leavened rye loaf with deep, malty flavor from molasses and optional caraway — bake it as a boule, bâtard, or in a loaf tin.

Makes one loaf. Total time includes roughly 22 hours of fermentation. Bake it as a boule, bâtard, or in a loaf tin.

Special Equipment

Weigh the sourdough starter, water, and molasses into a large ceramic or glass bowl and mix together briefly.
Add the rye flour, bread flour, and salt and mix everything together with the end of a wooden spoon. The dough will be fairly shaggy and only just brought together.
Cover the bowl with cling film or a damp tea towel and let it sit for around 1 hour (a little longer is fine). This autolyse lets the flour soak up the water and fully hydrate.

Once hydrated, bring the dough together into a ball. Work around the bowl, grabbing the dough from the outside and stretching it up and over itself until a rough ball forms — about 20–25 folds. Rye flour makes the dough stickier than you may be used to.
Pop the plastic wrap back on and let the dough rest for 30 minutes.

Over the next few hours, build structure with stretches and folds. Do 4–6 sets: for each set, stretch the dough up and over itself 4 times, leaving about 15 minutes between sets. Do at least 4 sets over 2 hours.
Really work the dough to develop the gluten, since rye flour has a lower gluten content.
If adding caraway seeds, work them in during the second set of stretches and folds — they will be fully incorporated by the end.

Once the stretches and folds are done, cover the dough again and let it rest and ferment until nearly doubled in size (see Notes).

Lightly flour your counter with rice flour (it has no gluten, so it won’t stick). Use a silicone dough scraper to gently ease the dough out of the bowl, landing it upside down so the smooth top is on the counter and the sticky underside faces up.
Shape into a tight ball (or bâtard, or a loaf for a tin), building surface tension and handling the dough as little as possible to preserve the gases and air bubbles.
Liberally flour your banneton with rice flour and place the dough in smooth side down, seam on top, so the top picks up the banneton’s lines. If using a cloth-lined bowl, rub the flour in well and place the dough smooth side up. Make sure the bowl isn’t too big so the dough holds its shape.

Cover the shaped dough loosely with a plastic bag or damp tea towel and place it in the fridge. Leave it for a minimum of 5 hours and up to 36 hours — the longer the cold ferment, the better the blisters, the deeper the flavor, and the easier the dough is to score.

When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 230°C/450°F with the Dutch oven inside so it gets screaming hot — about 1 hour. Leave the dough in the fridge until the last minute; cold dough into a hot oven gives a great spring.
Take the dough out of the fridge and gently place it onto a piece of baking paper large enough to use the edges as a handle. Score the loaf with a lame, clean razor blade, or knife.
Carefully remove the Dutch oven, lower the dough in using the baking paper as a handle (spritz with water first if you like), put the lid on, and return it to the oven.
Bake for 30 minutes with the lid on at 230°C/450°F, then 10–15 minutes with the lid off at 210°C/410°F.
Remove the loaf from the Dutch oven as soon as possible and cool on a wire rack. Because of its higher moisture content, this bread needs longer to cool — up to 12 hours to cool completely.

Rye starter / levain: You don’t need a rye starter — your regular active sourdough starter works fine. To deepen the rye flavor, build a rye levain: feed 20g of your starter with 50g warm water and 50g rye flour, and let it double before using it in this recipe.
Rye flour: Rye has a lower gluten content than bread flour, so the dough is harder to work with — it will become easier as you move through the stretches and folds. Light or dark rye both work; darker rye gives a more intense color and flavor.
Bulk fermentation: Timing depends on the temperature of your kitchen. With 100g of starter and this high hydration, it ferments fairly quickly in a warm room (as little as a few hours) and slower in a cold one (possibly overnight). To slow it down, reduce the starter to 50g. The dough is ready when nearly doubled, wobbly, and full of bubbles, with large air bubbles visible under the surface. Don’t let it go past doubled or it will be over-fermented.
Softer crust: For a less crusty loaf, wrap it in a tea towel and let it cool covered — it will sweat slightly and soften the crust.
Fully baked: If you’re worried it isn’t cooked through, turn the oven off, place the loaf directly on the oven rack, leave the door ajar, and let it rest there for a few hours.