This award-winning rye sourdough takes time and hard work, but the reward is a rye loaf with a deep, mellow flavour and a melt-in-your mouth texture that is unlike anything you’ll find in the supermarket or even your usual artisan bakery. With no sugar, yeast or animal-based products added this is a loaf that is nutritious, filling, and healthy.
Ingredients
For 150g of motherdough (feeding it 2 times a day, for 5 days):
Coarse rye flour approx. 570g over course of 5 days
Half grated onion
Water approx. 430ml/g over course of 5 days
For the dough:
Cracked Rye Grains 81g
Linseeds 81g
Oats (enough to roll the loaf in)
Dark Rye Flour 166g
Rye Malt 8g Salt 7g
Black Treacle 10g
Method
Making the motherdough:
Mix thoroughly the grated onion, course rye flour (57g) and water (43g).
The hard part (it helps if you have a new born baby or are a bad sleeper) - refresh it every 3 hours for 5 days with a mix of coarse rye flour and water at the ratio of 57/43. That means you should be adding 57g of flour and 43g of water each time. However, if you are not keen on losing out on sleep, you can feed the dough in the mornings and evenings only.
You can pop in the rest of the motherdough in the fridge and save it for the next week – you will only have to 'feed' it a couple more times to get it ready!
Mixing the dough:
Soak the cracked rye grains and linseeds in hot water for about an hour.
Once this is done, mix and knead the motherdough with dark rye flour, rye malt, black treacle, a little salt and the soaked grains.
Leave it to ferment for up to 2 hours at room temperature.
Time to get creative! Shape the bread as you wish - you can either form a long shape similar to ours or make a more classic loaf shape. Take note though, because the dough uses course rye flour it will be denser and will not rise as much as a typical wheat loaf.
Get your bread tin greased a little, roll the dough in oats and place it in the tin.
Further proof in a proofer for about 1 to 1.5hours.
Set your oven at 190 C and bake for one hour.
And voila! Enjoy it spread with salted butter or topped with hummus and roasted veg. We also love it as a side to a soup or a salad to make the meal into something more substantial. Given it's high in fibre it's guaranteed to keep the hunger pangs at bay until the next meal!
On Instagram:
