This recipe is developed from many different recipes I have tried over the past year. Every loaf I made prior to landing on this one failed in some way–too dense, too hard to cut, too hard of a crust, bubble under the crust, crack in the top, gummy interior, etc. Most recipes omit the “Secret Handshake,” which I am including here. From Christian Mjadsberg I learned that having some white flour is important. Previously, I had gone the all-rye route. The texture is much better now. Hope you enjoy!
If you don’t have a starter (takes 4-5 days):
- 3T European Yogurt (the runny kind)—buttermilk would work too
- 50g Rye Flour
- 100g warm water
Each day, add 25g of rye flour and 50g of water. You just leave this out on the counter, covered.
After you use it for your first loaf, put remainder in refrigerator in a jar and feed it (25g of rye flour and 50g of water), every couple of weeks. On the day you plan to use it, take it out, feed it, and let it warm to room temperature.
The night before you plan to bake your bread:
For the levain—mix together in a large bowl, cover, leave on counter for ~12 hours:
- 300 grams dark rye flour
- 100 grams white flour—I have made all-rye, but the texture is not as good
- 350 grams water
- 70 grams ripe sourdough starter—you can use more if you want, not an exact science
Grains and seeds—soak overnight covered
- 300 grams of grains and seeds (I use rye berries and sunflower seeds, but you can use a mix of anything, flax, pumpkin seeds, etc.)
- 285 grams water—I use boiling water.
Bread Baking Day
Final Dough—add the soaked seeds/nuts, and their liquid to the levain, then add the rest of the ingredients to the bowl and thoroughly mix. I just mix with a wooden spoon—it should be a gooey mess.
- 200 grams dark rye flour
- 130 grams white flour
- 180 grams water
- 18 grams salt
- 2 tablespoons molasses
Further instructions:
Grease a 13 x 4 inch (1.5 lb loaf pan). Set aside.
Using a sturdy wooden spoon, transfer the dough to the prepared loaf pan, distributing it evenly across the length of the pan and smoothing out the top with spoon or rubber spatula (if you are having trouble smoothing out the top, dampen utensil slightly with water). Let it rise until it comes to within a ½ to ¼ inch of the top of the pan. This may take anywhere from 1 ½-4 hours depending on the temperature of your kitchen and the dough.
Secret handshake: Just before putting into the oven, take a skewer, moistened with water and poke holes to bottom of pan. I used the following pattern (hocus pocus):
As it turns out, this is very important for allowing steam to escape; it will keep the loaf from popping up in the center, and forming a bubble between the top crust and the bread!
Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit, bake for ~60 minutes, until bread has an internal temperature of 205 degrees–this is also an important secret to bread-baking success. Remove from pan, place on cooling rack and cover loosely with a clean tea towel Don’t cut it until the next day. To cut, use a good serrated knife, and cut in thin slices.
