Rye Bread

Ingredients

• 75 g old rye sourdough loaf (1 slice)
• 500 g rye whole‑grain flour
• 0.5 cube yeast (about 21 g)
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 tbsp barley malt
• 800 g rye flour
• 50 g wheat bran
• oil for the baking sheet

Instructions

1. 1.

   Crush the bread into a bowl, add about 500 ml lukewarm water and mix with hands until it dissolves. Stir in the rye whole‑grain flour. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and let rest in a warm place for at least 24 hours. The dough should then smell slightly sour and bubble.

2. 2.

   Remove the formed skin from the surface of the dough.

3. 3.

   Crush the yeast and dissolve it in about 50 ml lukewarm water. Add salt and malt, stir into the sourdough starter. Mix in 750 g rye flour with a hand mixer’s kneading hooks alternately with 100 ml lukewarm water; knead for about 15 minutes. Shape the dough into a ball, cover it in the bowl, and let rise in a warm place for about 3 hours.

4. 4.

   Knead the dough again and divide it into four equal pieces. Mix the remaining rye flour (50 g) with wheat bran, sprinkle on the work surface and form four dough balls. Shape each into a flat disc of about 20 cm diameter with your hands.

5. 5.

   Punch a hole in the center of each disc using a glass (about 5 cm diameter). Place the discs on two greased baking sheets, pierce them several times with a fork, cover and let rise for another 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 200 °C with upper and lower heat and place a heat‑proof bowl of hot water in the oven. Bake the loaves for about 30 minutes.

6. 6.

   Remove the loaves from the oven and cut them while still hot with a bread knife. Let cool on a wire rack, then reassemble if desired.