The Easiest Sourdough Rye Bread

As I am very very beginner when it comes to bread baking I was looking for a the simpliest and easiest recipe possible for a bread with sourdough. My taste preference is rye over wheat, and dark/ whole grain over white. Any seeds - sunflower, pumpkin - or nuts are more than welcome. I found a dream recipe for a novice like me on a fantastic Liska's blog (not surprising, is it?) :) Since that time, I've baked it at least 4 times and every time it was excellent (you can see it for example in the pictures of hummus).

Even though the bread is made purely of rye flour it's soft and delicate and toasted sunflower seeds add a nutty sweet aftertaste to it (which I love). As Liska's writing, the secret of a success with this bread is feeding your sourdough / starter / levain 10 to 12 hours before using it. I fed mine with 100g whole rye flour and 100g water.

The Easiest Sourdough Rye Bread

with Sunflower Seeds

Fits rectangular loaf  form 25cm long.

1 day before baking:
1 tablespoon rye levain/ sourdough (fed 10 - 12 hours before)
150ml water
150g rye bread flour, type 720*

*in Hungary 720 is not available (or at least I have't managed to find it yet). You can buy though and use with great results light rye flour - "vilagos rozliszt" RL-90.

All ingredients mix in a bowl, cover with plastic foil and put aside. I usually do it in the evening and use it for baking the next day in the morning.

After 12 - 18 hours I add:
380g rye bread flour, type 720
1 1/1 teaspoon salt
200ml water
50g toasted sunflower seeds**

Mix all the ingredients apart from sunflower seeds using a wooden spoon or a mixer. Don't mix too long. At the end add toasted sunflower seeds. Cover the pan with the vegetable oil and sprinkle with bran. Put the dough in the baking pan, sprinkle the flour onto the top or cover with a bit of oil . Cover with the plastic foil and the leave in a warm place to rise. Depending on the temperature it will take from 2 to 6 hours - it took 2 hours for me. The volume of the bread should double - only then it can be baked.
Put the bread into a cold oven and set the temperature to 230°C. After 30 minutes lower the temperature to 210°C and bake for 30 minutes more. If the bread's top is becoming too dark, cover it with aluminium foil.
Take the bread out from the pan immediately and let it cool down on the rack.

**Warm up the teflon frying pan - don't use oil. Fry the sunflower seeds till they're golden, stirring constantly. Should take around 3-5 minutes.  Let the seeds cool down before adding to the dough.

Bread baking madness...

The main symptom of the advancing bread baking madness is simply uncontrollable baking, connected with flour shopping spree and sourdough production. Yesterday I baked two breads - one of them was the Easy Sunflowerseed Bread, the second one was based on the same idea, however, with the addition of rye flour and sun-dried tomatoes - Easy Sun-Dried Tomato Bread. Both breads are very simple and based on yeast.

My ambition though was to have real bread, which means for me a one that is based on levain, not yeast. I thought that it's a difficult, complex process, nearly a closed book to an amateur baker like me. But no! I've found words of encouragement and easy, step by step instructions on Liska's baking blog. Therefore, since five days I've been growing my my first levain - a sourdough bacteria (&a bit of wild yeast) culture, a natural pre-ferment based on whole-grain rye flour. In levain a natural fermentation occurs whose major by-products are carbon dioxide and alcohol (for yeast) and lactic acid & acetic acid (for bacteria). It is the yeast that primarily leavens a dough, but it is the bacteria that create acids that promote strength and flavor in bread.*

Today my patience was rewarded and I took out of the oven a gorgeous loaf of Hungarian Sourdough Rye Bread. From the original recipe (coming also from Liska's blog) I skipped cumin seeds which neither of us likes. The bread is moist thanks to potatoes but not too heavy. Ideal for sandwiches and as a compliment to a soup. 

Easy Sun-Dried Tomato Bread

100g whole-grain rye flour
300g all-purpose wheat flour (type 550)
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
2g fresh yeast
250ml water
8 sun-dried tomatoes (in oil), cut into small pieces

Fits rectangular loaf  form 25cm long.

Thoroughly mix all the ingredients in a bowl. Cover with a cotton kitchen cloth and leave for 12-18 hours. Cover the pan with the vegetable oil and sprinkle with bran. After 12-18h put the dough in the baking pan, sprinkle the flour onto the top and the leave in a warm place to rise. The dough should fill the baking pan within approximately 30 - 60minutes. Preheat the oven to 230°C. Onto the bottom of the oven (or the bottom flat baking pan) spill a glass of ice-cubes. Put the pan into the oven (only once it has risen). After 10minutes lower the temperature to 210°C and bake for 30-40minutes more.

Enjoy with some cream cheese and tomatoes... mmm :)

Hungarian Sourdough Rye Bread

200g water
3 teaspoons instant yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
450g rye sourdough / rye levain**
450g wheat bread flour (I used wheat all-purpose type 550 flour and it worked well)
3 flat teaspoons marine salt
150g cooked potatoes (pressed or mashed)
1 tablespoon cumin (I skipped it)

Fits rectangular loaf  form 30cm long.

Mix the instant yeast with sugar and water. Set aside for 15 minutes.

Then add the rest ingredients in order of liquidity - the most liquid first, then dry ones. Knead the dough - you can use a mixer with a hook. The dough should be quite loose and a bit sticky. Move the dough into a bowl and let it rest for 30 minutes. In the meantime, cover the pan with the vegetable oil and sprinkle with bran. Put the dough into the pan, cover with a cotton kitchen cloth and set aside in a warm place to rise. It should fill in the pan - it took me about 2 hours (Liska says in her blog that it took her about 3 hours.)

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Put the pan into the oven (only once it has risen!) and bake for 45 minutes. Let the bread cool down before cutting. Enjoy! :)

*For more information have a look into a chapter 5 from "Bread Baking - An Artisan's Perspective" by Daniel T. DiMuzio
**recipe coming soon!