Baking with Rye
We personally like a wheat/spelt 80% rye 20% bread very much. The bread stays longer moist and is very tasty.
Friends of ours make a 100% rye bread. It needs a bit of patience to produce: recipe for about 4 loaves
Sourdough needs to be prepared or bought.
Grind 8 cups of Milmore whole rye or mix Milmore rye flour 2/3 with 1/3 of kibbled rye, add 1½ cup sourdough, gently stir to make a moist slurry, plenty of moisture activates the dough. Place it in a warm place, leave for 6-8 hours, cover to prevent surface drying.
Optional: Put 2-400 g of seed separately (linseed, sunflower, pumpkin etc) to soak at the same time.
The slurry will have risen and be well fermented containing plenty of air bubbles.
(Take out ½ cup sourdough starter for your next bread; add to this lukewarm water and 1 cup rye flour – drier consistency this time to slow fermentation processes. Leave for a while in the warm, then place your sourdough starter in the fridge for a fortnight for use in your next bread).
To your prepared dough add another 6 cups of rye flour, add 4-6 tsp salt, add the seeds you soaked earlier; gently stir to make a moist slurry.
Gently transfer the mixture into greased bread forms. They should be half full. Place in a warm place, cover to retain moisture and leave for 2-4 hours. Heat the oven to 220 degree C. Place the bread into the oven and pour some water for moisture onto the bottom of the oven. Bake for 10 mins, then reduce the temperature to 180 degrees and bake for about 45 min more. Open the oven door, but leave the bread in the oven to gently lose heat for 10 min. Take the tins out of the oven and tip out the bread. Check if cooked by knocking underside of bread – it should sound hollow. Place on a grid to cool off, then in an earthenware bread container with small air vent on top to keep your rye bread fresh for a fortnight.