Notes on Rye Bread

I normally blend whole wheat in whenever I use rye, but this time I baked with rye flour and bread flour alone. The method is almost identical to the rye and whole wheat sourdough below.

Sourdough bread with rye and whole wheat

Ingredients:

• Starter (rye and whole wheat)60g
• Bread flour (Golden Yacht)175g
• Rye flour75g
• Water (around 20°C)168cc
• Salt4g

Bread rises on the gluten that forms in wheat flour. Gluten is a bond between glutenin and gliadin — and rye has no glutenin. That is why rye bread is inherently reluctant to rise and tends towards a dense, solid texture.

That said, the bread flour in the house at the moment is Golden Yacht, an extra-strong flour that stretches enormously. Too much so for sourdough, really — but I thought it might work well in combination with rye, so I baked this.

In the event, perhaps because the temperature has been climbing lately, the process was the same as usual but the dough over-fermented and lost its tension and structure. It would not open along the deep score, and instead split widely at the shallow cuts I had made as decoration.

As for eating it: very soft, dissolving nicely on the palate, with the rye flavour coming through clearly. Rather good. Next time I plan to try a slightly different method in order to shorten the fermentation.