If you’ve always fancied trying your hand at sourdough, this fantastic Danish rye bread is a great place to start. It’s fairly failsafe and doesn’t require shaping; you just spoon it straight into the tin. It tastes great even if it doesn’t rise much; just slice it thinner and use it to make open sandwiches.
Get some well-established sourdough starter from a friend or have a go at growing your own truly local starter form the bacterium and yeasts living at your place. Failing that, you can even buy it from your local organic greengrocer nowadays! Don’t forget to feed your starter regularly if you want it to live long and rise many a loaf for you.
I grind all our wholegrain flours on my gorgeous little scandi grain mill. If you love to bake, I’d highly recommend one. Freshly ground grain has a much higher nutritional content than ready-ground wholegrain flours and is way more digestible as it hasn’t become rancid. Rancidity begins to set in only days after the grain has been cracked open and can make wholegrain bread taste bitter and sour. You’ll be amazed at the sweet, nutty-flavoured bread you bake using freshly ground flour.
Ingredients
Leaven (mix the night before)
50g wholegrain rye four
50ml water
10g/1 tbsp rye sourdough starter
To soak (start the night before)
120g sunflower seed
Filtered water or spring water
Bread
500g wholegrain rye flour plus a little extra for dusting
8g malted rye flour or 2 tsp malt syrup
14g/2 tsp salt
100g leaven (from the night before)
400ml filtered or spring water
Neutral flavoured oil, for greasing the tin
Method
The night before:
Cover the sunflower seed with plenty of water, cover with a plate or tea towel, and leave to soak overnight.
To make the leaven: In a medium bowl, whisk the water and rye starter together, then add the rye flour, mixing until well combined. Cover with a plate or damp tea towel and set aside in a warm place overnight.
Mixing the dough:
The next morning drain and rinse sunflower seeds. Drain again, thoroughly.
Combine the drained sunflower seeds and all the remaining ingredients in a large bowl and mix well using your hands. The mix will look and feel like thick cement. Don’t worry, this is as it should be!
Grease a 10 x 4” heavy bread tin with oil. Dust the tin with rye flour and tap the tin against the bench to remove the excess. Spoon the mixture into the pan, pressing the thick dough into the base and corners with your fingers. Level the top with a dough scraper or spatula. Cover with a damp tea towel or a plastic bag and leave to rise in the fridge for 8 hours.
Preheat the oven to 230⁰C at least half an hour before baking. At the same time, take the loaf out of the fridge to warm up a little. Have a heavy biscuit tray handy to place on top of the tin while the bread cooks. This keeps the steam from the dough trapped inside the tin and prevents the crust from drying out while the loaf rises. (Lidded bread tins are available, which would do this job more elegantly – I make do with the baking sheet!)
Turn the oven down to 190 ⁰C. Pop the bread in the oven with the baking sheet balanced on top. Bake for 40 mins, then remove the baking sheet and continue to bake for a further 40 mins. Now take the bread out of the tin and return it to the oven upside down for a further 10-15 minutes to crisp the bottom crust. Cool on a wire rack for at least 6 -7 hours before cutting.