Once your sourdough starter is ready and activated you can make sourdough bread every day provided you have enough bread flour.  And in case the only flour you have is rye, well you can make a rye sourdough – it is very much like a bread you find in artisan bakeries. Very tasty and sweet! 

Combine:

  • 400g rye flour (I only had wholemeal rye so this is the one that I used) 
  • 200g sourdough starter
  • 10g salt
  • 40g honey
  • 300ml of lukewarm water (cold in summer)

This dough is very runny, and once you combine all of the above, you will think you have made a sploge or a mistake in the recipe. It is extremely wet dough. Once combined, leave it to rest for 30 mins.

After 30 mins, you need to knead this dough. A lot! 15-20 minutes. If you have a mixer with a paddle attachment it may be useful now. If not, knead it on a lighly oiled surface or in the bowl, folding and slapping and developing gluten. It will not become stretchy and smooth but it will change its texture slightly. Then leave it to rise for approximately 6 hours at room temperature or over night in the fridge.

Once the dough is rested, turn it out into a very heavily floured surface (I use my Le Creuset pot, heavily floured, which I will cook the bread in). I find this bread impossible to shape, but you may be better than me. In any case, the dough doesn’t like to be shaped too much. 

Leave it to prove until doubled in size. This can take up to 6 hours. It needs to be at least doubled in size.

At least 30 minutes before you are ready to bake, preheat the oven at 240C. Bake the bread for 15 mins at this temperature, then take out of the oven and score the top, bake it for another 20-30 minutes at 200C until the bread is dark in colour. 

Cool down before you enjoy it – it can last a long time if wrapped up in a kitchen cloth or in a bread bag xx