RYE BREAD DOUGH RECIPES

Steps:

• Day 1: To begin your starter, mix 50g of the flour with 50g tepid water in a jar or, better still, a plastic container. Make sure all the flour is incorporated and leave, covered with a tea towel, at room temperature for 24 hrs.
• Days 2, 3, 4 & 5 : Mix 25g flour with 25g tepid water and stir into yesterday’s mixture. Make sure all the flour is incorporated and leave, covered with a tea towel, at room temperature for 24 hrs.
• Day 6: The mix should be really bubbly and giving off a strong smell of alcohol. A teaspoonful of the starter should float in warm water if ready. If not, continue adding 25g flour and 25g tepid water into the mixture daily until it becomes active. If your jar is becoming full, spoon half the mix out of the jar and continue. You now have rye starter, which is a malty flavoured base to sourdough bread. Keep it in the fridge (it will stay dormant) and 12 hrs before you want to use it, spoon half of it off and feed it with 100g flour and 100g water. Leave, covered, at room temperature.
• Tip 100g of the starter into a bowl and add 400g of tepid water. Whisk or rub the two together with your hands, don’t worry if there are a few lumps. Add the flour and bring together (with a spatula or your hand) into a thick, sticky dough, making sure all the flour is mixed in, including any dry bits on the sides of the bowl. Cover with a damp tea towel and leave at room temperature for 2 hrs.
• Work the salt into the dough then leave, covered, for another 2 hrs.
• Heavily butter a 900g loaf tin. Dust the work surface with more rye flour, then scrape all the dough out. Mould the dough into a block roughly the same size as the tin and sit it in the tin. Press the dough down so it fills it completely and scatter the top generously with more flour. Leave the loaf out, uncovered, for 2 hrs until it’s risen by about a quarter and gone craggy on the top, or leave it in the fridge, uncovered, overnight. This will give it an even deeper flavour.
• Heat the oven to 230/210C fan/gas 8 with a shelf in the middle of the oven and a shelf below with a roasting tray on it. Put the loaf on the middle tray and carefully pour a small glass of water into the roasting tray. Cook for 50-55 mins until hollow sounding when tapped. (The middle of the loaf will read 98C on a digital thermometer when ready.) Remove the tin and leave to cool on a wire rack for at least 4 hrs. Will keep for 3-4 days in an airtight container.

Steps:

• Tip the flour into a large mixing bowl and add the salt to one side of the bowl and the yeast to the other. Add the treacle and three-quarters of the water and turn the mixture round with your fingers.
• Continue to add the remaining water, a little at a time, until you’ve picked all of the flour from the sides of the bowl. You may not need to add all the water, or you may need to add a little more – you want dough that is soft, but not soggy. Use the mixture to clean the inside of the bowl and keep going until the mixture forms a rough dough.
• Coat a clean work surface with a little olive oil, then tip the dough onto it and begin to knead. Keep kneading for 5-10 minutes. Work through the initial wet stage until the dough starts to form a soft skin. You will find the dough feels different from conventional wheat flour dough – less smooth and stretchy.
• Form the dough into a smooth, round cob shape by turning it on the surface and tucking the edges underneath until the top is smooth and tight. Generously dust the inside of a large, round proving basket with rye flour. Put the dough into it, placing the smooth top-side down. Cover with a tea towel to protect the dough and prevent a skin forming on the top.
• Leave to prove for about eight hours or ideally overnight. The dough will double in size eventually, but will take considerable longer than wheat-flour breads.
• Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7 and put a roasting tray in the bottom to heat up. Line a baking tray with parchment or silicone paper.
• When the roasting tray is hot, half fill it with boiling water and return it to the bottom of the oven (this will create steam and help form a good crust).
• When the loaf is risen, invert it carefully onto the prepared tray. The basket should have left a pattern on the surface of the dough. Slash a deep crosshatch pattern on the top with a sharp knife. Bake for 30 minutes. To test, tap the base of the loaf – it should sound hollow.
• Remove from the oven to cool and serve in slices.