Malted Wholemeal & Rye Sourdough Bread

This simple and full-proof rye sourdough bread recipe produces a robust loaf which is great for sandwiches or toast. Can easily be adapted to use whichever flour you like. 

Ingredients:

• 75g Rye sourdough starter

• 225g Wholemeal rye flour

• 250g strong Wholemeal flour

• 250g Malted flour

• 1 ½ tsp sea salt

• 1 tsp caraway seeds (optional)

Method:

1. The night before baking the bread, mix the rye flour with 450 ml of warm water in a large bowl. Add the sourdough starter and stir well. Cover loosely with a plastic bag and leave to ferment overnight.

2. In the morning remove 75g of the ferment into a covered glass jar and place in the fridge until the next time a sourdough starter is needed.

3. To the remaining ferment, add the wholemeal & malted flours, salt & seeds, if using. Knead in a stand mixer for ten minutes. The mixture is quite wet, so it’s a bit more difficult to do by hand, but entirely possible.

4. Dust a proving basket with flour, then press the dough into it. Alternatively, form the dough into a freestyle loaf and place on a greased or lined baking tray. As the dough is quite a soft one, a free style loaf will flatten out. For a uniform loaf, place the dough into a 1kg loaf tin.

5. Cover loosely with a plastic bag, ensuring it doesn’t touch the dough and leave to prove until the loaf has risen by about ⅓. This could be anything from 2 to 6 hours depending on the temperature of the room and the liveliness of the starter.

6. Turn the loaf out of the proving basket, if using, onto a greased baking tray. Otherwise, dust with a little spelt flour and slash the top 2-4 times with a sharp knife if liked.

7. When, or just before, you think the loaf is ready for baking, turn the oven on to 220℃.

8. Place the bread in the oven and turn the temperature down to 200℃. Bake for 40 minutes or until the bread sounds hollow when the base is tapped. Allow a further 10 minutes or so if baking in a tin. Place on a wire rack to cool.