I'm frustrated with the way this recipe is written. It may work wonderfully for an experienced sourdough baker, but to someone new to the process it's not helpful at all.
I tried this as the first bread with my new rye starter and, after a complete failure (well, not complete - I turned it into some lovely sourdough rye crackers) I dove in and did more research on sourdough baking. I realize now that what the recipe author intends is for the baker to make a sourdough "sponge" the night before baking. It's too bad the recipe never mentions that word, or I'd have looked into what a sponge was sooner. As directed, I fed my starter the night before but I fed my *whole* starter, not simply taking out a cup then and making a sponge. The steps for doing this are completely unclear for anyone who is unfamiliar with the ins and outs of sourdough breads and really ought to be clarified.
NOW, I have a sponge sitting on my counter and will try again the proper way tomorrow. Lesson learned.
Since I've been given a sourdough starter, I've been making sourdoughs like crazy so the starter doesn't take over my fridge. This is the best of the whole wheat ones I've tried. It rose nicely, but that probably has something to do with me kneading the heck out of it and also me being patient with the dough. I read James Beard's advice about sourdough rye, and he says to let it rise for 2-3 hours on each rise. I didn't let this loaf go that long, but pretty close. Anyway, I recommend this one to folks who like rye bread.
I've been making this bread for over a year. It's AWSOME! Dense rich heavy and SOUR:-) when done correctly. It's gooey and sticky to knead when first mixed together but well worth all the trouble. I use a GoldRush brand sourdough starter for this which has been working for over two years. Give this a try! You won't be disappointed!
really good! I have a 33 year old starter so I have been using sourdough for quite a number of years.I only made a couple changes.. one I added one package of yeast to the 1/4 cup water and I just added the first ingredients to my starter and let it sit for an hour or so cause I didn't know I was gona make this.I did use someones suggestion that onion be added so I used dry chopped onion in the bread and sprinkled some on the baking pan. I did an egg wash ( one whole egg with a tsp. of water mixed) and brushed it on the bread before baking then added a sprinkling of caraway seed. It was really good.Its a real keeper! I made one big fat loaf instead of two.
Question-Are you supposed to add the first ingredients to 1 cup of starter or are you supposed to add the ingredients to your starter and then use 1 cup of it? I did the latter and the bread turned out okay but it only made one small loaf.
This is a delicious recipe. I was nervous that it doesn't call for any yeast. I almost went ahead and put a teaspoon in, since my sourdough starter is not very mature, but I decided to stick to the rule, for once: make the recipe as-is the first time around. And it turned out great! I did change one thing: I fed the starter with rye flour 24 hours before I started the bread, not just the night before. I make all bread in my food processor, so I just put the starter and the additional flour in my processor, pulsed it a few times until it was mixed, then left it 24 hours. This morning I mixed up the bread, and left it 3 or 4 hours for the initial rise, then 4 or 5 hours for the second rise. I think this was necessary because my sourdough starter is immature. Thanks! Great recipe!
Really really yummy! I followed the directions exactly and used Sourdough Starter II on this site. I got a really nice crust by placing a pan on the bottom of the oven and filling it with boiling water to create steam... left it in for about 10 minutes then dumped the water. Delicious crust and a soft chewy bread. Thanks for the recipe!!
This was easy to follow and delivered 2 great little loaves of bread. I did vary the recipe a bit. I changed the final cup of bread flour to 1/2 cup of bread flour and 1/2 cup of corn meal. It was a hit at dinner with friends. Nice dense flavorful slightly sweet rye. I gave the recipe and starter out as take homes.
This was my first sourdough rye bread, so it was a real treat. I added onion powder (about 2 tsp.), when it was time to mix the dough and sprinkled onion flakes over the greased pans. It's marvelous toasted & buttered & topped w/ swiss cheese!
