Sourdough Rye

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!

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.

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.

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!

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!

This was excellent bread. My nephew who refuses to eat store bought rye even loved it. The sourness of the bread will depend on your starter, mine is very sour. Thank you Jack.

Wonderful flavour and texture and it rose perfectly!

I found this recipe unbakeable. My starter works well in other recipes, so I did not expect any trouble. However, the first rise was minimal, I had to knead in an additional cup of flour so the dough didn't stick to the counter, there was nothing to punch down, and after letting rise for more than four hours I was still left with a lifeless slab of ingredients. Won't make this again!

Recently a neighbor gave me a cup of 100+sourdough starter! It has worked well so I tried this rye recipe with it. Success! Next time I'll add a 1/2 tsp baking soda to get loaf less flat; mine did not look like picture. Thanks!

The bread had a good flavour but the texture wasn't quite what I am looking for.

I found it dry, sharp sour with no sweet to overcome my 3yr. Sour dough starter. I did put onion in place of caraway. I cooked it 35 min. in 350 oven and it was over done. I will look for another recipe because my wife loves rye bread but I need to at least get close to what she buys to make it for her.

This recipe is wonderful. It is so simple to put it together the night before and the next morning it is ready to complete. It is the easiest sourdough recipe I have ever used and it is very consistant final product.

Wow, this did not turn out at all. I've had great experience with Peter Reinhart's recipes, as well as recipes from King Arthur, but this just didn't work for me at all. A serious disappointment after all the time I invested in it, but shame on me I guess. I'll stick to my normal channels from now on.

This is delicious bread. I was worried because it did not rise much (I'm pretty sure my starter is a bit neglected) and I thought I would end up with hard-as-rock loaves. But, no! I got two small loaves that have a nice, bold flavor and good texture. I'm going to take better care of the starter and try this again. Thanks!

I've made this three times now with great success each time. Minor variants like honey instead of sugar, one loaf instead of two were easy to implement. This bread is rapidly becoming a staple in our house - - the taste is amazing, and like nothing store-bought. I do spend a lot of time kneading and my starter is very active. I'm relatively new to sourdough, but not to bread, so don't consider this a difficult recipe.

I found this recipe to be very bland in taste. I had to add almost 1/2c. more(rye) flour to be able to handle in order to knead. On day 2,in my second rise just before baking my dough was too relaxed and I ended up with a very flat loaf. I got good crumb, but no oven spring. seems like 350Fdeg. is too low a temp. Think I will find another recipe.

The texture was very similar to my sourdough starter and I ended up with something that sort of tastes of rye bread but has a poor texture and is barely edible. Not sure what I'm doing wrong. I'm using a dark rye flour - could that be the problem?

About a year ago, I decided to bake only true sourdough from starters derived from "wild" or natural yeasts. I found a wonderful yeast and began baking. I had some early successes and disappointments. Then I discovered this recipe to my great satisfaction. Although this rye bread is what drew me to the recipe, I am using it for a base recipe upon which I can easily deviate.

I have a very good aged sourdough starter, your starter can make or break this recipe. I found this recipe easy to follow, beginners should watch the sourdough starter videos on the main website. This was a wonderful bread. This will definitely become one of our go-to breads. used a bit more seeds as I love them and this bread wins hands down for making Ruebens. Thanks for sharing

I was surprised at how soft and light the interior of the bread was, as most of my sourdough breads have a more coarse texture. I made one large loaf in my superstone covered baker lined with parchment paper which turned out really well. The loaf rose well and the crust was nice and crisp. It sliced so beautifully, held it's shape and didn't crumble. My only concern was that there was not enough of a rye flavor. I did use fennel seeds instead of caraway and that might have changed the flavor somewhat. My sourdough starter was strong and vigorous! What could I do to improve the rye bread flavor? I will definitely bake this recipe again!

Great taste and texture couldn't get the nice gold outside finish. The loafs were small. Also used one envelop of dry yeast . Loved the taste will make again. It also rose nicely can't wait to make more. Used the alternate with the salt wash.

It didn't rise at all. I know my starter was good. used it on another recipe that came out good.

I kept adding flour, took forever to knead, rose beautifully. looks great, but hard as a rock