How to make rye bread – recipe | Felicity Cloake's masterclass

Until recently, rye breadstuff fell into the class of foods I loved but preferred to permission to the experts (see besides croissants, yoghurt and due chips). I’d written recipes successful the past, but, successful an effort to marque them arsenic speedy and casual arsenic possible, I’d sacrificed immoderate of the dense acheronian that had attracted maine to rye successful the archetypal place. This updated mentation is lengthy, but stupidly elemental – and much, overmuch better.

Prep 15 min
Ferment 3 days
Prove 27 hr
Cook 3 hr
Cool 12-24 hr
Makes 2 tiny loaves

To finish
125g rye kernels
125g mixed seeds
Oil oregon butter, to grease the tins

1 A speedy note

This is simply a look for a 100% rye bread; acheronian and dense and crumbly, and suited particularly to Scandi-style unfastened sandwiches. If you’d similar thing lighter that’s chopped with wheat flour and pliable capable for a afloat sandwich, I’d urge checking retired Magnus Nilsson’s Nordic Baking Book, which inspired this peculiar loaf, tweaked to suit my ain taste.

2 The request to pre-ferment

After speechmaking endless recipes for 100% rye breads, I’ve realised there’s nary getting astir the request for a pre-ferment – that is, a dough that you ferment successful advance, past disturbance into the bulk to get it going. In the lack of overmuch successful the mode of gluten successful the flour, the acidity that results from the fermentation process helps to fortify the dough, and besides improves its flavour.

3 Sourdough starter oregon yeast?

I don’t support a sourdough starter (due to being incapable to power myself astir ample amounts of bread), truthful I’ve utilized commercialized yeast, but, again, Nilsson’s publication provides guidelines connected however to marque a sourdough version, and determination are plentifulness of different recipes online, if you similar to spell down that route. You tin besides substitute 2g speedy yeast oregon 6g caller yeast.

4 Add yeast to buttermilk and rye flour

Start by stirring the yeast into 100ml buttermilk, past adhd 75g coarse rye flour (I bargain this and the rye kernels from ScandiKitchen successful London, but you tin besides way them down successful wellness nutrient shops and specializer grocers). Ordinary rye flour volition do, astatine a pinch, truthful agelong arsenic you don’t caput a finer-textured loaf.

5 Leave to ferment

Once you person a stiff paste, screen (I usage a damp beverage towel) and permission astatine country somesthesia for astir 72 hours, oregon until it smells sour, but not unpleasant, and looks a spot bubbly. It’s adjuvant to enactment the premix successful a solid bowl, truthful you tin spot the consistency much easily.

6 Add flour, brackish and rye kernels

Transfer the pre-ferment to a ample vessel and adhd the remaining flour, brackish and 250g rye kernels. (If you can’t find rye kernels, coarse oatmeal, which is disposable from larger supermarkets and wellness nutrient shops, volition enactment successful their place.) Dissolve the treacle successful 50ml lukewarm water, past disturbance this into the remaining buttermilk.

7 Mix to combine, past prove

Add the buttermilk premix to the vessel with astir 350ml much water.

Mix (I find hands are best) until you person a homogeneous, porridge-like dough – don’t interest astir kneading, oregon so overworking it, due to the fact that there’s not overmuch gluten to make here. Cover and permission for 24 hours.

8 Add the rye and seeds, and beryllium again

Pour 100ml boiling h2o implicit the remaining 125g rye kernels, permission to soak for 30 minutes.

Stir the soaked kernels into the dough, on with the mixed seeds.

Transfer to 2 greased 21cm x 11cm x 7cm loaf tins (ie, 2 2lb loaf tins successful aged money).

Cover and permission until somewhat risen (they won’t emergence significantly, but should bash truthful capable to capable the tins – excavation instrumentality astir 3 hours astatine mean temperatures).

9 Bake and permission to cool

Heat the oven to 170C (150C fan)/325F/gas 3, past cook the loaves for 3 hours, covering them with foil towards the extremity if they look arsenic if they’re darkening excessively much.

Leave to chill wholly successful the tin, and preferably for 12-24 hours, earlier cutting, due to the fact that they volition beryllium precise brushed and sticky erstwhile caller retired of the oven. This breadstuff keeps and freezes well, and makes superlative toast.