Steffi's wholemeal rye bread with sourdough

Ingredients:

400g sourdough

500g wholemeal rye flour

500g spelt or wholemeal wheat flour

3-4 tbsp bread spice

2 ½ tbsp salt

1 cube of fresh yeast

Preparing the sourdough

We make a little more than required for the recipe, as you can keep the sourdough and then reactivate it for the next time.

Day 1:

Pour 100g rye flour or wholemeal rye flour + 100g water into a container, stir and cover. I recommend using a larger and taller container as the sourdough swells up a lot.

Day 2:

Add the rest again 100g +100g.

Day 3:

Add 200g flour + 200g water and stir.

Day 4:

Done! We now have 800g of sourdough!

Now it's time to knead! We do this for a long time and now it's essential that we do it by hand, as this is the only way to get the bread in the right place and give it its beautiful appearance.

First, we knead the whole dough until it has a good consistency and no longer sticks to our fingers (the rye flour may take a relatively long time and it will never be as "unsticky" as a pure wheat dough with rye). If necessary, add a little more flour or water.

Then dust the work surface with flour and divide the dough into pieces if you have made dough for several loaves of bread.

Now you need the right kneading technique: fold one outer side of the dough in towards the middle, then turn the dough a little and fold it in again, turn it, fold it in,.....

Repeat the process for a few minutes until you have a nice smooth and stretched surface on the underside. An indentation is created where the dough was always folded in towards the center. This is necessary to prevent the bread from tearing in the wrong place. Now turn the loaf over and shape it into a nice round shape again.

Place baking paper on a rack (not a baking tray) and place the loaves on it. Dust generously with flour and leave to rise for another 10-15 minutes. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 180°C hot air and place a container of water in it. Now place the bread in the oven and bake for an hour. To check whether it is baked through, tap the underside of the bread: if it sounds hollow, it is ready.

Good luck!