Home From the Mill 100% Rye Sourdough Bread + Video Recipe

100% Rye Sourdough Bread + Video Recipe

by Valeria - Beets 'n Bones blog
rye sourdough bread

MY BREAD EATING EVOLUTION

  • Everything and anything in unrestricted quantities.
  • Store-bought’ healthy whole grain’ bread.
  • No bread at all.
  • Occasionally indulge.
  • No, better not.
  • Oh, the misery.
  • That’s it.. I’m making my own and enjoying every bite!

Enjoying every bite of wholesome, homemade, naturally leavened bread is the only stage I want to stay in. It’s good for my soul and my body  — no self-induced deprivation, no indigestion and migraines from commercial hybridized high gluten wheat.

Since I just can’t settle on one thing, I don’t stop experimenting. I make breads with all kinds of grains and seeds – barley, millet, buckwheat, einkorn and spelt, emmer and kamut. When I find a recipe or combination I really enjoy, I record it on this blog and come back to it repeatedly.

RYE IS LOVE ~

Rye is one of my favorite grains. It might be because of my Russian heritage — you know how supposedly our bodies perform at their best on foods of our ancestors? Or maybe because it’s just plain delicious.

Rye breads are moist and sweet, perfect both with salty salmon roe and fruit jams. Whenever I have excess sourdough rye bread, I cut it up into small bites and toast them in the oven.  My kids eat it them as snacks, and I use them for making traditional Russian kvass.

100% RYE SOURDOUGH RECIPE

There is plenty of recipes for sourdough rye bread out there.  A lot of them are a combination of rye and wheat, including one of my own here. The traditional all-rye breads can be quite time consuming taking several days to put together (like Swedish and German breads).

This recipe is very simple and uses 100% rye flour made from whole ground rye berries. I grind my own using this Victorio mill (the motor is sold separately), but you can also buy already made rye flour. Update: I started using KoMo Mio Grain Mill and never looked back – it transformed my milling experience for the better = faster + quieter + finer grind + prettier 🙂 . If you are familiar with rye flour, it’s darker than wheat but by itself it produces a light gray color, instead of what most people think of as rye color – darker brown.

Traditional pumpernickel breads rely on Maillard reaction – with deep browning occurring during very long (16-24 hours) low temperature baking. To get a pretty brown look, I add a little raw cacao powder. It gives a beautiful color without changing the taste. Plus it kicks in extra nutrients. Extra nutrients is the reason I add sprouted rye flour. I see this brand at some Whole Foods. I make my own following the same steps as in this post. If you cannot source it or make it, just omit it and use more rye flour.

RYE IS A HISTORIC STAPLE IN RUSSIA

In the old Russia (by old I don’t mean Soviet times, but any time between the 11th and 19th century), it was common for peasants and craftsmen to have breakfast of only rye bread and water, and work fatigue-free all day. Folks believed that if you eat wheat before work – you are not much of a worker, you get sleepy and heavy. Wheat breads and pies were for dinners and special occasions — ‘there is food for enjoyment, and there is food for strength’.

HOW TO MAKE 100% RYE SOURDOUGH BREAD

Ingredients
STARTER DOUGH (SPONGE)
2 tablespoons (50g) rye sourdough starter (how to make rye sourdough starter)
1 cup (230g) water
1.5 cups (150g) whole ground rye flour

MAIN DOUGH
All starter dough sponge
1.5 cup (350g) water
2 cups (200g) whole ground rye flour
1 cup (100g) sprouted rye flour (if not available, use rye flour)
2 tablespoons cacao powder (I use raw because it has more nutrients)
2 tablespoons molasses
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander (optional)

Instructions
MAKE STARTER DOUGH:
In a large glass bowl, whisk rye sourdough starter with water until dissolved and frothy.

all-rye-sourdough-bread-no-wheat
Add flour and mix with a spoon until no dry bits remain. The mixture will be sloppy.

all-rye-sourdough-bread-no-wheat
Cover tightly, and leave at room temperature until it becomes bubbly and ‘soft’ looking (bubbles are easier to see under the surface, that’s why glass bowl is convenient). This can take anywhere from 4 to 12 hours, depending on the temperature but typically rye ferments faster that wheat because it has more nutrients that fermentative yeast and bacteria like. I often start late in the evening and make the main dough early morning. 

MAKE MAIN DOUGH:
Mix starter dough with the main dough ingredients until combined and uniform in color.
Cover, and leave at room temperature for 4-10 hours. Here you want to watch the dough more than the time, look for it to soften and puff up (it won’t rise much), then drop slightly. If you don’t have a chance to watch, just go with 6 hours.
With a spoon or a stiff spatula, mix the dough well, and transfer to a bread pan lined with parchment paper (don’t skip the paper even with non-stick pans). I use a deep Pullman loaf pan because I like the straight up sides, but this amount of dough doesn’t fill it all the way even after baking. Regular loaf pan would work just fine. Smooth the top with a wet hand.
Let it rest in the pan no longer than 30 minutes, but no longer than that – if you allow it to rise in the pan too long, it will collapse during baking, which will make the crumb brick-dense and gooey.
Bake in a pre-heated oven at 350ºF (180ºC) for 45-50 minutes.
It’s best to wait for 24 hours before cutting into it, I know it’s hard but try to wait for at least 8 or 10 hours.

100%-rye-sourdough-bread

100% WHOLE GRAIN RYE SOURDOUGH BREAD

Course: Artisan Bread, Baking, bread
Cuisine: RUSSIAN
Keyword: healthy, homemade bread, russian black bread, rye, rye bread, sourdough, whole grain
Servings: 18 slices
Calories: 201kcal

Ingredients

STARTER DOUGH (SPONGE)

MAIN DOUGH

Instructions

MAKE STARTER DOUGH (SPONGE)

  • In a large glass bowl, whisk rye sourdough starter with water until dissolved and frothy.
  • Add flour and mix with a spoon until no dry bits remain. The mixture will be sloppy.
  • Cover tightly, and leave at room temperature until it becomes bubbly and ‘soft’ looking (bubbles are easier to see under the surface, that’s why glass bowl is convenient). This can take anywhere from 4 to 12 hours, depending on the temperature but typically rye ferments faster that wheat because it has more nutrients that fermentative yeast and bacteria like. I often start late in the evening and make the main dough early morning.

MAKE MAIN DOUGH

  • Mix starter dough with the main dough ingredients until combined and uniform in color.
  • Cover, and leave at room temperature for 4-10 hours. Here you want to watch the dough more than the time, look for it to soften and puff up (it won’t rise much), then drop slightly. If you don’t have a chance to watch, just go with 6 hours.
  • With a spoon or a stiff spatula, mix the dough well, and transfer to a bread pan lined with parchment paper (don’t skip the paper even with non-stick pans). I use a deep Pullman loaf pan because I like the straight up sides, but this amount of dough doesn’t fill it all the way even after baking. Regular loaf pan would work just fine. Smooth the top with a wet hand.
  • Let it rest in the pan no longer than 30 minutes, but no longer than that – if you allow it to rise in the pan too long, it will collapse during baking, which will make the crumb brick-dense and gooey.
  • Bake in a pre-heated oven at 350ºF (180ºC) for 45-50 minutes.
    It’s best to wait for 24 hours before cutting into it, I know it’s hard but try to wait for at least 8 or 10 hours.

Notes

  • This amount of dough makes a fairly small loaf, about the size of a classic pumpernickel or just slightly bigger. You can increase the amount of dough for a larger, more sandwich-like bread.
  • Starter dough is the same as what bakers call 'leaven', or 'levain'. The purpose of it (as opposed to mixing a couple of spoonfuls of starter together with all the ingredients is to have a fair amount of very active bread yeast that can be incorporated into the rest of the ingredients evenly. This allows for uniform fermentation to get a nice stable crumb.
  • You can add any spices you like, and add more cacao powder (I use up to ½ cup sometimes, just for fun). I like adding cardamom. Whole coriander seeds are used in this type of bread in Russia.

Nutrition

Calories: 201kcal | Carbohydrates: 43g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 2g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 133mg | Potassium: 473mg | Fiber: 14g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 3IU | Calcium: 40mg | Iron: 4mg

All-rye-sourdough-bread

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30 comments

Jurgen February 15, 2016 - 12:13 pm

Hi Valeria,

Thanks for the blog. I recently mixed up some rye meal and water. While that is maturing, I am comparing recipes for 100% rye breads.

I wonder about the salt level. Why is there salt in the main dough in the first place? Wouldn’t the start dough rise if I chose to make it with little water and no salt?

secondly, how much salt? I found recipes with 1/2% of meal weight, up to 3% of meal weight; most have 2, or 1.5 downto 1% of meal weight.

thirdly, do you happen to know what is the active ingredient in te salt? Is it sodium chloride (NaCl) or something else?

Just waiting for the starter to mature – while looking at gorgeous photo’s of other people’s breads 🙂

Jurgen,
Netherlands

Reply
Valeria - Beets 'n Bones blog February 15, 2016 - 9:07 pm

Hey, Jurgen, good luck on the baking adventure!

The dough will certainly rise without salt, but why would you want to make dough without it? The salt ratio in breads depends completely on the baker’s preference, I happen to like less salty breads as opposed to folks who put in a lot. Realizing what you like comes with a bit of experience, but there is no rule set in stone. I feel that a lot of salt doesn’t work well with the acidic flavor of rye but that’s me. Yep, salt is just your basic sodium chloride.

I’m sure you’ll be sporting beautiful bread photos soon enough! 🙂

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Jurgen February 17, 2016 - 10:16 am

Thanks Valeria,

I like my vegetables as straight from the garden as possible, with the taste as is, wihout salt or processing.. And i feel the same for bread. Sure enouh it is processed food, but p;ease as llittle as possible. Good to know I can bake ith little salt.

How does temperature influence the speed of the starer? If a starter takes a month to mature at 20 Celcius, would it take 4 months at 15 Celcius?

Thanks,, JUrgen

Reply
Valeria - Beets 'n Bones blog February 18, 2016 - 8:58 pm

Ok, man, believe me you want salt in your bread, you really do. If you skip it or use way too little – you will wind up tossing the bread, just take my word for it. I guess ‘processed food’ is a relative term, technically homemade sourdough is ‘processed’ but I don’t include it into a category of processed foods, per se 🙂

Higher temperature always speeds up fermentation – but not exponentially, there are too many factors to consider – type of flour, hydration, elevation, etc. My take on it – don’t overthink it, you can have a good strong starter within a week 🙂

Reply
Jurgen February 22, 2016 - 11:31 am

Ha ha, thanks,

I am not going to toss the bread, but I will try some saltless versions, just to see how that works out.
Right now, I am bakng cookies from the discarded starter; I bake them with vegetables (one layer cabbages, topped with the starter dough). No salt, but I like the taste.

I have one starter with whey going, which is rich in sodium chloride. You write somewhere that the sugars in whey require different micro-organisms to be digested. Would that be a disadvantage, or would it just lead to a different bread?
Sodium chloride in whey is very assimilable for humans, much better then salt.

Temperature has an effect on frothiness; I have 2 starters at 25 C (about 75 F); they are nicely frothy. 2 others a 15 C (about 60 F) are less so. To have a starter in a week, I think 25 C is required. I keep mine under a halogen lamp.

And water is important too; i have one starter very wet (2 water: 1 meal) which develops real bread yeast taste; another one is dryer (1 water: 1 meal), it is getting a real sourdough taste. (both at 15 C). The starter with whey is getting the most sour of all.

Bread is definitely processed food; seeds were designed to be swallowed whole. There is nutrition on the outside of the seed which can be taken off in the bowel and when i empty the bowel in a field, the seeds will sprout. Grinding and baking sort of interferes with that process :). Birds do not even have teeth, yet they have very strong muscles. They do not bake bread, i think.

I am having fun with the starters so far,

thanks

Jurgen

ps
thanks for the blog. I only now realize that fermented foods is a real staple … and more varied then sauerkraut.

Jurgen March 5, 2016 - 5:06 am

Hi Valaria

Iam looking at low temperature long bake breads. Do you have a Rusian recipe wthut the colorants I find in many recipes? (Cofe, cocoa, ) Like pumpernickel, but from Rossia

cheers

Jurgen

Reply
Valeria - Beets 'n Bones blog March 5, 2016 - 8:39 pm

Hey Jurgen, as far as I know, there isn’t a bread like pumpernickel in Russia, or at least nothing that gets cooked for such a long time at low temps. There is this old school rye bread, called Borodinski, that gets its dark color from adding ‘zavarka’ – toasted sprouted rye flour mixed with hot water (about 65ºC) and kept at that temperature for several hours or overnight. It creates dark and sweet mash, similar to wort in beer brewing, which gives that bread a deep brown color. Not much help here!

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Jurgen March 12, 2016 - 10:52 am

Thanks,

I found a detailed recipe for a borodinsky bread – with sugar replaced by molasses.
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/24237/celebrating-rye-breads
This includes a discussion of the mash.
This is not a low tech bread. it has: sugar; toasted malt; imported wheat; and requiring a fine grain mill and an oven with fine temperature control.
I guess borodinsky bread was designed to make the peasants forget their own breads, which are baked at home, possibly caramelized, naturally dark, naturally sweet and 100% rye. All you need for such a bread is a field, a scyth, a stove, a pan, and some course grinding equipment; and you can share the grinder.
It may have been suppressed for not being very scientific. the name for such a bread is possibly … ´bread´. If only i could find a grandmother of 200+ years old … 🙂

cheers, Jurgen

Reply
Lalise March 19, 2016 - 11:41 am

Valeria, this is a great blog! Question: Can the 100% rye the be made in a Dutch oven, like your old-grain bread, or is the dough too dry? (Love the Dutch oven technique, but just getting started with whole grains.)

Reply
Valeria - Beets 'n Bones blog March 19, 2016 - 8:06 pm

Hi Lalise, thank you! 🙂 You can bake it in a Dutch oven, just will need to have the final rise done in it as well, and I would recommend lining it with parchment paper – otherwise the bread would stick (happened to me too many times!). The dough is actually pretty wet. Hope it helps 🙂

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Hélène July 9, 2016 - 9:57 am

What a beautiful loaf! When I think of rye bread, I think of the German, very dense small loaves that crumble almost too much to toast. But heaven to me, is a toasted 100% wholemeal rye slice with loads of butter. JOY

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Valeria - Beets 'n Bones blog July 11, 2016 - 10:03 pm

🙂 this bread is my favorite for smothering with butter, it’s moist and chewy and just amazing. I toast it only slightly to make the butter melt and immediately go to my happy place, lol

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Tamara September 23, 2017 - 11:01 pm

Thank you! Most helpful – my initial recipe kept collapsing in the oven. I’ve used your recipe twice for honey rye loafs and it works brilliantly!

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Valeria - Beets 'n Bones blog September 24, 2017 - 5:43 am

So glad it works for you, Tamara! Rye can be so tricky to work with. This recipe is one of my staples, so easy to put together 🙂

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wc December 30, 2017 - 7:08 pm

First of, thank you for the awesome recipe Valeria!

Unfortunately I’m having problems, which may be due to the facts that I’m using bobs red mill organic stone ground dark rye flour? The starter seemed active in the first day or two, yet between days 2 and 7 it didn’t respond well to feedings despite being atop the fridge and the temperature of the house being ~ 70F (21C). After mixing the starter dough with the main dough, which required far more flour than the recipe called for (probably a flour problem), the dough turned out fine but seems extremely dense so I added 1T instant yeast FWIW… Guessing the bread will turn out extremely dense with little to no rise any suggestions? By the way, your breads are beautiful!

Wes

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Valeria - Beets 'n Bones blog December 30, 2017 - 7:45 pm

Hi there, thank you 🙂

I bet your bread will come out just fine, the dough with all-rye flour is so different, it doesn’t rise like wheat flour dough. It just kind of puffs up slightly, not even much to notice. This dough is pretty soupy, my guess is you probably didn’t need to add extra flour, but see what happens. If you are baking in a bread pan, you should see a decent oven rise. The only reason why your bread wouldn’t rise is if you overproof it (let it sit in a bread pan long enough for it to rise, then start losing volume before baking).

I’m really hoping your bread comes out nice. Happy New Year ~

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Candice January 23, 2018 - 10:03 am

Is it possible to make this bread with a wheat flour starter, instead of a rye starter? I’ve only made wheat sourdough so far and so that’s the only starter I have at the moment. Would it be disastrous if I do so? Thanks 🙂

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Valeria - Beets 'n Bones blog January 23, 2018 - 10:34 am

Hi Candace, I think it will be perfectly fine! It might even make a stronger crumb 🙂 When it comes to bread making, it’s all just guidelines, in my opinion, and we make the best out of what we have on hand. I’m not a fan of those saying that if you don’t follow a recipe to a tee, it won’t come out right.

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Candice January 25, 2018 - 7:27 am

Well, everything was going great. I think I didn’t bake it long enough. After I pulled out of oven, it began to collapse. This morning when we cut into it, it was crazy dense and moist. Pretty sure it just needed to cook longer. I will try again.

Reply
Valeria - Beets 'n Bones blog January 25, 2018 - 8:29 am

Hi Candace, when rye collapses during baking, it’s most often overproofed. It happened to me a couple of times too. With rye fermenting so quickly, less is more when it comes to proofing time. It seems almost too fast, especially if you’ve baked sourdough wheat bread before. Hope you don’t get discouraged to try again 🙂

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Candice January 25, 2018 - 1:55 pm

Is proofing both the 1st and the 2nd rise? The first I did for about 4-5 hrs and the second, less than 30 min. It really grew in size both times even though it remained super wet. I also used whole grain rye because that is all I could find here (I live in Spain). I’m totally new to this whole bread making but I really love it. Btw, my rye loaf actually tastes quite good even though the texture is super gummy 🙂 I plan to make this recipe again and any advice from you would be great. Thanks for your help!

Valeria - Beets 'n Bones blog January 25, 2018 - 4:13 pm

Wow, less than 30 minutes! Is it warm where you are? What I would try is going longer on the first rise – higher acidity stabilizes the dough – and less on the second (when it’s in the loaf pan). Put it in the oven as soon as it starts rising. That’s my thinking 🙂

Aleksey March 6, 2018 - 3:53 pm

Hi Valerie, I made this rye bread over the weekend, followed the recipe as stated. The loaf turned out too moist and had a very strong taste and smell of molasses. I’m wondering if I overproofed it ( had it sit out for six hours) Also it rose quite a bit in the oven and the side of the loaf bulged out. Wondering what I did or didn’t do. The bread tastes great if I toast it a little.

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Valeria - Beets 'n Bones blog March 14, 2018 - 8:41 pm

Hi Aleksey! I’m surprised about molasses taste, I don’t get much, if any, of it as far as I can tell. I wonder if some brands are stronger than others. When a loaf collapses, it means it’s overproofed, I’ve done that a bunch of times and I can now tell when that threshold is past which my bread will suffer. So I always proof less than I hypothesize I should 🙂

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Anu June 13, 2019 - 12:54 am

Hello Valeria,
Just came across your wonderful blog looking for some info on the best source of kefir grains (mine died after a long vacation in the fridge 🙁 ) . I have tried the Pumpernickel and Rye breads sourdough from the store and simply love them. I was introduced to these breads by my European housemates and am amazed by amongst other things, how long of a “shelf life” they have! The brand at my local WholeFoods says 2 years, even though they don’t contain any preservatives.
I have a couple of questions for you:
1) Some of the store bought sourdough rye breads are lined with seeds all along the crust (all four sides) and also have a few inside – I think these are delicious 🙂 How could I make that kind with this recipe?
2) Since this is a “soured” bread, I wonder if any of the cultures that develop within are considered “probiotic” ? If so, (how) so they survive the heat of the oven?
3) Are there any store bought brands of rye flour that you know work well? I don’t have a grain mill and since I’ve never baked bread before, I’d like to try it and see if I take to it before getting one; also space constrains of a tiny kitchen!
4) Have you tried milling your rye in a Kitchenaid food processor? I’ve noticed they have milling attachments too.
5) Which brand of mollases do you buy?
6) This is not a question but more a comment on your journey with store bought bread – I am exactly at the same place. I have recently gone back to trying low gluten grains again after years on a gluten-free diet. Rye sourdough seems to work really well from that point of view. So I am doubly thankful to have come across your experience.
Thanks so much for developing this rich resource! I love your blog and especially how it provides a contextual reference on your cultural experiences.

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Heather June 14, 2019 - 2:46 pm

I just sliced into this loaf after allowing it to rest for 16 hours in open air. The sourdough flavor comes out beautifully and the rye flavor is not overwhelmingly strong as I feared a 100% rye might be. There is good distribution of small and medium holes in the crumb from rump to rise (top to bottom) and it is springy as demonstrated in the video. I suppose the crumb could be considered “gummy” and dense compared to a wheat loaf but not in an unexpected or off-putting way. I grew up with a tight-crumbed, much drier, partly rye Landbrot, but I think think this is a wonderful recipe. I would not have expected a 100% rye to have such good texture and flavor! It has good mouthfeel both fresh, toasted, and toasted with butter. However, the way to soaked up the butter makes me think this might not be the best bread to load with sandwich fillings until you’re ready to eat said sandwich. I do want to note that my flour was absolutely 100% whole grain, as rye flours can be so confusing, and I used a 100% hydration rye starter. The instructions were very clear about not allowing the dough to ferment/rise too long at any given stage, but I had great success using the refrigerator for part of the process. I fermented the sponge 12 hours overnight then refrigerated it for the day (app. 12 hours) and that evening I made the dough with it, allowed it to get a good start on rise for 2 hours in a warm humid place and then placed it covered in the fridge for the night and the next day (app. 24 hours). In the evening, I took the well-aerated, chilled dough from the fridge, stirred it down thoroughly, and placed it into an oiled and parchment-lined pan and allowed it to warm in a warm, humid place for 20 minutes before placing it in a pre-heated oven. This was all due to scheduling mishaps and I expected this loaf to be an epic fail, but it had noticeably more oven spring than the loaf in the video. I’m sharing the details because it seems there might be some leniency in how to handle this dough after all. I will absolutely be making this again and thank you so much for sharing your recipe with us! I look forward to trying some more! Now…I’m off to splurge on some really good cheese because this loaf is worthy of the best!

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Gloria Gullatte August 6, 2019 - 12:14 pm

There is a discrepancy between the measurements in the body of the blog and the measurements in the printable version. In main body, under main dough, recipe calls for 1.5 cups of water. In printable version, main dough calls for 1 cup of water. I made the bread with 1 cup water in main dough and it turned out well, but I’m wondering which you intended. What difference would I see if I used 1.5 cups? Thanks.

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Kristi August 6, 2021 - 8:15 pm

I’d like to give this a try, but would like the tallest loaf possible. I see you linked to a 13x4x4 Pullman pan (I have both sizes of Pullman pans, 13x4x4 and 9x4x4), but my experience is telling me the recipe-as-written will not fill/suit the larger pan??? Of course, every recipe is different – so could you elaborate further on the size of pan you’re using for this recipe, please (9x4x4 or 13x4x4). And do you cover it when baking or leave it open? Thanks!

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Nan May 19, 2022 - 5:34 am

I would like to try and bake this no-wheat Russian rye bread. Thank you for your recipe.

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Kristi January 2, 2023 - 7:22 pm

I just pulled my bread out of the oven. I baked it 50m. It had risen beautifully! However, a few minutes out of the oven and it sunk in the middle. I’m guessing I should have cooked it longer? Did I overproof the dough? It all looked just like yours until it started to cool. Thanks for a lovely recipe though. I will try again.

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