A rye sourdough recipe that makes a hearty loaf with caraway seeds. I call this bread Dakota Sour, because it was inspired by a recipe from Grand Forks, North Dakota. This is a great sandwich bread, and makes wonderful toast.

This recipe was a bit harder to master than my rye ciabatta bread — it took my six tries, tinkering each time, until I got what I wanted. Unlike the light and airy ciabatta, this rye sourdough bread is perfect for cooler weather, although I did make many versions in summer.

As with my first rye recipe, this one is inspired first by a recipe in the great book The Rye Baker, which mentions Dakota Harvest Bakers, alas now closed. I took that recipe much farther, however, with a large overnight starter that sours most of the rye flour in the bread.

You do that because by making a full rye sourdough, the dough acidifies enough so you don’t get that weird “starch attack” that can blow out your loaf — and, well, it makes a tangy bread, which I like.

I also mix the dough a long time, which develops lengthy, strong gluten strands from the bread flour. This helps with lift, so your bread isn’t flat. Ryes have a tendency towards that.

Lots of Ingredients

You’ll notice that this sourdough rye has a bunch of possibly unusual ingredients, especially if you’re used to the water + flour + yeast paradigm common in French and Mediterranean breads. I’ll walk you through them, and let you know where you can leave them out if you want.

• There’s a little bit of whole wheat flour here. I like it for flavor and color. If you don’t already have whole wheat flour handy, replace it with bread flour.
• Rye chops. These are whole rye grains coarsely chopped. You can buy rye berries in many places, then buzz them rough in a coffee grinder. They are for a heartier chew and a more rye-forward flavor. You can use more rye flour if you can’t get them.
• Brown sugar. This is for color, a little flavor, and it’s something the wee yeasties can eat as the dough ferments. Don’t skip it.
• Vinegar. Only a touch, and its purpose is to acidify the dough so you avoid starch attack. I kept a small portion from the original recipe as insurance, but the overnight fermentation of the rye should make things acidic enough.
• Caraway. It’s what most people think of when they eat rye bread. I love it, but skip if you hate caraway.

Rye Sourdough Starter

OK, to make a sourdough rye bread, you need a rye sourdough starter. You absolutely can use a regular wheat sourdough starter here, but a rye one will give you better results. You cannot make this recipe as-is without a starter.

It takes about a week to get a rye sourdough starter going, but it’ll last forever if you feed it. Making one is easy. Mix equal parts rye flour and warm water by weight, and put it in a jar with a lid. Yes, weight. I have found that I absolutely need a scale to make good bread — if I want to be able to repeat my results. So everything here will be by weight. And in grams. (Sorrynotsorry)

So mix 70 grams of rye flour and 70 grams of warm water together. Cover the jar. Each morning for at least 5 days, discard 50 percent of the jar’s contents and refresh it with a new 1:1 mixture of rye flour and water by weight. Stir this in and let it sit.

At some point, usually 5 days in, you’ll get that nice sourdough smell and the starter will be all bubbly and active. Now you can make rye bread.

Note: I make rye bread every week. I keep my starter active. You may not be so ambitious. You can keep your starter in the fridge for up to 2 weeks between “feedings,” and you can also freeze it.

Or, if you’re really a casual baker, dehydrate it at 100F until it’s a crust, then keep that dry stuff in a jar. Then, you’ll want to add fresh flour, water and this dried starter a few days before you make another batch, feeding each day.

In all cases, you will want to give the starter a day or two of regular feedings before you bake again.

Overnight Sponge

This rye sourdough starts with a large overnight sponge that includes almost all of the rye in the bread. This ferment develops yeast and sours the dough.

It’s easy to do. Just mix all the sponge ingredients in a bowl, cover the bowl, and set in a reasonably warm place. Anywhere in the kitchen should be fine until winter, when you should ferment it in a turned-off oven, which is normally warmer than your counter.

Finishing Sourdough Rye

The rest of the dough joins the sponge in a stand mixer, and you mix on low speed until it comes together, about 6 minutes. Let it rest for a bit, then really work it with the mixer on low — up to 20 minutes with the dough hook.

What this does is develop the wheat gluten, which will keep the loaf high; remember, rye loaves tend to flatten if left alone.

You’ll want an oval banneton for this loaf, if possible. Yes, it’ll be fine in a round one, but less sandwich-friendly. I like this oval banneton. No banneton? Line a basket or bowl with linen cloth — has to be linen, or the dough will stick. But I am guessing if you’ve read this far you either have bannetons or are willing to buy them.

You bake this rye sourdough with a steam pan at high temps to develop the crust, then finish in a cooler oven. All ryes should cool completely before slicing, or the interior can get gummy.

Ryes, if you’re not familiar, go stale far slower than wheat loaves. This is a half-and-half loaf, though, but it stil stays nice for 5 days or so.

Tip: Once sliced, stand the loaf upright on the cut side uncovered. This preserves the nice crust and blocks the cut side from air.

If you liked this recipe, please leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating and a comment below; I’d love to hear how everything went. If you’re on Instagram, share a picture and tag me at huntgathercook.