Polish 100% rye sourdough loaf, in a tin, no kneading
The all-rye bread village kitchens used to bake: dark, moist, tangy, fresh for a week. Rye doesn't form a gluten network the way wheat does, so the dough is neither kneaded nor shaped, only stirred with a spoon and spread into a loaf tin. You need an active rye starter and patience: slicing waits until the next day.
Your own work in that: 15 min.
- Leaven ripening 720 min
- Mixing 15 min
- Rising in the tin 180 min
- Baking 60 min
- Resting after baking 720 min
Step by step
0 / 6 doneEvening: set the leaven
Mix the starter with 200 g rye flour and 200 ml water into a thick paste. Cover with film and leave at room temperature 10–12 hours. In the morning it should be full of bubbles, risen and sour-smelling.
Ingredients: 50 g active rye sourdough starter · 200 g wholemeal rye flour · 200 ml water
TipA starter is ready for baking when it doubles within 4–6 hours of feeding. If yours is sluggish, feed it two days running before you bake.
Morning: bubbles, a dome, a sour smellMorning: mix the dough
Add the rest of the flour, the water, salt, honey and caraway to the leaven. Stir with a spoon or a mixer with dough hooks 3 minutes. The dough is very sticky, like thick mud: don't try to knead or shape it, that is how it should be.
Ingredients: 350 g wholemeal rye flour · 300 ml water · 2 tsp salt · 1 tbsp honey · 1 tsp caraway seeds · 10 g butter
TipRye forms no gluten network, so kneading achieves nothing. The bread's structure comes from rye pentosans and starch, not gluten.
Sticky as mud, no kneadingInto the tin
Butter the loaf tin (or line with paper). With a wet spatula or a wet hand, transfer the dough, level the top and smooth it with a wet palm. The tin should be filled to two-thirds.
Levelled with a wet handRising in the tin
Cover with a cloth and leave somewhere warm 2–4 hours, until the dough nearly reaches the rim and small holes and cracks appear on top. In a cool kitchen it takes longer; don't rush it.
TipThe sign of readiness: the first cracks on the surface. If the cracks are large and deep, the loaf is over-proofed: bake immediately.
Nearly to the rim, small pinholes on topBake
Heat the oven to 240 °C with a tray on the bottom. Spray the loaf with water, put it in, pour a cup of boiling water onto the bottom tray. After 10 minutes reduce to 200 °C and bake another 50 minutes. Out of the tin, tapped underneath, it sounds hollow.
Ten minutes at 240, then 50 minutes at 200Cool and wait until tomorrow
Turn out, wrap in a linen cloth and leave 12 hours. Rye bread is cut only the next day: fresh, the inside is gummy; overnight the starch sets. In its cloth in a bread bin it keeps a week.
In a cloth until tomorrow
Before you start
A starter from scratch
50 g wholemeal rye flour and 50 ml water in a jar; feed daily for 5–6 days with the same amounts, discarding half. When it doubles within hours and smells like sour apple, it is ready.
With seeds
Soak 100 g of mixed sunflower, linseed and pumpkin seeds overnight in 100 ml water and add to the dough in the morning. Top with rolled oats.
Gummy near the base
Cut too early or underbaked. Wait the full night; next time bake 10 minutes longer and check that your oven isn't running cool.
