Rye Bread Recipe

400g rye flour

270g water

1 tsp yeast

1 tsp salt

Sunflower seeds (optional)

I have tried baking and steaming the mix. Both are great. To bake you can do it in a tin or free form. To steam you need something like a heatproof wide neck canning jar that you can put in a pan with water. People also use old catering size metal tins (from beans or whatever...). The one I use is 1l.

Mix everything together and knead. I find I have to do it by hand as it just won't come together in the kitchen aid and it all ends up splatted on the edge of the bowl. The dough is very sticky compared to 'normal' bread dough. You just have to struggle on. I putting a little oil on the work surface and doing it on that works best.

Leave in a warm place to rise until nearly doubled in size (rye doesn't rise as much as normal bread).

Knock  back and put in to your cooking container or shape the loaf.

Leave to rise a second time until nearly doubled in size. About 45 mins.

Cook in the oven at 180C for 30 mins or put it in the pan of water and simmer for about 2 hours.

For sourdough I do the same recipe but with 40g of starter instead of the yeast and leave overnight for the first prove and then a few hours in a warm place for the 2nd one.

Normal oven loaf

Boiled/steamed loaf

Sourdough loaf