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I didn't expect a soft bread made with rye flour to rise much and be fluffy. Even small percentages of rye flour have a tendency of producing a denser crumb. This Soft Sourdough Rye bread texture is moist and soft. It is not as fluffy as the white bread but it has a delicious aroma.

I used only 18.57% rye flour for this recipe and am not completely sure if this would qualify it to be called Rye Bread?

If you have any questions regarding this recipe or any other post, please leave me a comment in the “LEAVE A COMMENT” link and I will reply you as soon as possible. Do tag me on Instagram @Bakewithpaws if you attempt on this recipe.

How To Make Soft Sourdough Rye Bread

Yields: 1 loaf

INGREDIENTS:

Yudane Dough:

70g bread flour (I used Japan High Gluten Flour)

70g boiling water

Sweet Stiff Starter):

60g sourdough starter (100% Hydration), preferably use at its peak

180g bread flour (I used Japan High Gluten Flour)

75g water

30g sugar (I used organic brown sugar)

Main Dough:

65g dark rye flour (I used Bob's Red Mill, Organic Dark Rye Flour)

5g bread flour (I used Japan High Gluten Flour)

All stiff starter (above)

All the yudane dough (above)

5g brown sugar

1 tsp (5.5g) salt

45g egg, whisked (from 1 medium egg)

15g water

25g butter, room temperature

Egg Wash:

1 egg + 1 tbsp water, whisked

Utensil:

450g loaf pan (21.3 X 12.2 X 11.5 cm / 8.4" X 4.8" X 4.5")

METHOD:

Yudane Dough

Add bread flour in a bowl, pour the boiling water and mix well with spatula or spoon until no dry flour.
Cover and rest for at least 4 hours or overnight in the fridge. I prepared the night before.
Take out from the fridge 30 minutes before using to return to room temperature.

Sweet Stiff Starter

In a bowl of stand mixer, dilute starter with water, stir in sugar and add in bread flour. Mix with paddle attachment until well mixed and all come together. It can be done by hand mixing too.
Cover and let it ferment until tripled. I prepared a night before and leave it in aircond room (approximately 24 - 25C room temperature) overnight until tripled. It took about 8 - 9 hours depending on your starter. It should take around 4 - 6 hours to get triple at room temperature at 28C - 30C. The starter should look smooth and round dome. It shouldn't collapse.

Main Dough:

Put all ingredients (except butter) into a bowl of stand mixer. I usually torn the stiff starter and yudane dough slightly first.
Slightly combine the mixture by hand with the paddle attachment before turning on the machine so that the flour will not splash out. Using the paddle attachment, mix for about a minute or until all incorporated. This step is critical to prevent an uneven mixed dough as the stiff starter is rather hard and a dough hook may not be able to mix it well enough.
Change to hook attachment and knead for another 3 minutes at low speed #2 (KA) or until the dough comes together. Add in butter and continue knead for about 10 minutes at low speed #2 until the dough become smooth. The dough quite soft and extensible because of the rye flour. The whole kneading process, I stopped few times to scrape down the dough from the hook to be sure it is evenly kneaded and also to prevent the motor from overheating.

1st Proofing/Resting:

In the same bowl, let the dough rest for 30 - 60 minutes. Keep it covered with clingfilm or use a lid. This dough I rested for 45 minutes at 30C room temperature and the dough rose slightly in 45 minutes.

Shaping:

Transfer the dough to a clean floured surface.
Flatten with rolling pin to a rectangle.
Fold right to centre and fold left overlap it. Roll out with rolling pin. Roll up the dough like Swiss Roll until a log is formed.
Place the dough in the loaf pan.

Final Proofing :

Let it proof in a warm place until the dough reaches the height of the pan. This one took approximately 3 hours at room temperature of 30C. The duration of proofing depends on your ambient temperature and starter.

Baking:

Preheat oven at 190C (top & bottom heat) or 170C (fan-forced) for 10 - 15 minutes.
Brush with egg wash (optional) and bake in a preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until golden brown.
Remove bread from oven and let them cool on rack completely before slicing.

Yudane Dough

Sweet Stiff Starter Recipe

Main Dough

GENERAL NOTES:

SOURDOUGH STARTER

Please click this link for "How To Make Sourdough Starter" and "Sourdough Maintenance"

A healthy starter is very crucial as advised by Baking with Gina. It is advisable to feed your starter regularly if you want your bread to rise nicely and to use the starter (levain) at its peak. A starter that is fed regularly will be more active in general. If the mother starter is not strong, the bread dough will not rise a lot even though the starter is used at its peak.

GLUTEN DEVELOPMENT & WINDOWPANE TEST

Gluten forms when flour comes in contact with water. Hydration of the flour causes the sticky and stretchy protein to form, giving structure to the bread. This makes your bread trap air and rise.

Gluten in dough can be developed by autolyse, resting, kneading or folding.

The windowpane test is used to determine whether the dough has been sufficiently kneaded. By gently pulling the dough (or you may pinch off some dough) and trying to stretch it into a thin membrane. If you are able to stretch the dough paper thin and translucent without tearing, then the gluten is fully developed. However, if you can stretch it without tearing but the membrane is not transparent, then the gluten is not yet fully developed.

However, from my experience not all the recipe can achieve a thin and translucent window pane stage easily. For example low hydration and low fat dough. For such recipes, a reasonable window pane is good enough and it can be left to rest. Gluten will continue to develop while resting. Exercising restraint to not over-knead the dough prevents the gluten from being overworked and broken. Some of you may have experienced the dough breaking during the second proofing. It is because the dough is over kneaded.

The total kneading time for me is usually 15 minutes at low speeds except brioche dough with high fat percentage or dough using liquid fat which usually takes a little longer (maybe 18-20 mins).

From my experience, I found that high hydration dough with high percentage of fat will be easy to stretch and achieve a paper thin windowpane stage.

MILK POWDER

Why do I use milk powder?

Milk or milk powder will enhance the flavour of the bread and makes the bread texture softer due to the fat content of the milk.
Milk powder is shelf stable and you can have it anytime when you want to use. Unlike liquid milk you need to finish within a certain time before it spoils.

KNEADING TIME

For kneading, please regard the timing provided as an indication only. It is only meant as a guide. Timing may differ depending on the brand of flour and electric mixer used. The protein content may vary from one brand of flour to another.

FLOUR

The right flour plays a very important role in bread making. To achieve fluffy, soft and light bread, I used Japan High Gluten Flour in most of my bread baking. The protein content is around 12 - 13%.

HYDRATION

The liquid measurement given is also a guide. It is advisable to always reserve some liquid and not add it all in one go. This would give you the opportunity to adjust if necessary. If dough is too dry, add the reserve liquid one tablespoon at a time until the right consistency. This is because each flour absorbs water and hydrates differently.

PROOFING

Please note that the proofing timing may also vary depending on your climate, environment, flour and your starter.

If you are unable to judge by just looking at the dough, you can do the finger poke test:

Proofing:

Lightly press the side of the proved dough with your finger. If it bounces back immediately without any indentation, it means the dough is under proved and needs more time before baking.
If the indentation stays and it doesn’t bounce back, it means it has been over proved.
If the indentation slowly bounces back and leave a small indentation, it is ready to bake.
There will be a final burst of rising once the bread is placed to bake in the oven and it is called oven spring.

WRINKLE TOP OR SHRINKING

If your bread collapses or gets wrinkled on top after removing from oven, it could be because your dough over proved during the second proofing. Please proof until the tip of the dough just reaches the rim of the pan, around 80% - 90% in size.

BAKING TEMPERATURE AND TIME

Do also note that the baking temperature and timing provided are what works for my oven and should also be regarded as a guide only. Every oven behaves a little differently, so please adjust accordingly for your oven.

Comments

KattJuly 27, 2019 at 5:35 AM
Hi,

Thanks for sharing your sourdough recipes. I experimented with the rye sourdough soft bread and have a couple of questions.

1. Why do you need to wait at least 4 hrs before using the yudane?
2. My dough doesn’t rise after 4 hrs to the top of the pan, any suggestions why? Besides the loaf pan size I’m not sure why it takes so long as I live in Singapore.

Thanks i’m advance for responding.

Cheers,
Katt
KattJuly 27, 2019 at 5:38 AM
Hi,

I tried to bake the rye soft sourdough bread today and stumbled on a couple of things.
1. Wonder why you need to keep the yudane for 4 hrs before using it?
2. After 4 hrs my dough hasn’t reached the top of the loaf tin, any ideas? I can only think of the slight variance in size of the loaf tin and the fact that I used the yudane straight away as forgotten to leave it for 4hrs. Any other thoughts are appreciated.

Thanks
Katt
Master JoyDecember 19, 2019 at 5:19 AM
Can i replace the full cream milk with soya milk?
UnknownJuly 26, 2021 at 8:01 PM
Hi
I made your recipe once and it taste really good. But I just wonder if I want to bake in 450g tin, how to make the loaf qty bigger?
Tqvm
AnonymousMay 13, 2022 at 10:11 PM
Hi,

I would like to replace sugar with sugar substitute such as Monk fruit sugar or erythritol. Is it possible?
AnonymousMay 13, 2022 at 10:37 PM
Thank you for your prompt response. I am glad that I could omit sugar in the stiff starter :).
UnknownMarch 15, 2024 at 3:47 AM
Hello! Thanks for this wonderful recipe!:) I was wondering, if I wanted to ferment the dough overnight, would that be possible? Where in the process would you put it in the fridge for a long ferment? Thank you!:D