a swedish style rye bread

I have been having the urge to bake more and more bread.  There is only so much bread one household can eat.  I have been told to give it away.  

Saying that, fishes seem to be the other big thing that is wished for in our household.  Smoke salmon.  Baked halibut that is similar to fried.  Fried catfish.  Fish has been asked for for breakfast.  

After having a rye that was not flavorful enough out, I decided to see if I could find a simpler rye then I had found before.  Yes, it was very good but I like not having to have extra special ingredients in the house.

I found Swedish recipes for kymenlaakso.  They had other Swedish names attached but nothing translated well.  It is basically an artisan bread made with 100% rye flour, salt, and a starter.  And time.  Lots of time because there is not a lot of gluten in rye. 

The resulting bread was not soft per see but it is moist.  Sliced thin it is chewy and flavorful.  With smoked salmon, cream cheese, capers, and thinly sliced red onion, life is pretty good.

swedish style rye bread

sourdough starter

3/4 cup water

1 cup rye

the rest of a 24 ounce bag of dark rye (I used Bob's Red Mill)

1 cup water

1 to 2 teaspoons of salt (this is to your taste.  experiment)

The night before, refresh the starter by mixing in 3/4 cup water and 1 cup rye.  Cover and let sit overnight or until bubbly.  Save a bit for next time (I use whatever I have in whatever bread I am making).

Mix in 1 cup water.  Mix in 2 cups rye.  Cover and let become bubbly.  With the rye having less gluten and no sugar, this may take a bit.

After the sponge gets bubbly, mix in the salt.  Mix in enough rye to make a soft dough.  Knead until smooth.  I found it took most of the rest of the bag of rye and it was a bit sticky still.  I did not wish to make the dough any stiffer.  

Cover and let rise until double.  This may take overnight depending on how stiff your dough is.  You can put it in a ziploc and let is rise in the refrigerator.  It will make the bread more sour.

Butter a large loaf pan.  Shape the bread to fit in the pan.  It will be sticky soft.  Cover and let rise until puffy.  This will take time.

Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 1 1/2 hours.

Yum.

Comments

[Kim]

Thank you for this recipe, I was curious....what type of starter are you using? Is it a basic sourdough starter, or a rye starter, I have had so much difficulty getting a rye starter to flourish...Thank you so much :) I will give this a try, but wanted to make sure I was using the correct starter..

[elizabeyta]

I used a basic sourdough starter for this loaf. On my last trip to the mountain though, I used a completely rye starter. I find the completely rye starter works best when you have a lot of yeast in the air. I have baked in that both spaces for years with just a starter.I always use a starter and extremely rarely active dry yeast. And for this rye, I did take out some starter and used it for my next regular loaf. I just got back yesterday so I will try it this weekend.

Patience is key. Not expecting a lot of rise for 100% rye is also crucial. It is not wheat flour. I also used a cooler rise.