Easy Sourdough Rye Bread

You will love this easy rye sourdough bread recipe. You can either make a 100% rye bread or add some wheat flour to make it a bit lighter.

Having been baking breads for decades, I have always wanted to make a 100% rye sourdough bread.

Growing up in Germany, rye breads are actually fairly common. However, most “rye breads” are not 100% rye. Most of them contain a certain amount of wheat, sometimes as much as 80%.

Rye is a grain that grows even in very poor soil and colder climates than other grains. It actually used to be mostly for poor people. But don’t be fooled – rye flour is fairly healthy. It contains less gluten than wheat, is high in fiber, and full of minerals and vitamins.

Because of its low gluten content, you can even use it to wash your hair with rye flour!

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Why you’ll love this recipe

With this basic recipe, you will be able to create any kind of rye bread you like. A 100% sourdough rye bread will be a bit denser by nature than if you added some wheat flour to it.

So just go ahead, and feel free to replace any amount of rye flour with wheat flour. That can be white or whole wheat flour. You can then experiment with the texture and taste you like the best.

Sourdough is particularly well-suited for rye flour and brings out the complex flavor much more than using commercial yeast.

slices and loaf of sourdough rye bread on cutting board with bread knife

What are the ingredients

All you need are some basic ingredients:

Useful tools and equipment

Given that people have been baking breads for thousands of years, you really don’t need any special equipment. But since we live in modern times, I like to use the following:

  • Large bowl: my favorite one is an enamel bowl but any bowl works.
  • Kitchen scale: weighing your ingredients with a digital scale really helps get the recipe right more than volume measurements
  • Big beeswax wrap: I love using beeswax wraps to keep my bread doughs from drying out. Alternatively, you can use plastic wrap.
  • Bench scraper: while not strictly necessary, using a bench scraper can help manage your dough.
  • Banneton: I like letting my sourdough rye bread dough rise in a well-seasoned proofing basket.
  • Parchment paper: this helps to transfer the dough to the dutch oven.
  • Cast iron dutch oven: you can bake this rye bread on a cookie sheet or pizza stone but baking it in a cast iron dutch oven keeps it from getting too big and flat.

How to make this bread

Simply follow this step-by-step tutorial for your first rye sourdough bread:

  1. Make sure you have an active sourdough starter. If you don’t, check out my no measuring, no discard sourdough method. Unless you really want a true 100% rye bread, you can use any sourdough starter you have.
  2. Add your sourdough starter to a large mixing bowl.
  3. Then add warm water and mix it well with the sourdough starter.
  4. Weigh your rye flour and sea salt. Add them to the sourdough mixture and stir really well. You can also do this in a stand mixer, using the dough hook. You might notice that this is a fairly sticky dough and that’s ok!
  5. Cover your bowl with a beeswax wrap, plastic wrap, or damp towel.
  6. Let the dough rise in a warm spot. Even at room temperature, you can still make a great rye bread, you might just need to let it ferment longer.
  7. After about 4-7 hours, check your dough. It has a nice rise if you can poke the dough with your finger and feel some spring.
  8. Transfer the dough onto a lightly floured surface.
  9. With floured hands gently roll the dough into a ball.
  10. Transfer the dough ball into a floured banneton and cover it with a beeswax wrap, plastic wrap, or moist tea towel.
  11. For the second rise place it in a warm spot until it has risen by about 50%.
  12. Place a piece of parchment paper and a big plate over the proofing basket. Carefully, flip the proofing basket so that the dough ball is now on the parchment paper.
  13. Carefully transfer the dough ball on the parchment paper to a preheated dutch oven and put the lid on.
  14. Bake in a preheated oven at 400˚F for 30 mins.
  15. Remove the lid and bake for another 20-30 mins.
  16. Check the internal temperature. Ideally, it should be around 205˚F. When done, remove the bread from the dutch oven and let it cool on a wire rack.
  17. Ideally, wait 24 hours before cutting the fresh bread.

Sample Schedule:

  • Night of day 1: prepare your sourdough starter if you don’t have it on the counter
  • Day 2 – 8 am: mix the dough, first rise
  • 12 pm: transfer the dough to the proofing basket for the second rise
  • 5 pm: bake the bread
  • Day 3: cut the bread and enjoy!
loaf of sourdough rye bread on wire rack with kitchen towel

Substitutions and variations

Here are some ideas for variations and substitutions:

  • Rye flour: I used a medium rye flour. However, you can use a dark rye flour or white rye flour, depending on your preference and availability.
  • Whole grains: I used a finely milled flour for this bread recipe. You can always add some whole rye grains as well. If you like them soft, you can boil them before you add them to the dough. Or you mill them very coarsely, almost like a cracked grain.
  • Other flours: Replacing any amount of rye flour with white bread flour will create a lighter, fluffier bread due to the wheat’s gluten structure.
  • Other seeds: Feel free to omit the caraway seeds completely. Grinding them beforehand you will barely taste them at all. You can also add some fennel seeds or a small amount of sunflower seeds.
  • Sourdough starter: Even though I think you can use any sourdough starter that you already have, you can also use a true sourdough rye starter which will give you a 100% rye bread.

How to eat this simple sourdough rye bread

Obviously, you can eat bread any way you want.

However, Europeans eat this popular bread with cheeses and cold cuts that can stand up to the bold flavor.

Also, you can serve slices of rye bread with any hearty soup such as a Russian Borscht, pea soup, potato soup or any other stew.

sourdough rye bread slices with cheese and ham on plate

How long does this rye bread last?

Sourdough breads last longer than yeast-based breads. I have easily kept it for 7 days at room temperature and it was still good. Ideally, you’ll want to keep it in a linen bread bag or in a bread box. There’s a good chance that your bread will last up to 2 weeks if you store it correctly.

And remember that salt makes bread last longer. Therefore you can play with the amount of salt, too.

If you’d like to learn more, you might like to read my post on how to keep your sourdough bread fresh.

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Other sourdough recipes you might like

The Easiest Sourdough Starter Ever

No Discard Sourdough Maintenance

Whole-Grain German Sourdough Bread

Artisan No-Knead Bread

Seeded Sourdough Sandwich Bread

Sourdough Life-Changing Loaf of Bread

Shop this post:

Medium Rye Flour

My favorite Sea Salt

Large Enamel Mixing Bowl

Proofing Basket

Bench Scraper

slices of sourdough rye bread on cutting board
Print Recipe
4.09 from 23 votes

Easy Sourdough Rye Bread

You will love this easy rye sourdough bread recipe. You can either make a 100% rye bread or add some wheat flour to make it a bit lighter.
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time35 minutes
Resting time10 hours
Total Time10 hours 50 minutes
Course: Breakfast
Cuisine: German
Servings: 16 slices
Calories: 84kcal
Cost: $8

Ingredients

  • 250 g sourdough starter (1 cup)
  • 440 g medium rye flour (3 ½ c)
  • 225 g warm water (little less than 1 c)
  • 12 g sea salt (2 tsp)
  • ½ tsp caraway seeds (optional)

Instructions

  • Add sourdough starter and warm water to a large bowl. Mix well.
  • Add flour, salt, and caraway seeds. Stir well. Note: This dough will be sticky.
  • Cover the bowl with a beeswax wrap, plastic wrap, or damp towel.
  • Let the dough rise in a warm spot for about 4 hours or until springy to the touch.
  • Lightly flour a work surface. Transfer the dough to the work surface and form into a ball.
  • Transfer the dough ball to a well-floured proofing basket.
  • Gently cover the proofing basket and set in a warm spot for the second rise.
  • When the dough has risen by about 50%, transfer it to a parchment lined plate.
  • Slide the dough ball into a preheated dutch oven and bake covered in a preheated oven at 400F for about 30 minutes.
  • Remove the lid and bake for another 30 minutes or until the internal temperature has reached about 205˚F.
  • Remove the bread from the dutch oven and let cool for about 24 hours on a cooling rack.

Notes

  • you can make this bread lighter and fluffier by replacing some or most of the rye flour with wheat flour
  • you can omit the caraway seeds

Nutrition

Calories: 84kcal
Tried this recipe?Mention @ourgabledhome or tag #ourgabledhome!

Let me know if you have any questions or comments!

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How to Make a 100% Sourdough Rye Bread

34 Comments

  1. I’m going to make this now🙂
    If I want to proof in fridge overnight, at what step in the recipe would I do that? After the 4 hour rise? Then in the morning, would I need to let it rise a bit at room temp before baking?
    Thank you!

    1. I would proof it in the fridge after you have shaped it. Many people recommend baking it right after you remove it from the fridge ~ Anja

  2. 5 stars
    I have never used rye before, this recipe was very beginner friendly and my 4yr old and 2yr old loved it. Planning to make this a regular in our bread baking. Thank you!

  3. Hi Anja , so glad I found you. I always d my sourdough breads very easy too and I am a lover of “Roggenmehlbrot”. So I had to try your recipe (because so easy) too today and the result is wonderful. If I bake the dough in a rectangular bread form than in the round cast iron , would it then rise a bit higher up when baking; for as it is now it is a little bit too flat for having usual sandwich slices. But I love the outcome as you did it. It tastes just great and didn’t take me whole the day either, for I had a very bubbly sourdough starter to begin with and putting the dough into the oven with the oven light made it a shorter process. I have now another of your recipes going ,, a whole grain sourdough bread. It is rising now and I hope I will be able to bake it at the end of the day.

  4. 5 stars
    Good Morning!
    I am wondering about the Caraway seeds. With grinding a tsp.’s
    worth and adding it to the starter, is that going to be overpowering the taste? or should I use ¼ tsp. to start with. I like the taste but want to be gradual and not overpowering. I’m thinking that maybe adding a small grinding of seeds each month for taste, or would that be too much?
    Thank you

  5. Have you ever made any of your recipes with freshly milled grains? I am wondering how I would adapt your recipes.

  6. 5 stars
    I’m so thankful I found your site and your super helpful videos! We enjoyed rye bread from a German bakery in Canada and my husband asked me to try baking my own (we live in Mexico, so no German bakeries here!)
    So far I’ve used about 1/4 rye flour and the rest all purpose, but it has that perfect sourdough rye texture! With so much white flour the dough was a lot drier, so my second loaf I decreased the amount of flour to get a wetter loaf the way you showed.
    And adding rye flour to the starter to get it going, as you mentioned on another video, was the thing my starter needed! I had started my starter before I found your site and instructions, and was having trouble getting it going, but the rye tip worked amazing… now I follow your no-discard starter method. 😊

    1. I am so glad you like this recipe and my sourdough method! And kuddos to you for experimenting and adjusting the recipe! Happy baking ~ Anja

  7. 5 stars
    This a great recipe. I enjoy making it and trying different ratios of rye and wheat flour and also trying different starters with it. Thanks so much for sharing your family recipes!

  8. Can I leave it in the fridge overnight? If yes at which point in bread making I would put it in the fridge? Thank you

    1. When you might put it in the fridge also depends on how warm your kitchen is but I tend to put mine in there after about 3 days ~ Anja

  9. 2 stars
    Please let me know why my comment/question was deleted. Did I write something inappropriate? I emailed you privately with some questions regarding this recipe on Feb. 19, no answer, then I posted here. The message was in moderation, but never answered and never posted. Is there a different way to get answers to questions about your recipes? I genuinely would like to know. Thank you!

    1. I am so sorry, Lara, I get so many comments and emails that it may have just slipped through the cracks. Nobody purposefully deleted any comments. I will try to find your email and respond ~ Anja

  10. 2 stars
    I followed the recipe exactly, but the dough was extremely dry, so ended up adding a lot more water. Not sure what went wrong and why.

    1. That can happen depending on the type of rye, how finely it was milled, the humidity it was kept in etc. You did nothing wrong, in fact, adding more water was the right idea ~ Anja

  11. I absolutely love rye bread and you just reminded me that I haven’t had it in a while! This looks so beautiful and amazing. I will definitely have to give it a try! You know, my family moved to Germany when I was only a newborn (military brat here 😂) so all my baby pictures are from there. I’d love to go back! 🥰

  12. 5 stars
    I’m not honestly sure if I like rye bread, but this loaf looks beautiful. And makes me think I may need to give it a try.

4.09 from 23 votes (16 ratings without comment)

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