rye sourdough starter

Use rye flour to make an easy sourdough starter with a deep molasses flavour. Once active, you can use it to make any type of sourdough bread

Rye sourdough starter

wholemeal rye flour

Day 1: To begin your starter, mix 50g flour with 50g tepid water in a jar or, better still, a plastic container. Make sure all the flour is incorporated and leave, covered with a tea towel, at room temperature for 24 hrs.

Day 2: Mix 25g flour with 25g tepid water and stir into yesterday’s mixture. Make sure all the flour is incorporated and leave, covered with a tea towel, at room temperature for 24 hrs.

Day 3: Today you might see a few small bubbles forming and the mixture should smell grassy and a little acidic. Mix 25g flour with 25g tepid water and stir into yesterday’s mixture. Make sure all the flour is incorporated and leave, covered with a tea towel, at room temperature for 24 hrs.

Day 4: More bubbles should have appeared today and the mixture should smell of yeasty beer. Mix 25g flour with 25g tepid water and stir into yesterday’s mixture. Make sure all the flour is incorporated and leave, covered with a tea towel, at room temperature for 24 hrs.

Day 5: Fermentation should have set in now and the mixture might be ready to use. If a teaspoon of the starter floats in warm water, it’s ready. If not, mix 25g flour with 25g tepid water and stir into yesterday’s mixture. Make sure all the flour is incorporated and leave covered, with a tea towel, at room temperature for 24 hrs.

Day 6: The mix should be really bubbly and be giving off a strong smell of alcohol. Test in the same way as yesterday. If it’s not ready, continue mixing 25g flour with 25g tepid water into the mixture daily until it becomes active. If your jar is becoming full, spoon half the mix out of the jar and continue. You now have rye starter, which is a malty flavoured base to sourdough bread. Keep it in the fridge (it will stay dormant) and 12 hrs before you want to use it, spoon half of it off and feed it with 100g flour and 100g water. Leave it at room temperature and it should become active again. The longer the starter has been dormant, the more times it will need to be refreshed – the process of pouring off half the starter and replacing it with new flour and water – to reactivate. Use the starter to make rye sourdough bread.

Rye sourdough starter I use for all my sourdough baking.

Sourdough Rye Starter

165 g white bread flour (unbleached)

rye flour

water

Day 1: Mix 15 grams white flour, 35 grams rye flour, and 50 grams water together. Let it sit in a closed container for 24 hours at room temperature.

Day 2,3,4,5: Feed with 25 grams white flour, 25 grams rye flour, and 50 grams water each day and keep it at room temperature.

Day 6: Remove 200 grams starter. Add 50 grams white flour, 50 grams rye flour, and 100 grams water. Leave at room temperature.

Day 7: The Starter should be nice and bubbly and ready to use. If you do not intend on baking straight away then move your starter to the fridge and feed once a week just like you did on day 2.

Creating your own rye sourdough starter from scratch is a rewarding process, and it&#x27;s a whole lot easier than you may think. Here&#x27;s how to do it.

Rye Sourdough Starter

water (per feeding)

rye flour (per feeding)

Weigh your jar and write down how much...

Weigh your jar and write down how much it weighs. That way you'll always be able to calculate the weight of your starter by subtracting the weight of the jar.

Pour the water into the jar.

Spoon in the flour.

Stir it very well, until there's no more...

Stir it very well, until there's no more dry flour. Be sure to check the bottom of the jar for any dry flour and stir it into the mix.

Use your spoon to gently pack down the...

Use your spoon to gently pack down the starter into a relatively even layer. This will help you see how much it grows throughout the course of its feeding.

Place a rubber band or elastic hair tie...

Place a rubber band or elastic hair tie around the jar at the level of the top of the starter.

Position the lid and screw it on loosely....

Position the lid and screw it on loosely. This allows the starter to exhale carbon dioxide (a byproduct of yeast fermentation).

Place starter on the counter or anywhere you...

Place starter on the counter or anywhere you like at warm room temperature. Don't expect any visible activity today.

Remove all but 100 grams of the starter.

Place the jar of starter on the scale...

Place the jar of starter on the scale and bring the scale to zero. (You now have about 100 grams of starter left in the jar.)

Pour in 100 grams of water and stir...

Pour in 100 grams of water and stir it up to break up the starter.

Spoon in 100 grams of flour. Stir well...

Spoon in 100 grams of flour. Stir well until there is no dry flour anywhere in the jar.

Use your spoon to gently pack down the starter into a relatively even layer.

Adjust the placement of the rubber band to...

Adjust the placement of the rubber band to the level of the top of the starter.

Position the lid and screw it on loosely.

Place starter on the counter or anywhere you like at warm room temperature. If you're using good-quality flour and it's not freezing cold in your house, you're likely to see some activity today.

On days three, four, and five, you will...

On days three, four, and five, you will feed your starter twice per day, at approximate 12-hour intervals.

Follow the steps for day two above, but...

Follow the steps for day two above, but do them once in the morning and once at night.

On these days, you'll have lots of discard....

On these days, you'll have lots of discard. These are great days to make my favorite crackers.

By day five, if you're using really good...

By day five, if you're using really good flour, you should see the starter at least doubling in size between feedings. If you are seeing plenty of activity but not yet a doubling, don't worry. Continue feeding twice per day for the next few days.

If you're not seeing much activity at all,...

If you're not seeing much activity at all, refer to the troubleshooting section above.

You'll know your starter is ready to leaven...

You'll know your starter is ready to leaven bread when it passes the float test.

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Sourdough Rye Starter

Rye Sourdough Starter

Top 3 rye sourdough starter recipes from across the web

The most viewed rye sourdough starter recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engineic_arrow_forward_48px

Top Tags

Rye sourdough starter

Sourdough Rye Starter

Rye Sourdough Starter

The most viewed rye sourdough starter recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine