I'm very tired and I was seriously tempted to just post this recipe as a list of ingredients with baker's percentages. That would be sufficient for most wheat breads. But I'm not super confident with rye yet. So it probably makes sense to try to document exactly what I did. So, here we go!

Sourdough Rye

Slightly adapted form Sourdough Companion

Ingredients

• 188g (100% hydration) starter
• 200mL water, plus a bit extra for kneading
• 122g all-purpose flour
• 122g hard (strong/high grade/bread) whole wheat flour
• 122g rye flour¹
• 11g olive oil
• 11g molasses
• 7g coarse sea salt
• 4g carroway seeds

Directions

1. Feed up your starter and get it good and active.²
2. Mix the water, all-purpose flour, and whole wheat flour, cover, and let sit for at least an hour.
3. Spread a little of the rye flour on your work surface and turn the dough-like flour-water mixture out onto it.
4. Add the starter on top of the dough and knead it a few strokes to begin working the starter into the dough.
5. Once the starter and flour on the work surface have been incorporated, add the oil and continue kneading.
6. Add a little more rye flour to the work surface under the dough and add the molasses and salt on top of it. Knead to work it in.
7. Add a bit more flour to the work surface and add the carroway seeds on top. Knead to incorporate.
8. Once the carroway seeds have been worked in, wet your hands.
9. Continue kneading, wetting your hands every few strokes, until the dough begins to get sticky.
10. Add the rest of the rye flour to the work surface and continue kneading to work it in.
11. If the dough starts to seem tight or dry, wet your hands and add more water, a little at a time.
12. Once the dough seems to have reached a good consistency and is pleasantly supple, return to bowl, cover, and allow to rest until well risen³.
13. Wet your work surface slightly and turn the dough out onto it.
14. Press the dough flat and fold in thirds (letter fold).
15. Fold in thirds the other way.
16. Roll up jelly-roll-style and place seam-side-up in a well-floured banneton.
17. Cover and let rest until well-risen. (Timing will depend on temperature.)
18. Preheat oven to 230°C (450°F).
19. Grease a baking sheet and sprinkle with cornmeal.
20. Place a pan of boiling water on the bottom rack of the oven.
21. Turn the loaf out onto the baking sheet and slash as desired.
22. Bake on the middle rack for 15 minutes.
23. Carefully remove steam pan from oven and reduce temperature to 180°C (350°F) and bake for another 20 minutes.
24. Turn off heat and let bread sit in hot oven for 10 minutes.
25. Remove from oven and transfer bread to wire rack to cool.

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¹ I usually grind my own rye flour fresh. If you're using store-bought rye flour, look for "dark" or "whole" rye if possible. That said, any rye flour should work for this recipe. ^Back
2 I like to start with 10g of starter 24-36 hours before I want to mix the dough. I add 20g each of flour and water to the starter and let it sit for 8-16 hours. Then I give it a second feeding of 70g each of flour and water and let it sit for another 12 hours or so until it looks nice and bubbly. The flour and water for the dough can be mixed any time during this second feeding/fermentation. ^Back
3 The original recipe calls for ~3 hours of rising at room temperature, but this will vary with your room and the activity of the starter. I didn't want to have to deal with mine until the next day, so I put it in the cold room overnight and it still didn't seem quite ready to go yet 16 hours later. Use your judgement (and your fingers) to determine when your dough has finished rising and is ready for the next step. ^Back