Malted Rye Sourdough Bread

ByNatalya Syanova
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Feeling inspired by Ukrainian bread, first thing I wanted to bake when we got back home was this delicious, full of flavor malted rye sourdough bread. It tastes so good!

I promise you’ll love it.

This malted rye sourdough bread has an incredibly deep, rich flavor with subtle sweetness and wonderful aroma that makes every slice memorable. The malt adds beautiful color and complexity while the rye flour creates a hearty, moist crumb and rustic character. It pairs perfectly with butter, smoked fish, cheeses, soups, or traditional open-faced sandwiches. One of the things I love most about this bread is how flavorful it becomes after resting overnight, allowing all the earthy rye and malt notes to fully develop. Freshly baked, it fills the kitchen with the comforting aroma of warm grain, sourdough, and toasted malt — absolutely impossible to resist.

Rye sourdough starter

  • 10g ripe sourdough starter
  • 70g water
  • 70g rye flour

Soaker

Main batch

  • 140g rye sourdough starter
  • Soaker
  • 100g rye flour 
  • 290g all purpose flour (or I like to substitute it with 145 whole wheat flour + 145g AP flour)
  • 220g water 
  • 9g salt 
  • 18g sugar 

Directions 

Day 1

Starter

  • 10 pm add starter to the water and whisk together, add flour, mix well, cover loosely, let it sit at room temperature 74-78F until in about 8-10 hours starter reaches its peak (doubles or triples in volume). You can learn how to make starter from scratch here.

Soaker

  • 10 pm add hot boiling water to the flour and malt and whisk together. You should get thick paste. If feel there is a need for more water, go for it.
  • Cover it with plastic and keep it for the night in the oven with light on. Perfect temperature 80-90F.

The reason for keeping soaker in the warm environment is to help accumulate simple sugars that have a positive effect on the moisture of the crumb, give the crust a rich color, and also reduce the rate of bread staling.

Day 2

Sponge 

  • 8 am mix rye sourdough starter with all the soaker. It might take some time, because the soaker might get harder overnight. Mix it until everything is well incorporated.
  • Cover, let it ferment at 74-80F for 3 hours until it becomes puffy and gets bigger.

Main Dough

  • 11 am dissolve sugar and salt in the water.
  • Add all the sponge and flour, start mixing on low speed for 2-3 minutes.
  • Increase the speed to medium and continue mixing until the dough comes up together. Make sure the dough doesn’t get overheated. Total mixing time is about 15 minutes.

Sometimes it depends on the temperature of the dough, it doesn’t want to come up together. Don’t worry. Oil your hands oil the bowl, try to round up the dough. 

  • Let it proof for 2-3 hours until doubles in volume.
  • Keep monitoring the surface of the dough, as soon as it starts to crack on top it means it’s time to shape.

Shaping

  • 2 pm generously sprinkle counter top with flour.
  • Dump the dough on the counter.
  • Shape as desired. I prefer a round shaped loaf. Pull all edges to the center, flip it over, try to round the dough with your hands.
  • Transfer the shaped loaf into proofing basket.
  • Let it proof for 1 hour until it almost doubles in volume.
  • Meanwhile preheat your oven to 500 F, place a cast iron pan with the lid or a baking stone inside for 45 minutes – 1 hour.
  • 3 pm flip the dough over on a parchment paper. Rye type of bread doesn’t require scoring.
  • Transfer the dough on to the hot cast iron pan, cover with the lid (to create steam for a beautiful and crusty crumb).
  • Bake at 480F for 10 minutes with the lid on.
  • Remove the lid, lower the temperature to 400F. 
  • Bake for 30 minutes more minutes until dark brown.
  • Brush hot loaf with water, to keep the crust soft.
  • Enjoy!

Enjoy!

Malted Rye Sourdough Bread

Malted Rye Sourdough Bread

2068kcal
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Prep 30 minutes
Cook 40 minutes
Rise & Rest Time 17 hours
Total 18 hours 10 minutes
Inspired by traditional Ukrainian baking, this deeply flavorful Malted Rye Sourdough Bread uses a hot boiling water soaker method. Scalding the rye flour and malt together creates a thick paste that coaxes out natural simple sugars, yielding an incredibly moist interior crumb, a rich dark crust, and a beautiful shelf life.
Cuisine Ukrainian / Eastern European Sourdough

Ingredients

The Rye Sourdough Starter (Night Before)
  • 10 g Ripe sourdough starter culture
  • 70 g Water
  • 70 g Rye flour
The Overnight Sweet-Sugar Soaker
  • 90 g Rye flour
  • 40 g Rye malt (Fine ground fermenting malt)
  • 200 g Hot boiling water
The Main Flour & Aroma Batch
  • approx. 470 g All of your prepared overnight active sponge (combined starter + soaker)
  • 100 g Rye flour
  • 290 g All-purpose flour (Or for a heartier profile, swap with 145g whole wheat flour + 145g AP flour)
  • 220 g Water
  • 9 g Salt
  • 18 g Sugar

Equipment

Method

Night Before – Starter Building & Hot Scalding
  1. 10:00 PM – The Starter Build: In a clean glass jar, dissolve your 10g of starter culture into 70g of water. Stir in 70g of rye flour. Mix thoroughly, cover loosely, and let it ferment at room temperature 74–78°F (23–26°C) for 8 to 10 hours until it reaches its peak and doubles or triples in size.
  2. 10:00 PM – The Hot Soaker: In a small heatproof bowl, whisk the 90g of rye flour and 40g of rye malt together. Pour all 200g of hot boiling water over the top and whisk into a thick, uniform paste. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and keep overnight in your oven with the interior light turned on to maintain a warm 80–90°F (26–32°C) micro-climate.
Day 2 – Sponge Activation, Main Mix, and Bulk Rise
  1. 8:00 AM – The Sponge: In a large bowl, combine your active 140g of peak rye starter with your entire container of warm overnight soaker. Mix thoroughly until completely smooth and integrated (take your time, as the soaker paste can solidify slightly overnight). Cover and let ferment at 74–80°F (23–27°C) for 3 hours until puffy and notably expanded.
  2. 11:00 AM – The Main Dough: Completely dissolve your 18g of sugar and 9g of salt into the 220g of water.
  3. Pour the liquid into your stand mixer bowl alongside your active, puffy sponge mass, 100g of rye flour, and 290g of all-purpose flour base. Turn the mixer to low speed and blend for 2 to 3 minutes until a shaggy mass forms.
  4. Increase the machine speed to medium and continue kneading for roughly 12 to 15 minutes until the dough clears the sides of the bowl. Watch the temperature carefully to ensure the heavy friction doesn’t overheat the wheat matrix!
  5. Oil a large bowl as well as your hands. Round the sticky dough into a tight ball, place it into the greased bowl, cover, and let proof for 2 to 3 hours until it doubles in volume. Keep a close eye on the skin surface—the exact moment it begins to show tiny structural cracks across the crown is your signal that it is ready to shape.
Flour-Dusted Shaping & Bare Bake Setup
  1. 2:00 PM – Shaping: Generously dust your workspace with flour. Tip the expanded, delicate dough out. Gently pull all the outer edges into the center to form a round boule shape, flip it over, and roll it firmly under your hands to lock in a smooth skin.
  2. Transfer the round loaf seam-side up into a well-floured proofing basket. Let proof undisturbed for 1 hour until it expands and nearly doubles.
  3. While the loaf rises, place a heavy cast iron pan with its lid (or a baking stone) onto the middle rack of your oven and preheat thoroughly to 500°F (260°C) for 45 minutes to an hour.
  4. 3:00 PM – The Launch: Flip the proofed rye loaf gently onto a sheet of parchment paper so the floured bottom faces up. Note: Traditional dense rye breads do not require decorative slashing or scoring with a razor blade.
  5. Slide the loaf carefully onto the hot cast iron pan base, drop the lid down tightly to trap the steam, and bake at 480°F (248°C) with the lid on for exactly 10 minutes.
  6. Carefully remove the lid to expose the loaf, lower the oven temperature to 400°F (204°C), and continue baking bare for an additional 30 minutes until the crust turns an incredibly deep espresso brown.
  7. Remove from the oven. Using a pastry brush, immediately paint the screaming hot top crust with a light coating of clean water—this step softens the dense rye exterior into a delightfully thin, pliable bite. Let cool completely before slicing.

Nutrition

Calories2068kcalCarbohydrates437gProtein64gFat7gSaturated Fat1gPolyunsaturated Fat3gMonounsaturated Fat1gCholesterol14mgSodium669mgPotassium1414mgFiber39gSugar22gVitamin A13IUVitamin C0.3mgCalcium135mgIron20mg

Notes

  • Why the Warm Oven Light Soaker Method Wins: Keeping your scalded rye malt and flour paste resting at a warm 80–90°F (26–32°C) overnight serves a critical purpose. This heated environment encourages natural enzymatic activity to convert complex starches into simple, delicious sugars. This process gives your finished crust a beautiful dark color, a rich depth of flavor, and naturally locks in interior moisture to keep your bread fresh and soft for days.
  • The No-Scoring Flour Cracking Indicator: High-percentage rye breads carry significantly less elastic gluten than standard white sandwich loaves. Because the dough structure is dense and fragile, you do not need to score or slash the crown with a razor blade before baking. Instead, let the dough tell you when it’s ready—as soon as you notice the surface skin starting to show tiny, rustic cracks during step 7, it has hit peak expansion and must be shaped immediately.
  • Handling Sticky Rye Dough with Success: Because rye contains a high amount of pentosans (sticky complex carbohydrates), the dough will feel noticeably more sticky and unmanageable than typical white flour structures. Do not panic or try to fix it by continuously throwing extra raw flour into the mixer. Lightly oiling your hands and your fermentation bowl during step 7 is the easiest way to round up the dough ball cleanly.
  • Substituting Rye Malt Powder for Grains: If you can only source whole malted rye grains from local breweries or specialty shops, simply run them through a clean coffee grinder until they turn into an exceptionally fine powder before scaling. If you don’t have access to rye malt, you can substitute it dynamic-for-dynamic with diastatic barley malt powder or extra rye flour to achieve a similarly rich result.

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37 Comments

  1. Thanks again for the generous share of your recipe Natasha! I’ve not sourced “rye malt” before. Can you describe it and where you get yours from?
    Many thanks. Brad

    Reply

    1. Brad!
      Check local breweries, usually they sell it.
      I’ve got mine from eBay. Or you can use malted barley too.

      Reply

  3. Making main batch now and I’m excited. First time making a rye bread. Thanks so much for sharing your recipe

    Reply

  6. I have been using a dark rye malt powder for my rye breads, but i found anything more than a slightly rounded teaspoon becomes overwhelming. I’ve learned the 1 tps gives it a rich dark color and an equal dark undertone taste that is wonderful. I just baked a new recipe using sprouted rye flour and forgot to add the malt powder. The bread is delicious but I know with a spoon full of malt it will be super. I don’t know if there are different strengths, but I did learn the hard way that too much is clearly too much.

    Reply

    1. I have Ukrainian background, and from my childhood I remember very dark borodinskiy bread.
      It has lots of rye malt. And that’s why it is so familiar and I love it.
      But my family doesn’t. So I guess it’s all about taste preferences.

      Reply

  7. Could you use a non-rye sourdough starter for this recipe? Mine is a plain white flour starter.
    Thank you!

    Reply

  9. I’ve been following Putin’s war in Ukraine since it started. As I searched for a Ukrainian sourdough bread recipe to bake in honor of the country’s courageous population, I found your site and read that you have family in Ukraine. I hope they all are all safe.
    I baked your malted rye bread today and added a handful of sunflower seeds to the dough. I couldn’t wait for the bread to cool completely—it smelled wonderful—so I sliced it . The flavor is amazing! Thank you for posting the recipe. I’ll be baking it often and will continue to pray for your country.

    Reply

    1. You said what I’ve been thinking. I, too, found this site while searching for Ukrainian sourdough breads to bake in honor of the people of Ukraine. I haven’t yet baked the malted rye bread but am encouraged to do so now thanks to your comment. And your inclusion of the sunflower seeds was inspired! I will do that too. Thanks.

      Reply

    2. Jacque, thank you so much for your support!
      And for your feedback!
      I am so glad you liked the bread. It’s one of my favorite🙏

      Reply

  12. Such an amazing recipe. I added caraway seeds and the bread was divine. Reminds me of the dark brown bread I used to eat in Russia when I was small.

    Reply

      1. Rye malt and malt powder are not the same product. At least not the same for this recipe. This recipe is asking for ground malt, I am guessing. When using malt powder you are supposed to use just about a tsp per loaf. This recipe is asking for 40g of rye malt. So, my guess is that it needs to be mentioned that it is ground rye malt, not the the malt powder.

  13. Hello, Natalya! Thank you for this recipe. I’m in the process of making it now, and wonder if I’ve made a mistake. Your photos and text indicate a relatively stiff, low hydration dough, but the numbers add up to a very high hydration, and I’ve got a very wet dough.

    I see 590g of flour (70 g rye in the starter, 90 g rye & 40 g malted rye in the soaker, 100 g rye & 290 g rye in the main dough), and 490 g of water (70 g in the starter, 200 g in the soaker, 220 g in the main dough), which gives a hydration of 83%. Is that correct, or have I done something wrong?

    Reply

  16. I bought that one as well. The website Beets and Bones has a recipe for making the rye malt which involves a multi-day process and a month in the cupboard afterwards. It comes out much more flavorful than what you can buy—but you probably have to be a food science nerd like me to put up with the process 🙂

    Reply

  17. I’d like to try out this recipe. But I like to bake my breads in the morning, so that I have fresh bread for breakfast, so I usually retard my breads in the refrigerator overnight. Do you think I could do this with this bread? Say, cut room temperature proofing to maybe 15-20 minutes and then stick it into the refrigerator for 6-10 hours? What do you think, is it worth a try?

    Reply

  18. Hey, thanks for your recipe—you’ve been a huge help, and I really appreciate it! I live in Miami and buy my rye malt from a trusted seller. It always ships fast and the malt has a distinct aroma that’s truly incomparable and irreplaceable. I’ve tried many different kinds, but this one is the best and now I only buy from here. Sharing the link with you:
    https://www.ebay.com/itm/326011155195

    Reply

    1. Thank you for sharing your experience with us! We’re glad to hear that you found a trusted seller for your rye malt in Miami. It’s always great to have a reliable source for quality ingredients. We appreciate you sharing the link with us and our community. Happy brewing!

      Reply

  19. this is a wonderful recipe. I’ve made it a few times and get a great result. It is a bit messy I find I have to work it with wet hands to get the sponge properly mixed. There’s one thing I don’t get about the red Rye malt. Is it diastatic? If it is doesn’t The heat of the water destroy the enzymes?

    Reply

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