Posted on 41 Comments

Soft Rye Sourdough Sandwich Bread

My family is addicted to rye bread. And I always explore new ways to incorporate rye flour into breads I bake. Today i want to share a great discovery. This recipe was adapted from the King Arthur website, but of course I converted it into a sourdough version. Here is the soft rye sourdough sandwich bread recipe.

Ingredients

Sourdough Starter

Dough

  • 217 g water (62%)
  • 105g Rye flour (30%)
  • 245g bread flour (70%)
  • 70g of starter (20%)
  • 14g brown sugar (4%)
  • 28g molasses or dark honey(8%)
  • 14g dry milk (4%) optional
  • 7g salt (2%)
  • 0.5g yeast ( optional, to speed up the process)
  • 21g soft butter (6%)

Directions 

Day 1

Starter 

  • 10 pm add starter to the water and whisk together, add flour, mix well, cover loosely, let it sit at a room temp 74-78F for about 8-10 hours until starter reaches its peak (at least triples in volume).

Day 2

Dough

  • Mix water, flour, sugar, honey or molasses, sourdough starter (70g on its peak, the rest use for future feedings), salt and all flour.
  • Mix the dough on low speed of your mixing machine for 3-5 minutes, or KitchenAid on speed 3 for 7-9 minutes until well incorporated.
  • Add soft butter or oil, mix for 10-15 more minutes until the dough is well incorporated. It will look sticky at the beginning (since rye flour doesn’t have as much gluten as regular flour) but eventually the dough has to come up together.
  • Cover and let it proof for 2-3 hours at 78-84F/ 26-30C.
  • During that time perform 2 stretches and folds.
  • The dough should become puffy.
  • Generously sprinkle work surface with rye flour. Dump the dough.
  • Shape as desired. I rolled it into a  roll same length as a baking/loaf pan
  • Transfer the shaped loaf into the loaf pan.
  • Cover the dough and let it proof for 2-3 hours at 78-84F/ 26-30C until it doubles in volume.
  • Preheat oven to 375F.
  • Bake for 35 min until golden brown.

Summary
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Soft Rye Sourdough Sandwich Bread
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4.51star1star1star1star1star Based on 12 Review(s)

41 thoughts on “Soft Rye Sourdough Sandwich Bread

  1. Thank you for the recipe, Natasha! What is the size of the loaf pan for this amount of flour please?

    1. I just made it. I used a 1lb loaf tin, it fitted fine!

      1. Great!
        Thank you for sharing 🙏

      2. Thank you Stephanie

    2. Thank you for your delicious recipes!♡ To make the levain (starter) when you call for starter in lieu of ripe starter can I use my starter straight from the fridge?
      Thank you so much!

      1. Thank you!
        I prefer my starter yo be active
        So I would do 3-4 refreshments after taking it out from the fridge.

    3. The recipe is very good and it is delicious. I will add 1tsp diastolic malt to give a crispier crust.

  2. can you second proof in the fridge overnight?

  3. Can you second proof overnight in fridge?

    1. I would imagine you can if you left out the yeast, and used only sourdough starter. I think the yeast would speed things up too much, even in the fridge.

      1. It will be great within yeast too 🙏

  4. Thank you for the recipe. I love this bread. Made it 3 times ( without yeast) already…. Wonderful flavour, delicate, a little sweet.. Perfect for this summer.

  5. Hi Natasha, I’m wondering if you have ever tried using this same recipe for a boule instead of a loaf? Thanks for the recipe!

    1. Hi!
      If you have round pan, then yes!
      Because it needs to be baked in the pan, otherwise it will spread.

  6. Can I lower or omit the sugar & molasses in this recipe? Also if I used the Yeast in this recipe how much water to proof the yeast ? Thanks Philip

    1. Hi!
      Yes, you can omit the sugar. A d use yeast instead of starter. Do 1% from total amount of the flour

  7. Just made it! Love the softness and flavor. First time using rye flour for sandwich and my family loves it! I made it on the afternoon and fail to save the bread for breakfast 😅

    1. Thank you, I’m glad you liked it 🙏

  8. Should you use the hook attachment on the KitchenAid? Or does ‘mix’ mean whisk?

    1. Hi!
      Dough hook 🙏

      1. Yay! Thanks! That was what I guessed and used and it turned out so amazing! What a great recipe.

  9. What would you do to double this recipe? Simply double all ingredients?

    Valdus

    1. Hi!
      Yes!
      Just double the amount of ingredients

  10. Wonderful, I made it by hand. 4 stretch and folds, hour rest, form loaf, rise on table. about 3-4 hr. baked in Pullman pan. Put in cold oven, at 375° was perfect 205° internal at 35 min. It’s now one of my 3 go-to sourdough recipes. Thanks.

    1. This is great!
      Thank you for sharing 🙏

    2. I have a Pullman pan I plan to use, but I’ve never started in a cold oven. Can you tell me why you do?

  11. I just wanted to say thank you for this amazing recipe :))
    It is my weekly sandwich bread and we LOVE everything about it. I double the recipe and add an egg wash for a shiny top. If I’m out of rye I do whole wheat/honey instead of my usual rye/molasses.
    A perfect recipe 😊🙏🏼

  12. I just made 2 loaves this weekend. No yeast, all happy active starter and it was perfect. I used 2 9×5 loaf pans. Just wanted to thank you for the recipe and I will definitely add this to my regular rotation. Oh and by the way, I added a splash of hot coffee to my water to make it come to the total amount (not additional liquid, in other words), not sure how much it ended up being, but literally a healthy splash. Next time, I’m going to try a bit of beer, as that’s what I’ve put in other rye breads before. Anyway, this recipe is great, not fussy, very simple. Thanks so much!

    1. Kate!
      Thank you for your feedback!
      And how smart about adding coffee. I’ll try it next time.

    2. This is my second time making this and it’s delicious. Thank you for the recipe!

  13. I like caraway seeds in my rye. When would be the best time to add them?

    1. Add them at the end of mixing.

      1. Thanks, will be trying it tomorrow. I only made it once so far and it turned out great! Thanks…

      2. It worked well, started making this bread weekly.

        What’s the new backing time if you double the recipe?

      3. Yes, it will take longer, about 45 -50 min

      4. What is the reason for this?

  14. If you put it in the fridge overnight, should you shape them before or after? I’ve made it before but don’t have time to bake it today. We love this recipe though!

    1. Hi!
      You can do it both ways 🙏

  15. This has turned into my “go to” rye bread recipe. It’s is simple and gets me perfect results every time. I only adjusted the recipe by adding caraway seeds to the dough before the proofing step. I also did an egg wash and sprinkled a generous amount of caraway seeds on top just before baking.

  16. Dear Natalya,
    I just had to comment…This is the best rye bread I tried!
    I did not add yeast and retarded in the fridge overnight, in the baking pan then in the morning straight to the hot oven.

    Very nice.
    Thank you.

  17. Can you bake this in a 13in x 4in x 4in Pullman loaf pan? Would I need to make any adjustments to bake time or batch size?

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