Recipe: Perfect German Sourdough Rye Bread (Roggenmischbrot)

German Sourdough Rye Bread (Roggenmischbrot). German rye bread is delicious and very healthy for your body (think bone density, magnesium etc.) and great for weight loss. This recipe will explain step by step how to first make a sourdough and then bake the bread. The video will show every step and lead you to a successful authentic German rye bread.

Maybe on of the most common breads in Germany - this one is heavy, hearty and packed with flavor. This German rye sourdough bread recipe is started with rye flour and finished with bread flour after an overnight sponge. Rye breads are very popular in Germany and many different recipes abound. You can cook German Sourdough Rye Bread (Roggenmischbrot) using 16 ingredients and 14 steps. Here is how you achieve it.

Ingredients of German Sourdough Rye Bread (Roggenmischbrot)

1. Prepare of *** Rye Sourdough ***.
2. It's 175 g of Rye flour.
3. You need 175 g of water (175 ml).
4. Prepare 18 g of rye sourdough starter.
5. You need of *** Wheat Flour Biga ***.
6. Prepare 175 g of white bread flour.
7. It's 175 g of water (175 ml).
8. You need 2 pinches of dry yeast or 0.2 g fresh yeast.
9. It's of *** Main Dough ***.
10. You need 175 g of rye flour.
11. Prepare 60 g of spelt flour.
12. It's 12 g of barley malt or molasses (optional).
13. It's 12 g of salt.
14. You need of *** Optional Mix-in ***.
15. It's 50 g of dry figs (2 large, chopped up).
16. You need 40 g of choppped walnuts.

But with the Rye bread without sourdough we had already the right starting point to step into the world of sticky rye dough - practising this bread before It is a classical german "Roggenmischbrot" (literally mixed rye bread), with a slight sour and hearty flavour. Roggenmischbrot mit Sonnenblumenkernen (A German style mixed rye and wheat bread with sunflower seeds) Part of the Grain Mill Comparison. This recipe is a modified version of a seeded mixed rye and wheat bread from my good friend Samartha Deva. Samartha is one of the two best rye.

German Sourdough Rye Bread (Roggenmischbrot) instructions

1. Mix the ingredients for the rye sourdough in a bowl. Cover tightly with wrap and let sit at room temperature for about 20 hours..
2. Mix the ingredients for the wheat flour Biga in a separate bowl. Cover tightly with wrap and let sit at room temperature for about 20 hours along with the rye sourdough..
3. After 20 hours, mix together the 2 pre-doughs..
4. Then mix in the rest of the ingredients for the main dough..
5. Remove from bowl and knead on a floured surface..
6. Knead for 15-17 minutes until smooth..
7. If mixing anything in like, seeds or dry fruits, knead into the bread now and knead for 1 more minute..
8. Form into a ball, return to a large bowl and let rise for 90 minutes..
9. Shape into a round boule or oblong loaf. Let rise covered with a cloth, or upside-down in a proofing basket for another 30 minutes..
10. While the bread is rising in step 9, preheat oven to 250°C/500°F. Place a shallow pan at the bottom of the oven for creating steam later (also prepare some boiling water for this).
11. After bread has finished rising, place on a baking sheet and cut a deep score down the center, or across in 3-4 places..
12. Put in center rack and pour in some boiling water into the pan so it steams up..
13. Bake at 250°C/500°F for 10 minutes, then remove the steam tray, lower temperature to 190°C/375°F and continue baking another 45 minutes. (total time is 55 min.).
14. Remove and let complete cool on a rack..

Sourdough bread comes in many types, depending on the flour used, and this makes a dense rye loaf. In any case it is made with a sourdough starter, rather than packaged yeast, which uses the yeasts that occur naturally in the atmosphere and on flour. While this bread machine bread isn't "authentic" sourdough, it makes a wonderfully textured, high-rising, great-tasting loaf, thanks to King Arthur Whole-Grain Bread Improver. Want to bake a round loaf (as pictured above) instead of baking in your machine? The normal German "rye bread" is called "Roggenbrot" in which the only grain used is rye.