Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Food, Cooking, and Game Preparation Sourdough, Rye Bread.

Maybe if I keep trying I'll get it down. The taste is good, just a little heavy, but it is rye bread.

That's not heavy...it's hearty!

Just need a bowl of soup beside it.

[quote=wabigoon]Maybe if I keep trying I'll get it down. The taste is good, just a little heavy, but it is rye bread.
If your dough has too much flour, you will get a denser loaf. Try less flour and make the dough rise a while longer or a bit more yeast. I always learn this stuff too late and the hard way. Hope this helps-Mike

Fink, it is sourdough, no yeast other than the sourdough starter.

Guess it will take some time for me to catch on to the sourdough method. Just seemed like I had problems making bread until my Bohemian Grandmother told me to use less flour and get a better rise. She said that flour is not the same from batch to batch so I should go by feel. (I'll never be that good).

Richard, if you want to abandon the sourdough and make some really great Swedish rye bread, give this a try:

1 c. lard
6 c. warm water
2/3 c. brown sugar
1 c. molasses
1 T. salt
3 or 4 drops anise oil or can use seed
4 c. rye flour
about 16 c. white flour
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3 pkg. yeast
3/4 c. lukewarm water
1 tsp. sugar

Mix yeast with 3/4 c. water and 1 tsp. sugar. Mix all other ingredients in order given being sure mixture is lukewarm before adding yeast.
After rising once, put in pans and let rise until double. Bake in 325 oven about 40 minutes. Makes 7 loaves.

Good folks, when we really want good bread, my wife bakes it!

There you go, wabigoon. No more walleye fishin' fer yew!

I don’t know your recipe, but straight rye flour makes the bread heavy. To make it lighter you can add 50% all purpose white flour. You can also add a second pinch of yeast to supplement the starter.

If you don't like the bread, you can use it as a base to make a carbonated drink. This has been done in central Europe before over a thousand years, it is called kvass in most countries.
Boil a gallon of water. Add 4 slices of toasted rye bread, a handful of dark raisins and a handful of sugar. Let that stuff in the water to cool. After cooled, sift out solids, and place liquid in a glass container.
Add a fresh handful of raisins, and about a teaspoon of yeast. Let that ferment for 2 days in a warm place. Filter the drink though a cloth, and add some fresh lemon juice to the drink.
The drink will be like a mild hard cider, with alcohol about 1%. You can also add brandy if you want a harder drink.
I also use strawberries when they are in season to sub for raisins.