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Rye Bread

4 servings

Ingredients

• 5 kg flour (rye flour, finely sieved)
• 150 g sourdough
• 3 l water
• salt (a little)

Instructions

1. Place the finely sieved flour near the oven to warm for 12 hours before mixing.
2. The baking water should be lukewarm (20-30 degrees Celsius) and soft.
3. About 5 hours before mixing, stir the sourdough with a little flour in lukewarm water, sprinkle with flour, cover, and let stand in a warm place.
4. Pour two-thirds of the warmed flour into the kneading trough, make a well, add several liters of warm water, knead the sourdough with the flour to form a thin dough, and add the remaining water.
5. Mix and knead everything thoroughly with your hands to break up any lumps, and season with salt.
6. Check the consistency by making a mark in the dough: if it slowly comes back together, the dough is firm enough; if it comes back quickly, more flour needs to be kneaded in.
7. Heavily sprinkle the finished dough with flour, cover, and let rise in a warm place until the swelling subsides.
8. Press the dough down and shape it into round or elongated loaves, place them in flour-dusted baking bowls, and let them rise again near the warm oven, brushing them several times with lukewarm water to prevent tearing.
9. Bring the oven to the correct temperature and quickly slide the loaves in one after another, spaced apart.
10. The bread is ready when the crust sounds hollow when tapped with your knuckles, after about 2-3 hours.
11. After removing, brush with cold water and let cool in the baking bowls with the top side down.

Modernized from a treasured 19th-century German cookbook.