Rye Bread With Pumpkin and Sunflower Seeds
This dough does not require kneading or working—rye is naturally low in gluten, and the loaf is meant to be dense and easy to slice. The rye starter needs to have been fed twice recently before making the levain. (See Notes.)
Ingredients
Seed Soak
- 125 g sunflower seeds
- 75 g pumpkin seeds
Levain
- 15 g active rye starter
- 135 g room-temperature water
- 90 g fresh-milled rye flour
Rye Bread
- 200 g Levain
- 100 g room-temperature water
- 7 g birch syrup or molasses
- Seed soak drained and rinsed
- 200 g fresh-milled rye flour
- 10 g salt
- Cooking spray for greasing
Instructions
Seed Soak
- Combine sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds in lidded container and add enough water to cover them by 1 in (2.5 cm). Cover and soak for 12 hours.
Levain
- Combine active rye starter, water and rye flour in lidded container and mix well. Leave to ferment at room temperature for 12 hours.
Rye Bread
- In bowl, combine levain, water, birch syrup and seed soak. Mix well. Add rye flour and salt. Using spatula, mix until thick and very sticky.
- Grease loaf pan measuring 9 × 3 in (23 × 7.5 cm). Transfer dough to prepared pan and smooth top with spatula. Cover with dish towel and set aside at room temperature for 4 to 8 hours, until small holes appear on surface of dough. The amount of time needed will depend on the room temperature.
- Preheat oven to 400°F. (If using convection oven, bake on lowest fan setting.)
- Bake for 45 minutes. Remove loaf from tin and leave to cool on wire rack for at least 4 hours. This bread is best after at least a day as the flavour will continue to develop after cooling.
Notes
Tip: Don’t forget to feed your starter! This starter likes a higher hydration than a traditional sourdough starter. (The hydration is 150%.) For example, for 15 g of active rye starter, you would feed it with 45 g room-temperature water and 30 g fresh-milled rye flour. With this feeding, your starter will peak in 4 hours. From there, you can continue to feed it if you’re going to bake it soon or you can refrigerate it for up to a week. Be sure to feed it at least twice, though, before you prepare this rye loaf. To keep the starter alive and active, feed it after preparing the recipe too.