Looking around at the loaves you see in the modern mainstream world, you’d think bread is all about wheat, wheat, wheat! But for many centuries our ancestors in Europe baked exclusively with the dark, tasty grain, rye.

Rye brings so much to bread, not least a delicious rich flavour. And if you’re a sourdough baker, don’t be daunted – 100% rye breads are possible to master at home. All of the breads pictured here are 100% wholegrain rye, baked in my home kitchen.

Why bake with rye?

Before we get into how, here are my top 4 reasons to bake with rye:

1/ Rye has a lower gluten content than wheat.

If you or anyone you know struggles with gluten, or if you want to try a lower-gluten bread, rye is a great option.

2/ Wholegrain rye has unbeatable flavour!

There’s a reason why traditional German and Russian rye breads taste so good. With all of the bran, you get all of the deep, dark flavour of this sweeter-than-wheat grain.

3/ Sourdough starters are better with wholegrain rye.

There is no better flour to kick-start you starter and to make it easy to maintain. It’ll be really active and you won’t need to refresh it as often, it can go in the fridge and you can get on with other things.

4/ With rye, there’s no need to knead or shape.

Due to their lack of gluten, rye bread do not rise using the same mechanism as wheat-style breads. This means no kneading and no worrying about whether you’re shaping it right.

How to get started:

If you want to know more about baking with rye and like podcasts, listen to Ancestral Kitchen Podcast #41 – Rye Sourdough Bread: Mastering the Basics.

If you’d like help with a rye sourdough starter, my pay-what-you-can video course Make & Maintain a Rye Sourdough will Starter will guide you step-by-step.

And if you’re reading to start baking, check out my course, Wholegrain Rye Sourdough Bread: Mastering the Basics. The words in the image above are from Nicole, one of my  students of who started the course with no sourdough starter and no experience baking rye bread.

You can get fantastic results even if you are a beginner!