I make 100% wholegrain sourdough rye loaves in my kitchen every week. The flavour is deep, rich and tangy and the breads – which I can slice and make into sandwiches – are always finished too quickly! That’s where these sourdough rye crackers, made again with 100% wholegrain rye flour, save the day. I can make up a batch at the weekend and they will keep all week, filling holes in my families nutrient-dense food when they are needed.

Simple ingredients

The recipe is deceptively simple. It can be made with a fresh sourdough starter or with sourdough discard. Aside from the flour and starter, all your need is a bit of fat and some salt/flavourings.

For the crackers you see in this post, I used rye flour that I freshly-milled at home using rye berries from Grand Teton Ancient Grains. Freshly-milled flour is the icing on the cake when it comes to these crackers, but they can easily be made with pre-milled wholegrain rye flour too.

By hand or food processor

I mix the dough by hand. It’s not difficult and I’ll walk you through the steps. If you prefer to use a food processor, it’s even quicker!

I cut these into rounds using a 3-inch (7.6cm) cookie cutter. There’s no need for you to do this though, you can score the dough manually into squares before cooking or even bake as one whole sheet of cracker (it’s fun to break this by hand when it’s crispy!)

Wholegrain Rye Sourdough Crackers Recipe

• Makes: 28-30 3-inch crackers
• Prep time: 25 minutes (plus overnight rest)
• Baking time: 12 minutes

Ingredients:

• 100 g (approx 1 cup) wholegrain rye flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp caraway seeds
• 50 g lard (can be substituted with butter or olive oil)
• 100 g (approx half cup) sourdough starter, can be discard
• 1- 4 tbsp water, if needed

Method:

• In a bowl, mix the wholegrain rye flour, salt and caraway seeds.
• Measure in the lard (or butter) chopping it into small pieces as you do so.
• Using your fingers, rub the fat into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
• Measure in the sourdough starter (or discard), mix this in well – the dough should start to come together as you do so.
• Depending on the hydration of your sourdough starter, your dough may need more water to adhere together well. You want your dough a little sticky, this way it’ll crack less when you roll it out. Make a judgement and add more water if necessary. (When I make these crackers using freshly-ground rye and my 70% hydration wholegrain rye sourdough starter, I generally need to add 2-4 tablespoons of water to get a good dough.)
• Bring the dough together into a ball and wrap it or place it inside a sealed container before putting it in the fridge overnight.
• The next day, when you’re ready to make the crackers, preheat your oven to 180°C/375°F.
• Liberally coat your work surface and rolling pin with wholegrain rye flour.
• Uncover your dough and, using a knife, chop it in half.

• Gently work the first half into a ball, place it on your floured work surface and, using your palm, push it down into a circle.
• Sprinkle the top of the circle with wholegrain rye flour and roll the dough out. You are aiming for a thickness of 2 mm or under. Turn the dough often and liberally apply extra flour to avoid it sticking to your surface or your pin.
• When the dough has a thickness of 2 mm or under cut circles of cracker out from it and place them on a baking sheet/sheet pan.

• Gather up the offcuts, add them to the second half of the dough and repeat the process until you have used all of your dough.
• Bake the crackers act 180°C/375°F for approximately 12 minutes. Close to the end of the time, keep a careful eye on the crackers, removing the ones from the edge of the sheet pan if they start to look as if they will burn.
• Remove the crackers to a cooling rack and allow them to come to room temperature before enjoying.

FAQS

How should I store these rye sourdough crackers?

Because of their thinness, these crackers are dry. They will store well in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

How do you like to eat these sourdough rye crackers?

It’s hard to resist eating them straight from the cooling rack! Thankfully, making a batch of 30, there’s usually loads left over after this. They are great spread with butter, eaten with cream cheese or as a simple side to a salad. I love the flavour of avocado with rye, so will often top these crackers with sliced avocado or avocado mashed with olive oil.

What’s the best fat to use in these crackers?

I like to use lard, which I home render, for these crackers. You can easily substitute unsalted butter.

Can I use olive oil instead of lard/butter to make these rye sourdough crackers?

Yes, olive oil is possible. If you’d like to use it and it at the same time as a sourdough starter.

Do these crackers work with freshly-milled rye flour?

Yes, I make them with freshly-milled rye flour ground in my counter-top Mockmill. If you don’t have one of these, shop-bought wholegrain rye flour works well.

Can I use sourdough discard to make these crackers?

Yes, these crackers work with sourdough discard as well as fresh sourdough starter. Your starter does not need to be wholegrain rye – you could use a spelt, wheat or gluten-free starter with the crackers.

Do I need to/can I roll these crackers out using parchment/greaseproof paper?

Parchment/greaseproof paper can be used instead of the flour to create a surface upon which to roll out the dough. If you then struggle to move the crackers from this, you can lift the entire sheet of paper onto your baking sheet/tray. I prefer to use rye flour to stop the dough from sticking to my surface or pin as it is simpler.

 You might also like:

How to Make Wholegrain Rye Sourdough from Scratch

100% Wholegrain Rye Sourdough Bread

Russian Bread Kvass

I am used to baking with ancient grains. I have cupboards full of non-wheat cereals: spelt, rye, buckwheat, millet, einkorn…I bake with them all every week. But, up until recently, I’d always been a bit daunted by baking with emmer. I’d heard that it was difficult to handle, that it made a dough that felt like wet sand and that it wouldn’t rise.

And so, when I was gifted a big bag of emmer by regenerative, organic farm Grand Teton Ancient Grains, I knew it was time to take on the challenge of creating a good sourdough emmer loaf.

At first, I tried the same techniques I use for spelt. I’m good with spelt (I’ve written a book on it). But my spelt recipes didn’t work with emmer. I could make a passable loaf using the same techniques I use with spelt, but the dough was so sticky and the rise I was able to obtain was not great.

I knew I had to try a different approach. After failed attempts with autolysing the flour (that is mixing flour and water and leaving it overnight to ‘settle’) and failed attempts at intensive kneading, I decided to turn to the techniques that I use to make sourdough rye bread.

Using these techniques, designed for the low-gluten rye grain, was a revelation with emmer. The loaves bloomed – the mixing was a dream and they rose well in the oven.

Tasting this sourdough loaf made with emmer was a revelation. The flavour is like nothing else; it is incredibly sweet and also fragrant and nutty. It leaves your mouth happy in a way that I’ve not experienced with other ancient grains.

As you might guess, this loaf is now regular part of my ancient grains sourdough baking!

If, in the past, you’ve tried and failed to make a sourdough loaf with emmer or you’ve read that it’s a difficult grain to handle in breadmaking, this recipe will dispel all your fears. It’s simple, it’s foolproof and it makes the most amazingly flavoured ancient grain sourdough.

First of all, let’s dive a little bit into emmer:

What is emmer?

Emmer is an ancient grain, that is, a cereal grain that has been used for thousands of years and comes to us, in the modern era, virtually unchanged genetically.

It is much lower in gluten than wheat, and, as an ancient grain, many people who have problems with wheat find they are able to digest emmer – especially when it’s made into sourdough – without problems.

For answers to more questions about emmer, including its similarities to and differences from other ancient grains, see my FAQ section below.

Is emmer good for sourdough?

Yes, emmer makes the most amazingly-flavoured sourdough. It is not, however, easily to get good results from emmer if you apply the same bread-making techniques that would be applied to wheat. A different process is needed. To get good results from emmer, I found it best to employ the same techniques I use when making rye bread – that is no kneading, a pre-ferment and a very high-hydration dough. When treated this way emmer makes a glorious sourdough bread with flavour that is unbeatable. My recipe will show you how!

The practical stuff:

This bread needs to be started the night before you wish to bake it. At that time, you create a pre-ferment along with soaking the sunflower seeds. Both of these are left on the counter overnight before mixing the main dough in the morning and baking it around lunchtime.

You will need a loaf pan and ideally it will have a lid. This bread comes out best for me in my 1kg/2lb Emile Henry ceramic loaf pan. If you don’t have a lid you can improvise one by tenting your pan with aluminium foil.

I make this loaf using emmer berries from ancientgrains.com, ground at home in my Mockmill. If you are in the UK you can source whole emmer grains from Hodmedods. If you don’t have a mill at home, using pre-ground emmer flour for work fine

Although this bread is 100% wholegrain emmer flour, it will work with sourdough starter made of any flour. I would not be without my rye sourdough starter (find advice on how to create one of these here).

Seeded Wholegrain Emmer Sourdough

Ingredients:

For the pre-ferment:

230g wholegrain emmer flour

230g water

45g sourdough starter (can be any grain)

For the main dough:

320g wholegrain emmer flour

9g salt

120g water

100g pre-soaked sunflower seeds

Method:

The night before you want to bake:

The sunflower seeds need to be soaked:

• Put them into a bowl and cover them with ample water, before leaving them on the counter overnight.

Make the pre-ferment:

• Combine the water and sourdough starter, mixing well. Stir this mixture into the flour.
• Clean the sides of the bowl and flatten the top of the mixture with wet spatula.
• Cover the bowl tightly with a plate or some clingfilm/plastic wrap.
• Leave this mix overnight in a warm place – when I created this loaf the daytime temperature of my house was 24C/68F; try to find a space that’s somewhere between 20C/68F and 24C/75F.

The morning of the bake:

• Retrieve the mixture that’s been pre-fermenting overnight. It should be visibly expanded and smell fermented The bowl should sound hollow when you knock the side of it and you may also see tiny pin holes on the top of the surface. If you’re unsure whether the mix is ready, you can dig a spoon into it – you should find honeycomb-style network of holes. If you are in any doubt that the mixture is ready, return it to your warm place and check it again in an hour or two.
• When you are ready to proceed, drain and rinse the sunflower seeds, before pouring them into the bowl that contains the pre-ferment.
• Add the water to this and stir until well combined.
• Stir the salt into the flour.
• Add the flour/salt to the liquidy pre-ferment, stirring until there is no loose flour and the mixture is well combined.
• Using a wet spatula, clean down the sides of the bowl before pressing down and smoothing the top of the dough.
• Cover the bowl tightly with a plate or clingfilm/plastic wrap.

• Leave in a warm place to ferment. In my kitchen, at 24C/75F, I leave this two hours.
• Prepare a loaf pan for the bread, greasing and flowering the inside.
• When the dough is ready (it will be bigger, smell active, and be airy) it’s time to get it into the pan. I find the best way to do this is to use a wet spatula and scoop portions of the dough out at a time, dropping them into my pan. Once I have all the dough, I wet my spatula again and shape/smooth the top of the loaf.
• Cover the loaf pan. If your pan doesn’t have a lid you can tent the pan with aluminium foil.
• Leave in a warm place to ferment. In my kitchen, 24C/75F, I leave this for an hour and a half.

• About 20 minutes before you judge the bread to be ready, preheat your oven to 210C/410C.
• When the loaf is ready (it will be bigger and may have tiny pin holes on the surface), ensure the lid is well fitting and place inside your preheated oven.
• Cook the bread at 210C/410F for 25 minutes and then reduce the temperature to 190C/375F. My loaf (cooked in a Emile Henry ceramic baker) takes a further 30 minutes at this temperature.
• The bread will be done when it registers 95C/200F at its centre with a probe thermometer. If you don’t have one of these, you can judge doneness based on the colour of the crust and the loaf sounding hollow when you tap it on the bottom.
• Remove the bread from its pan to a cooling rack and leave it to cool completely before cutting.

This seeded wholegrain emmer sourdough will keep at least four or five days in a bread bag or tin. If you are used to spelt loaves going stale after two or three days, you will be pleasantly surprised at the keeping qualities of emmer.

FAQs

What’s the difference between emmer and spelt?

Both emmer and spelt are ancient grains. They both have wheat-like qualities (as does their sister ancient grain, einkorn). Their similarities are shown by what the Italians call them. In Italian, einkorn, emmer and spelt are all part of the ‘farro’ family; einkorn is ‘farro monococco’, emmer is ‘farro dicocco’ and spelt is ‘farro spelta’. Emmer is genetically more complex than einkorn but simpler than simpler than spelt.

From the bakers point of view, emmer handles very differently to spelt. It stretches much more, but with its lower gluten content it is harder to use the methods of conventional wheat bread-making. This is why my recipe uses the techniques I would normally apply to very low-gluten doughs, such as those made with rye.

Does emmer contain gluten?

Yes, emmer does contain gluten. Therefore if you are coeliac you shouldn’t eat it. If, however, you have non-specific gluten intolerance you may find, as others do, that eating sourdough made with ancient grains such as emmer does not cause you problems.

What’s the difference between wheat and emmer?

Emmer is an ancient grain, a cereal that our ancestors have been using for thousands of years. Modern wheat that we buy in shops today is a product of an intensive selective breeding programme in the 1960s. This was designed to increase wheat yield, with no concern for flavour or health benefits. When you choose to bake with emmer you are choosing a grain that has sustained ancestors for many years and has not been messed with as has modern wheat.

You might also like:

5 Reasons to Bake With Ancient Grains

All About Spelt Sourdough (podcast episode)

How to Make Sourdough Rye Bread From Scratch

Thank you so much to Grand Teton Ancient Grains for sponsoring this post, allowing me to develop, test and write up this recipe.

Øllebrød is my new favourite breakfast! Who would’ve believed that such a complex-flavoured, adaptable, moreish dish could come from the combination of some stale rye bread and half a can of ale?! Pair it with a few flavourings (which I’ll share with you below) it’s like creating magic in your breakfast bowl.

What is Øllebrød?

Øllebrød is a oatmeal-style dish from Denmark that pairs previously-baked rye bread with beer to create a warm and hearty porridge. The earliest references to it are from the Middle Ages and, in its traditional form, it was a simple, frugal dish that provided nourishment from readily-available staples.

Why bread and beer?

Before industrialisation, communities depended on the crops that grew around them. Rye was a grain that worked well in Denmark, hence it was used to make bread. As firing an oven is quite an expense, this bread was often made in large batches and designed to be kept. As these breads aged, creative home cooks found ways to bring them to life, including this delicious porridge øllebrød.

 With bread-making comes beer-making – providing both was an unquestionable part of the household duties of women for centuries. And if we go back beyond a couple of hundred years, beer (or ale) was a day-to-day drink; given to the whole family at meals.

Bread and beer would have been part of our ancestors lives. Combining them into a daily dish just made sense.

A traditional version:

I first read about øllebrød in Alex Hely-Hutchinson’s book 26 Grains. Her version, like many of the øllebrød recipes you’ll find online, modernises the dish, leaving out the beer and adding sweeteners, fruit and spices. Whilst øllebrød does taste good this way, I love adding beer – it gives the dish a deep, rich flavour that is so distinctively different.

In this recipe, half of the liquid used is beer (I’ve used a stout as the flavours combine so well, but you could use any beer). To balance the flavours, I’ve also used a very small amount of sweetener. Taste your own øllebrød before it’s done and add more if you prefer it sweeter.

I make 100% wholegrain rye sourdough rye bread at home every week (my methods are in my course Rye Sourdough Bread: Mastering the Basics) and use the last slices of the loaf to make øllebrød. Sometimes, though, I am so keen to have the porridge that I’ll use fresh bread, or even make a loaf especially. It’s not important whether your bread is old or new, the flavour will be good with both.

You could use shop-bought rye bread, but, as with all industrially-made foods, the flavour won’t be as special.

My favourite spices and flavourings are below, but there are so many options to chose from. Using my suggestions and your imagination, you can make the dish a different experience every time.

Øllebrød needs to be started the night before you want to eat it by soaking the bread in beer and water. I suggest doing this in the saucepan that you intend to cook it in, saving washing up!

Traditional Danish Øllebrød

Serves: 3

Time to soak: overnight

Time to cook: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

250g rye bread, sourdough is best

300g stout (or any beer/ale)

300g water

1/8 tsp salt

1 tsp dark sugar

Spices/flavourings (I often change these up, but like this combination):

1 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp vanilla seeds

Zest of 1/3 of a lemon (c.1/2 tsp)

You could also experiment with orange zest/juice, caraway, cardamom, star anise and more!

Method:

The night before you want to eat øllebrød:

• Break the bread into chunks around 2 cms and place them in a saucepan.
• Pour over the beer and the water and stir to combine.
• Cover and leave on the counter overnight.

In the morning:

• Add the salt, sugar and spices to the bread mixture.
• Put the pan onto the stove on a medium-high heat, stirring frequently until you start to see it bubble.
• Turn the heat down to low and cook for 20 minutes, stirring regularly to avoid it sticking to the bottom of your pan.
• When the porridge is smooth, taste it for seasoning, adding more salt, sweetener and/or spices if you would like.
• Serve into bowls, add any desired toppings and eat straight away.

Serving suggestions:

• Øllebrød is great served simply with crushed nuts/seeds and some yogurt or cream (or my favourite, ghee!)
• If you’d like to, toasting nuts before topping øllebrød with them brings more flavour.
• Fresh, seasonal fruit is a nice option.
• For a special treat you could add honey or maple syrup; my son likes it if I infuse cardamom pods for 15 minutes in a 50/50 warmed honey/water solution and pour that over the top of his øllebrød.

FAQs

Can I use new rye bread?

Yes, I often use freshly-made rye bread to make øllebrød. I ends up being slightly more liquidy than if I’d used stale, dry bread, but you can extend the cooking period if you prefer it thicker.

Can I use standard rye?

Yes, you don’t have to use home-made sourdough rye. You can use yeasted rye or shop-bought rye bread. Bread with seeds in will work too, but your porridge will not be as smooth as a non-seeded loaf.

Can I use other breads?

Yes, I often make øllebrød with sourdough spelt bread. When I do this, I prefer to replace the beer with cider. The flavour is wonderful!

Do I have to use alcohol?

No! Øllebrød was traditionally made with beer, but you could soak the bread in water instead. A lot of modern recipes do this.

Can I use non-alcoholic beer?

Yes! Non alcoholic stout or beer works well for this recipes.

I don’t like stout, can I use another beer?

Yes, you can use any type of beer, ale, cider (even home-brewed ancestral ale!). The flavour will change based on the type of drink you use.

What other flavourings go well with øllebrød?

I have used lemon zest, cinnamon and vanilla in the recipe, but often use other spices. Caraway works very well with the deep rye flavours, as does star anise and cardamom. Lots of recipes online use orange juice and zest.

You might also like:

Russian Bread Kvass

Wholegrain Rye Sourdough Bread: Mastering the Basics (podcast episode)

How to Make Fermented Oats

And, if you want to get my go-to recipe for 100% wholegrain rye sourdough bread, plus tips for making sourdough rye at home, go here.

Sourdough rye breads are a staple in my kitchen, made every week. I taught myself the process over a decade ago in order to feed my husband, who has a wheat intolerance. But once I’d tasted home-made sourdough rye myself, I was hooked! Since then I’ve gone on to share my love of baking rye with readers here, on my podcast and with hundreds of students in my course Sourdough Rye Bread: Mastering the Basics.

Why make sourdough rye bread?

I make sourdough rye bread because I love its flavour. But rye has so many more reasons to recommend it:

• Rye is three times lower in gluten than wheat, and the gluten it does contain is of a different nature. This means that those of us who struggle with gluten can often enjoy rye without issues.
• Rye has the highest fibre of all the grains we commonly use in our kitchens.
• Rye is so nutritious – as well as all that fibre it is high in B vitamins and minerals.

Why use wholegrain rye?

All of my sourdough rye breads are made with wholegrain rye. Here’s why I love to use it:

• Including the bran brings so much flavour to the bread; much of the infamous depth of rye (think pumpernickel, rugbrod and all of those German/Eastern European breads) comes from the bran.
• By using the whole grain we are ensuring our cooking is zero waste.
• Most of the fibre content of grains is in the bran; when we include that we get all of the nutrition.

Why make sourdough?

• By using a home-cultured starter (rather than buying a factory-produced yeast) we bring the entire bread-making process into our own kitchens. This is part of taking a stand against our our industrial food system.
• Sourdough brings such wonderful flavours to bread. For rye in particular, the acidity of sourdough matches the robustness of the grain in a wonderful way, creating flavour-heaven!
• In the sourdough process, complex starches are predigested, meaning your tummy has to do less work when it comes to the eating.

What’s important to know about making rye bread

If you’re in the habit of making wheat bread, it’s important to understand that rye is different. Understanding the differences between wheat and rye, when it comes to breadmaking, puts you in a strong position to create wonderful sourdough rye breads. Here’s how I explain it, simply:

Breadmaking with wheat:

When in contact with water, wheat flour produces gluten. This gluten (assisted by kneading) creates a net-like mesh network which traps gases during the fermentation, rising the bread and creating its crumb.

Breadmaking with rye:

When in contact with water, rye flour produces complex carbohydrates called pentosans. These pentosans create a thick starchy gel which traps gases during fermentation, rising the bread and creating its crumb.

At the same time, the rye bread-making process also creates an enzyme called amylase. Amylase breaks down complex carbohydrates into simple sugars. If this happens in your bread, the thick, starchy gel will not be formed and your rye bread will not rise. Amylase cannot survive in an acidic environment hence an important part of the process of making rye bread is to acidify the dough.

You can see me explaining the differences between these two bread-making processes here.

How To Make Sourdough Rye Bread From Scratch

Over years of making 100% wholegrain sourdough rye, I’ve learnt that there are six rules – each of them vital to ending up with a risen, sliceable, delicious bread. They’re important and I want to share them with you here. If you’d like to go straight to my recipe, it’s available as part of my Beginner’s Guide to Wholegrain Rye Sourdough, which you can get, in your inbox, by entering your details below:

1 – Have a strong starter

Having a strong sourdough starter is a vital part of any sourdough bread process.

I recommend making your sourdough starter with wholegrain rye flour, because:

• Rye is a very active flour, naturally containing lots of microbes that will super-charge your ferment.
• Rye hydrates differently to wheat and that results in a sourdough starter that is much easier to maintain (you won’t need to refresh it daily; I attend to mine once a week).

How to switch an existing wheat sourdough starter to rye:

It’s easy to switch an existing wheat flour starter to wholegrain rye. To do this simply start refreshing your sourdough starter with wholegrain rye flour instead of your usual wheat flour. After having done this four or five times they’ll be virtually no wheat flour left in your starter.

If you need help with your sourdough starter, read my blog article explaining how to create and maintain a rye sourdough starter, take a look at my visual guide to sourdough starters or take my pay-what-you-can video course.

If you are concerned about the strength of your sourdough starter, don’t use it to make bread. Be patient and keep working on it until you can see it rising well and consistently.

2 – Use a pre-ferment

To make a good sourdough rye bread utilise a pre-ferment. This helps acidify the dough enough to stop amylase destroying your crumb!

A pre-ferment, simply put, is a very big starter!

With a wheat bread, you mix sourdough starter into your dough. Using a rye pre-ferment, you instead take a sizeable portion of the total flour (usually around 30%), mix it with the sourdough starter and leave it to ferment (usually for 12 hours). When ready, this bubbly pre-ferment is mixed into the remaining ingredients.

3 – Hydrate your loaf well

Wholegrain rye flour is thirsty. Where you may be used to making sourdough breads using a 50 to 60% hydration (a water weight of 50 to 60% of the total flour weight), rye will need more. I often make wholegrain rye bread at a 100% hydration (the same weight of water as flour).

4 – Watch the proof

Once you’ve mixed your active pre-ferment into your remaining ingredients, there’s nothing more to do. Rye bread doesn’t take long to bulk ferment or proof. Make sure you watch the fermentation – it is very easy to leave rye bread too long. Look for a small increase in volume and pinprick holes beginning to appear on the surface of the dough.

5 – Use a baker and cover the bread in the oven

Rye bakes much better in a bread baker – by that I mean a container of metal, ceramic or glass. Having sides to climb up will help your bread rise and give it a much more pleasing aesthetic. The added bonus here is that, when using a tin of some form, there is no need for you to worry about shaping the bread!

Make sure that you cover the baker whilst the bread is in the oven. If your tin does not have a lid you can craft one from aluminium foil.

6 – Let your bread cool before you enjoy it!

Once your rye bread is cooked (I like to see an internal temperature of 95C/200F or above) remove it from the tin and leave it to cool completely before cutting. Rye bread continues to form its crumb whilst cooling and you will spoil it by trying to cut it while it’s still hot. If you can, wait even longer; rye bread improves when left for a day or two after baking.

Frequently-Asked Questions:

How do the timings work for this sourdough rye bread method?

Here’s how I make rye bread in my kitchen:

The evening before I want to bake I create a pre-ferment from my active sourdough starter, leaving it to ferment overnight.

The next morning I retrieve the bubbling pre-ferment and mix it into the rest of my ingredients.

I watch this bulk fermentation carefully and, when it is ready, I put the dough into a pan.

I watch the proofing carefully and, when it is ready, I bake the loaf. This is usually around lunchtime.

I leave this loaf to cool fully, not usually cutting it until the next day.

Hence, if I want to bread for lunch on Monday, I begin it with the pre-ferment on Saturday evening, baking it on Sunday.

How should I store my sourdough rye bread?

Sourdough rye bread ages much better than bread made of other grains. In my experience its flavour improves, when left, for up to 5 days. When first cooked, I leave my bread to fully cool on a cooling rack. After the first slicing, I turn it, crumb down, to stand on my breadboard. After this I move it to a metal bread tin which has small air holes and a wooden lid. A fabric bread bag or paper bag is also a good option.

Does sourdough rye bread freeze?

Yes! Sourdough rye bread freezes much better than bread made of other grains. I often cut loaves and freeze one half for weeks at a time or make two loaves in one go, saving one in the freezer for later. Before placing in the freezer, I bag the loaves in a double layer and ensure I expel all the air before closing.

Can I proof my sourdough rye bread in the fridge?

Yes, this is possible. Sometimes, I will mix the pre-ferment into my remaining ingredients in the evening and then immediately place the dough into my fridge. In the morning I remove the dough from the fridge, place it in the pan to proof and bake mid-morning.

Is rye gluten-free?

No, rye is not gluten-free but it contains much less gluten than wheat and the gluten it contains is of a different structure. This means that often, people who have problems with digesting wheat can enjoy rye without issues, especially when it is baked into sourdough. This is what happened to my husband – when I met him 15 years ago he could not eat bread due to a wheat allergy, now he eats sourdough rye bread almost daily without any side-effects.

Can I grind my own flour?

Yes, most definitely, and your bread will be even more incredible if you do! When I started making rye breads I used shop-bought wholegrain rye flour. Some time into my journey, I invested in a Mockmill and I now grind all my wholegrain rye flour from rye berries minutes before I make bread. It is a beautiful process and enhances the flavour (and by enjoyment) of my breads greatly.

My sourdough starter isn’t strong, what can I do?

Keep working on it. There is a lot of information out there on creating sourdough starters and it can be overwhelming. My advice is to find one method/teacher and follow their method exclusively. If you would like my guidance you can read How to Create a Sourdough Starter, follow my visual guide on starters, access my pay-as-you-can video course How to Create and Maintain a Rye Sourdough Starter, and for $5, I have a comprehensive set of guidance in 10 Tips for Creating and Maintaining a Sourdough Starter over at The Fermentation School.

Do I need to refresh my starter the night before I make bread?

If you want your starter to be the most active it can be, it’s best to refresh it 12 hours before you make the pre-ferment. I’ve found that, my starter, after a decade of care, does not need this and I use sourdough starter straight from the fridge when making my pre-ferment.

I want to start now! Can I get your assistance in making wholegrain sourdough rye bread?

Yes. You can start by downloading my free 30-page guide, Baking with Ancient Grains, which includes a comprehensive recipe for sourdough rye bread. My podcast episode on rye sourdough bread will also help. You can have me guide you, virtually through the whole process in my course Rye Sourdough Bread: Mastering the Basics and if you’d like 1:1 time, there’s the option of Sourdough mentoring – I currently offer two packages, a get-going and a trouble-shooting.

To get your copy of The Beginner’s Guide to Wholegrain Rye Sourdough Bread enter you details below:

You might also like:

Differences Between Bread-Making With Wheat And Rye

Ancestral Kitchen Podcast: Rye Sourdough Bread: Mastering the Basics

“I can’t eat wheat bread, it just doesn’t agree with me.”

How many times have you heard this? 

Maybe it’s you that struggles with ‘normal’ bread, or maybe your partner or friend. There are so many of us. Because, these days, it’s not just celiacs who have problems with wheat. Non-celiac gluten sensitivity is staggeringly-prevalent in our modern age.

And it can be devastating, because, seriously, bread rocks! It’s a huge part of our society’s food culture; it’s something we can share, keep, create a quick meal with and that can satisfy us at such a deep level. Good bread is the stuff of life.

If it’s you or one of your loved ones that can’t tolerate wheat and its gluten, don’t despair. Before you give up ever eating decent bread again and swear to go gluten-free, give rye sourdough bread a go.

Why rye sourdough bread is a good option

Rye gluten is not equal to wheat gluten

To start with rye is much lower in gluten; a recent study showed it as having three times less gluten than wheat. In addition to this, the gluten in rye has a different chemical composition to the gluten in wheat.

This is why rye breads do not rise in the same way that breads made with white wheat flour do. It’s gluten that helps trap the air inside a wheat bread. Rye flour just doesn’t have the same level of gluten as wheat flour, and the gluten that it does have doesn’t work in the same way. That means it also may not work in the same way in your body!

Sourdough changes the nutritional profile of bread

The long fermentation involved in the sourdough process breaks down many of the compounds in grains that can cause digestive issues as well as, at the same time, making many more nutrients available for us.

This means that when a slice of sourdough bread hits your digestion, it is literally not the same food as a bread made industrially with commercial yeast. Combine this with the lower and chemically-different gluten in rye and you’re looking at something that your body may just thank you for!

How to make rye sourdough bread in your kitchen

Along with struggling to digest wheat, many people find mastering the sourdough process tough. If you’ve struggled with a wheat sourdough starter or when making wheat sourdough bread, know that using rye is a lot simpler:

Rye: a fuss-free sourdough starter

Making and maintaining a rye sourdough starter is easier than keeping a starter made with wheat flour. Wholegrain rye flour is full of enzymes that encourage and support fermentation and the water-holding capabilities of rye means you can refresh your rye starter less often and give it less attention than it’s wheat counterpart.

No kneading or shaping required

This same ease holds true when it comes to making rye sourdough bread. Rye bread doesn’t need kneading or shaping like wheat does, so even if you’re a beginner at bread-making you’re in with a chance of getting a good result.

Take your pick!

Rye sourdough breads come in all shapes and sizes; they’ve been made by traditional cultures in rye growing regions around the world for centuries. There are dark, heavy breads, that’ll satisfy parts of you that you didn’t know existed. There are everyday sandwich-able ryes that’ll be feeding you all week. And there are deeply-scented spiced breads that’ll wow you with their fragrance and lasting flavour.

Here’s how to learn more:

Bringing rye sourdough bread into your kitchen and life needn’t be intimidating; here are two resources for you:

1/ Read my post How to Make Sourdough Rye Bread From Scratch, which includes access to my go-to recipe, the one I make in my own kitchen every week.

2/ Have a listen to my podcast episode dedicated to rye bread: Rye Sourdough Bread: Mastering The Basics.

I’ve been baking exclusively with ancient grains for over a decade, and regularly hear these questions:

• Why should I bake with ancient grains?
• What’s wrong with modern wheat?
• How are ancient grains different from wheat?
• What do I need to know before I start baking with ancient grains?
• Have you got some ancient grain recipes I can try?

In this article, I’ll give you answers. I’ll define ancient grains, explain how they differ from modern wheat, share five reasons why you should be baking with ancient grains and point you to a resource that’ll get you started.

What are ancient grains?

Ancient grains are ‘old-school’ grains; ones that our ancestors have been subsisting on for thousands of years.

Modern wheat isn’t like this. It was developed in the mid 1900s specifically for increased yield; scientists intensively selected and cross-bred the grain. Our ancestors wouldn’t recognise today’s wheat and neither would they be able to grow it – as well as needing large amounts of water it relies on fossil fuel fertilisers.

Get my free 30-page guide to baking with ancient grains straight to your inbox by entering you details below:

What are some examples of ancient grains?

There are ancient grains that behave similarly to wheat, like einkorn, emmer and spelt.

There are ancient grains that, like wheat, contain gluten, but work differently, like rye and barley.

There are gluten-free ancient grains like buckwheat, teff, oats and millet.

Why should I bake with ancient grains?

Here are 5 reasons to bake with ancient grains:

1/ For your health

How many times have you heard someone say ‘I can’t eat wheat’?

Yes, there are many people with coeliac disease, who cannot eat any gluten. Yet there are swathes more for whom wheat just doesn’t sit well. They feel bloated or uncomfortable after normal bread.

And looking at where our modern wheat came from and how, industrially, we make it into bread, it’s unsurprising that so many of us have problems with it.

Modern wheat grains were developed by super-intensive selection and cross-breeding and are dependent on industrially-produced pesticides and fertilisers. The wheat that makes the bread we eat was not developed with nutrition or digestibility in mind.

Ancient grains, in contrast, have not been through this intensive modification. Yes, our ancestors did choose grains, after harvest, that appeared to be doing well in their soils and their climates, but this made stronger, healthier grains which in turn helped societies thrive. These ancient grains are consistently higher in nutrition and easier to digest than modern wheat.

2/ To make a stand against industrial, commodified food

Who, interested in a sustainable food system, would choose scientifically-created wheat grains (the seeds of which come from a global conglomerate), and grow them as a mono-crop in nutrient-depleted soils, spraying them with fossil fuel fertilisers and pesticides?

And yet, we chose this wheat for our mainstream loaves. We grind it in industrial roller mills before whipping it into breads laced with chemical additives.

Buying supermarket wheat bread or standard wheat grains is supporting the continuance of this way of producing food.

Alternatively, we can, by choosing ancient grains and baking with them at home, step out of the food system that is destroying our health and planet and do so whilst bringing ourselves and our families joy, nutrition and pleasure.

3/ Because they taste better

Modern wheat has been bred for yield and pest resistance, not for flavour. And when you begin to bake with ancient grains that becomes so clear – they taste amazing compared to supermarket wheat!

An average week of baking with ancient grains my kitchen might include rich and deeply sweet rye bread, buckwheat made into earthy, grassy crepes, traditional Scottish oatcakes with their toasty and golden flavour, the nutty spelt in a sourdough, plus a mild and slightly sweet millet made into a polenta loaf.

Bringing these flavours into your kitchen is an adventure; one that will fill your home, mouth and mind with deep satisfaction.

4/ To get more variety in your diet

Look at many modern Western diets and you will see a day’s food is often wheat (cereal for breakfast), followed by wheat (sandwich for lunch), followed by wheat (pasta for dinner).

And yet, consistently, nutritionists are telling us to diversify our diet; to eat lots of different foods every day.

There are, according to the Whole Grains Council, 22 grains. By looking beyond wheat and baking with ancient grains, we can give our bodies the gift of diversity through the staple foods that are on our plate, meal after meal.

5/ To actively support small-scale, sustainable growers

All over the world, there are farmers who care about the soil, the planet and their community. Many choose to grow ancient grains that are less-lucrative and harder to process than wheat.

These growers, often working on a small-scale, deserve our support. They are choosing to act differently in a world that pushes them to make a living by growing the commodity crop, wheat.

If you want our food world to change, baking with ancient grains is a step towards that goal. With it, you can feel in integrity – even joyful – when your hands are in the dough.

How can I bake with ancient grains?

Baking with ancient grains is not the same as baking with modern wheat. Depending on the grain, you might be able to produce ancient grain bread that looks similar to (though is much tastier than) wheat. You might, however, have to handle your dough differently to wheat to make a loaf or perhaps you’d be better off diving into the world’s incredible flat-bread traditions.

Getting to know each ancient grain and how it works best in baking is a learning curve, and that’s where my free guide, Baking with Ancient Grains, comes in!

It will guide you, step-by-step, through learning to bake with these delicious, nutritious and sustainable grains. Whether you’re a proficient baker wanting to bring ancient grains into your kitchen or have never made bread at home before there’s something in here for you.

It includes more information on ancient grains, many tips for baking with them, plus five 100% ancient grain baking recipes to get you baking with ancient grains today!

To get a free copy of Baking with Ancient Grains, pop your name and email in the boxes below. In doing so, you’ll also be subscribed to my bi-weekly ancestral food newsletter. You can unsubscribe at any time.

In this post I will show you how to make a wholegrain sourdough spelt bread which includes leftover oatmeal in the dough. By using both spelt and oatmeal you will end up with a nutty-tasting, delicious sourdough bread with a super-soft crumb.

This bread can be adapted to use wheat instead of spelt, see the FAQ section below for details.

I’m in the UK, where oatmeal is called porridge. To avoid any confusion in this recipe, I’ll be using both words together.

Why put oatmeal/porridge in your sourdough bread?

There are long traditions of including a portion of previously cooked grain in breads. Making oatmeal/porridge gelatinises the starches in the grain, creating the familiar gloopy consistency. Adding this to your bread changes the structure of the crumb – making it softer and enabling the resulting bread to last longer. This is particularly useful with spelt loaves which have a tendency to dry out after baking.

Oatmeal Sourdough Bread

Ingredients:

600g wholegrain spelt

10g salt

330g water

120g leftover cold oatmeal/porridge

80g active sourdough starter

15g honey (optional)

Extra rolled oats for decoration (optional)

Method:

1. Put the wholegrain spelt flour and salt into a large bowl and mix well.
2. In a large jug, mix the water with the cold oatmeal/porridge, breaking up the oatmeal/porridge against the side of the jug with the back of a spoon until there are no longer big blobs remaining and the mixture is homogenous.
3. Add the active sourdough starter and the honey to the liquid ingredients and stir well.
4. Pour the liquid ingredients into the spelt/salt. Mix initially using a spoon and then swap to your hand to bring together into a loose dough. Knead this dough for a few minutes.

5. Cover the bowl and leave the mixture in a warm place to ferment, stretching and folding it once every hour.
6. The length of this first, bulk fermentation will depend on your flour, the strength of your starter and the ambient temperature in your house. With home-ground spelt flour, an active rye sourdough starter and a proofing space of 24°C/75°F, my bulk fermentation takes three hours. If your conditions are different, it may take longer.
7. As this is a bread made with wholegrain flour, do not expect to see as much rise in the dough as you would with white flour. I judge my wholegrain dough to be ready for proofing when tapping the bowl before a stretch and fold produces a hollow sound, it’s visibly larger and it feels light and airy in my hands. (If you’d like more in-depth information on knowing when to move on, check out my e-book Spelt Sourdough Every Day.)
8. When the dough is ready, prepare a loaf pan. I like to use ceramic bakers for my spelt bread. I grease them with lard and then line that with flour.
9. Shape the bread to fit your baker and place it in there!

10. Cover the bread and leave in a warm place (as above) to proof. In my environment (24°C/75°F) this usually takes an hour to an hour and a half.
11. Remember to preheat your oven before your bread is ready to go in. I like to check the progress of my loaf after 45 minutes. If I see that it is visibly larger, perhaps 20 to 25%, I will put the oven on.
12. Preheat your oven to 210°C/410°F.
13. If you’d like to add rolled oats to the top of your loaf, do this just before it goes into the oven. Lightly paint the top of the loaf with water and sprinkle with rolled oats, pressing down gently with your fingertips.
14. Bake the loaf at 210°C/410°F for 15 minutes, then turn your oven down to 180°C/355°F for around 55 minutes.
15. Check to see whether your loaf is done. You can assess this by tipping it out of your baker and tapping it on the bottom. If it is ready, it will sound hollow. You could also use a probe thermometer. I like to bake this bread to an internal temperature of 96°C/205°F.
16. When done, remove the loaf from the pan and allow to cool fully on a cooling rack.

Oatmeal Sourdough Bread FAQs

Can I use wheat flour instead of spelt?

Absolutely! If doing so, this recipe will most easily convert to wholegrain wheat. It is likely that you may need to use different amounts of water and your fermentation times may be different. Baking the same bread a few times should help iron out any problems.

Can I include some white spelt flour?

Yes, and I have done so many times. As with any bread that has white flour included, it tends to rise more. I often make this oatmeal sourdough bread with 480g wholegrain spelt and 120g white spelt (making a total of 600g flour). When I do so I tend to reduce the water to 300g.

Can I use fermented oatmeal/porridge?

Yes! The resulting text will be the same, though the flavour just slightly different. If you want to know how to ferment your oatmeal/porridge, please check out my comprehensive post, How to Make Fermented Oats.

My dough looks looser/tighter than yours, what happened?

Every flour is different, and has different needs. Your flour may be more or less thirsty than mine. The best way to get the consistency of your dough correct is to try the same recipe a few times, noting the results for each bake, and changing water content if needed.

Does it matter what sourdough starter I use?

This recipe works with any sourdough starter, as long as it is active. I generally keep a rye sourdough starter for all of my breads, because I find it incredibly active and very easy to maintain. If you like to know more about my method, you can check out my pay-as-you-can video course, How to Make and Maintain a Rye Sourdough Starter, here.

Can I use oatmeal/porridge made of another grain?

Yes. I have often made this bread with oatmeal/porridge made from flaked barley and you could use any other type of leftover oatmeal.

My house isn’t warm enough, what can I do?

Look for a warm spot to keep your dough, you can get ideas from my blog post here . If you struggle with that, consider making your own proofing box – the instructions for how I did so inexpensively are here.

How long does is bread last?

Depending on the conditions in your house the bread scratch that, the bread can last five days and beyond. If it starts to get too firm for your liking, toasting will bring it back to life.

Can I freeze this bread?

It is possible to freeze this bread, and if you do so wrap it well and exclude any air. I have found, however, that spelt bread does not do as well as other breads in the freezer and if I do freeze it I tend to use the defrosted bread for toast.

Where can I learn more about baking sourdough with spelt?

If you love the taste of spelt and want to bake with it more, you’ll enjoy my ebook, Sourdough Spelt Every Day, with 11 foundational spelt recipes that I’ve been baking in my own home for over a decade.

Once you’ve made sourdough polenta (learn how in my video here) you can use the leftovers to make this sourdough polenta ‘loaf’. It’s easy, tasty and so handy – you can pop in the fridge (it’ll last at least five days in there) and slice up whenever you fancy it. Watch my video below to find out how and download written instructions here.

Polenta doesn’t have to be all about corn, *and* you can ferment it making a tangy, pre-digested, filling dish. Watch the video below to see how easy it is! (Download written instructions here).

I have another video that’ll show you how to make the leftover from this polenta into a simple, tasty polenta loaf. Check out the post where I show you how here.

If you like what you’re seeing, sign up for the Ancestral Kitchen newsletter by popping your details into the boxes at the top of this page. It’ll deliver practical, friendly and super-useful fermentation, sourdough and ancestral-cooking information straight to your inbox.

When you’ve had a go at this, let me know! I’d love to learn how you get on, see photos and hear what you think. You can email me at alison@ancestralkitchen.com.

• The oats will be softer, cook more quickly and be easier to digest.
• The resulting oatmeal will be more nutrient-dense thanks to reduction of the mineral-leaching phytic acid
• Your porridge will taste much more interesting. Many people to whom I’ve taught this method tell me they just can’t go back to unfermented oats!

It’s simple: Here’s a video that’ll walk you through it:

If you’d like to read more, including many frequently asked fermenting oats questions, I have a comprehensive blog post here: How to Make Fermented Oats

There is so much more to fermented oats that just oatmeal. Check out my mini-course ‘Fermenting Oats’ (it’s just $8!) to get an hour’s worth of oat fermentation tuition, including guidance on how to choose oats, the best ways to process them, all about fermented oatmeal plus recipes for:

Fermented Scottish Oatcakes

Naturally-Fermented Staffordshire Oatcakes

Fermented Oat Bake

…and information on two historic Scottish and one Welsh oat fermentation methods.