This sourdough with rye and spelt recipe makes two hearty loaves that are perfect for sandwiches or toast. I enjoyed it toasted with honey in the morning. I followed my Basic Sourdough recipe except used 50 % spelt flour, 25 % rye flour and 25 % bread flour.
The interior of these sourdough loaves are soft yet the crust is crispy. So delicious!
Equipment and Flours:
I used this dark rye and spelt flour from Bob’s Red Mill. For the bread flour, I used King Arthur’s bread flour.
For baking the loaves, I used my small Cuisinart Dutch oven, but any Dutch oven should work well.
A full list of my favorite baking tools is here.
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Notes:
One thing I noticed while working with this dough, is that it is stickier and not as stretchy as when I use mostly bread flour. This dough requires gentle shaping. I was a bit worried when I shaped my loaves, but they ended up baking well with great oven spring.
If you’re looking for a seeded sourdough, it might be delicious to add some seeds to the dough. You could add seeds around the same time the salt is added.
Also, make sure to adjust the baking schedule to your own schedule. If you need to do one of the proofing steps at room temperature or refrigerate it instead (or the reverse), that would be fine.
Rye and Spelt Sourdough
Equipment
- Dutch oven
- dough scraper (optional)
- Large mixing bowl or container
- kitchen scale
- banneton (optional)
- rice flour (optional)
Ingredients
Leaven (Levain) Ingredients
- 170 g sourdough starter (active) Feed it and let it double or triple in volume before using it
- 510 g water
- 120 g dark rye flour I used Bob's Red Mill dark rye
- 120 g bread flour I used King Arthur's bread flour
- 240 g spelt flour I used Bob's Red Mill whole grain spelt
Dough Ingredients
- leaven (from above)
- 150 g bread flour
- 150 g dark rye flour
- 300 g spelt flour
- 380 g water
- 16 g fine sea salt
Instructions
Mix the leaven (levain)
- In a large mixing bowl or container, mix all of the ingredients for the leaven (starter, water, flours). Mix gently until thoroughly combined and cover.
- Rest the leaven at room temperature for about 5-12 hours until doubled or tripled in volume and very bubbly. My leaven took about 10 hours to become very bubbly at 55°F. If you put it in a warmer location, it will become bubbly faster. You could also put it in the refrigerator for a couple days if that fits your schedule better.
Mix the dough
- After the leaven is very bubbly, add the remaining water (380 g) and bread flour (150 g), rye flour (150 g) and spelt flour (300 g). Mix by hand until combined. Cover and let the dough rest for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, add the 16 g salt. Mix gently until combined. Cover and let rest for 30 minutes.
- Then, stretch and fold the dough by gently lifting up the dough from the sides of the container and folding it inward toward the middle. I usually lift up one side of the dough, fold it inward and then rotate the container, repeating the folding until all of the edges of the dough have been folded toward the middle. The dough will look like a loose ball after this stretching and folding. Cover, and let the dough rest for 30 minutes.
- Then, you have two options. Option 1: repeat the stretching and folding every 30-45 minutes for the next 3-5 hours. Option 2: Cover and put the dough in the refrigerator for about 24-48 hours.
Shape the dough
- If you refrigerated the dough, remove it from the refrigerator and allow it to come close to room temperature. Then, remove the dough from the container or bowl onto a clean counter. Divide it into two.
- Fold over the edges of the dough toward the middle, to form a packet. Gently flip over this dough packet, and shape carefully into a taut ball. It is okay if the shape is not perfect. Let the shaped dough rest on the counter for 30 minutes with the seam side down. Repeat for the other piece of dough.
- After 30 minutes, gently transfer the shaped loaves to floured bannetons or mixing bowls. The "seam" of your loaf will be facing up, so the loaf will be upside down. I usually line the banneton or bowl with a kitchen towel, dust the towel with rice flour to prevent sticking, then place the dough into the banneton with the dough seam up. Then, dust with more rice flour and cover with the kitchen towel.
- Then, transfer the shaped loaves to the refrigerator for about 18-48 hours (depending on your schedule). My refrigerator is at 36-40 °F (varies for each shelf).
Bake the loaves
- Preheat your oven and Dutch oven to 500 °F for at least 20 – 30 minutes. I preheat mine past when the oven says it is ready, because it is usually only actually at 450°F when the oven beeps.
- Once the oven is preheated, remove your loaf from the banneton or bowl and score the top with a slash using either a sharp knife or lame.
- Then, transfer the loaf gently to the Dutch oven and cover. Bake for 25 minutes at 500 °F.
- After 25 minutes, recover the cover from the Dutch oven and decrease the oven temperature to 450 °F. Bake the loaf for 20-45 more minutes until golden brown (check on it every 10-15 minutes). Repeat for the other loaf.
- Allow the loaves to cool for at least a few hours before slicing. Enjoy!