My Homemade Rye Bread (Recipe – Maija Irbēns)

Maija Irbēns-Gilbert’s recipe for rye bread, which she always baked using sourdough starter inherited from her mother.

My Homemade Rye Bread

4 pounds rye flour – medium-ground
1 pound wheat flour
4 tbsp caraway seeds
About 8 cups (C) water
1–4 cups sugar
About 1 cup sourdough starter – kept in the refrigerator until use

My large wooden bowl broke, so I started using a large aluminum bowl instead—it works just as well.

Put the caraway seeds (which I brought from Rūjiena) and ½ pound of rye flour into the bowl, mix, and pour over 4 cups of boiling water. Mix well and let cool. Add 4 cups of warm water and mix again. Stir in the sourdough starter (at room temperature). Add 1½ pounds of rye flour and beat well. Cover with a towel and keep in a warm place until the next morning, so it can ferment and turn sour.

In the morning, check whether it has soured. If it has, add the remaining rye flour and sugar (depending on how sweet you like it) and knead well. Then add the wheat flour and continue kneading. If the dough is too stiff, add warm water. Knead and knead until it starts to “pop” (or puff) and no longer sticks to your hands. Let the dough rise well.

Once risen, divide the dough into four loaf pans. Let it rise a little more. Bake at 350°F for 1½ hours. My crusts always crack—I don’t know why! I also don’t know why my mother added wheat flour; she said it made the bread less heavy.

Let the bread cool in the pans for a while, then turn it out onto racks and continue cooling. Once cooled, store in plastic bags or freeze. All my friends in Phoenix love my bread, so I keep baking it. My children like it too.

Good luck!