Ingredients

• Sourdough (from 100g old dough and 50g cold water)
• 1l water
• 1kg organic dark rye
• 1 tablespoon sea salt
• 150g organic white

Sourdough starter

if you can get a 100g lump from a fellow baker, it\'s easiest and best. Otherwise you\'ll have to start one from scratch, perhaps from a recipe here. Here\'s how I now do my rye sourdough:

1. just before the loaves are scooped into baking forms, take away 100g of the dough and put it into a glass jar with a screw lid.
2. Add 50g of cold water (not straight from the tap if you have chlorinated water - I boil my water and cool it) and stir with the end of a wooden spoon - the mixture looks a bit like runny porridge. Put lid on without tightening it and leave in a warm kitchen for an hour or so, until you see it starting to bubble.
3. Then screw on lid and put in the fridge, where it\'ll keep for 3 weeks.

The evening before

Take you sourdough from the fridge and pour it into 500g of warm (non-chlorine) water, about body temperature. Add 200g of dark rye, stir well and leave in the kitchen covered with a cloth until the next morning. Use a big bowl.

The morning after

Pour another 500g of warm water into the mix, add salt and 800g of dark rye. Mix well with a heavy wooden spoon, it\'s hard work. Them mix in 150g of white flour and leave to rise in the kitchen for 4-6 hours, the longer the better.

Take away 100g for your next sourdough according to the instructions above.

Divide the rest of the dough into two 1kg forms - smooth the loaves with your scraper and leave to rise in the forms for 1 hour. During the last 30 minutes of this time, turn on you oven to 200 degrees C.

Bake the loaves for 60 minutes. Remove from the forms immediately and leave to cool on a cooling tray. When completely cool, the loaves can be sliced with a sharp and stiff bread knife. I always struggle to keep the family away from the bread until it\'s cool enough to be sliced.

The loaves are freezable, just put them in a plastic bag.