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Sourdough NY Deli Rye Bread
“Wheat, white, or rye?” That’s the question you hear when you order eggs and home fries at most diners in the New York area. “Rye” is always my answer because I love the chewy and aromatic New York deli rye, also known as Jewish rye, that is served. It has a lot of caraway flavor and not as much rye flour as you might think. My research revealed most recipes use rye flour at 1/4 to 1/3 the total flour weight. Making this bread myself was easier than I thought, and it came out delicious (and pretty). NY deli rye bread also stales slowly, so I plan to eat slices of my midweek test bake toasted and buttered with eggs and potatoes on the weekend.
[Jump to recipe]
I made this recipe by combining aspects of two NY deli rye recipes — Stanley Ginseberg and Julia Moskin’s recipe on NYT Cooking and this recipe on the blog Baking Sense. I converted their leavening from yeast to sourdough, which also allowed me to skip the acidic ingredients like buttermilk or even pickle juice that you find in some NY deli rye recipes. Rye bread usually has a better texture (less gummy) when the dough is acidic.
This recipe has a cold final proof in a proofing basket and the dough is baked in an enclosed vessel. I believe this gives the bread more height and flavor, and a nice crispy crust though I do suggest lowering the oven temperature once the dough is loaded, and keeping the lid on for most of the bake in order to get a true-to-style thinner and softer crust.
Substitutions
If you prefer to use instant or active yeast, here is an FAQ on how to make this conversion, and if you do that and still want the zing and lack of gumminess of a more acidic dough, you can replace 10 grams (2 tsp) of the water in the recipe with lemon juice or white or apple cider vinegar.
You might also want to use more rye flour relative to bread flour. As is, the recipe is 1/3 rye flour, not including the flour in the sourdough starter, which can be whatever variety you prefer. (My starter was mostly high extraction all purpose flour.) With more rye flour, the flavor will be grassier and the crumb not as chewy or pliable. The dough will also be stickier, so you may want to do stretching and folding rather than kneading for gluten development, and if you go over 50-60% rye flour, you might skip active gluten development altogether.
I milled Breadtopia’s regular rye berries for this recipe and didn’t sift the flour. This is the same as our whole grain rye flour or what is sometimes called “dark” rye flour. You can also make this recipe with Breadtopia’s other rye berries and flours if you want: serafino, bono, or even our sprouted rye. Enzymatic activity in sprouted rye flour is higher, so I would definitely recommend sourdough leavening or the addition of an acid to a yeast-leavened dough with sprouted rye.
Below is a short video showing the target hydration and manageability of this dough after mixing and letting it rest for 15 minutes.
Here is the dough process after the refrigerated final proof. I am applying the glaze and seeds and scoring the dough. I smash the seeds a bit with my mortar and pestle to activate the aroma, but this isn’t necessary.
Sourdough NY Deli Rye Bread
NY deli rye or Jewish rye is aromatic, chewy, and delicious. The caraway seeds and rye flour make this bread a wonderful part of big-flavor sandwiches like the reuben and pastrami on rye, and it's also delicious as toast with butter and even topped with marmalade.
Ingredients
Dough
Optional Glaze and Topping
Instructions
Mixing and Bulk Fermentation
Shaping and Final Proof
Baking
Notes
* Vegan Glaze
1 tsp corn or potato starch (3g)
1/2 cup water (118g)
Prepare the glaze in a pan on the stove by whisking the corn or potato starch into the water (cold) and setting it to simmer until it has thickened.
Photo Gallery
Shopping List
Sourdough Starter (Dry)
Mockmill 100 Grain Mill
High Protein Bread Flour
Danish Dough Whisk — Large
Rye Berries
Rye Whole Grain Flour
Flour Duster
Oval Proofing Basket Liner
Oval Rattan Proofing Basket
Goose Lame by Wire Monkey
$45.95Breadtopia Clay Baker — Batard
Parchment Paper Sheets — 200 Sheets
$19.00Dough and Storage Bucket w/Lid – 2 qt. Square
Sourdough NY Deli Rye Bread