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Tourte de Seigle (100% Rye Bread)
I’ve noticed that every year since becoming a bread baker, I crave rye breads when winter arrives. Maybe I’m trying to achieve that Scandanavian hygge feeling of coziness by eating grain from colder climates (rye can germinate in temps as low as 34°F), or maybe rye breads feel like an antidote to the sugary heaviness of holiday foods. Either way, it’s now that time of year, and I’ve created a recipe that’s my take on Tourte de Seigle, a traditional bread from the Alps region of France, Switzerland and Germany. My recipe uses only fresh-milled whole grain rye flour (“dark rye”) and is leavened at a relatively low temperature range of 63-68°F using refreshed and ripe sourdough starter, also referred to as levain.
The dough also has some ingredients that you might find in rye breads from other parts of Europe: beer and malted barley syrup, and it’s partially hydrated with yogurt for a boost of lactic acid. The acidity from the yogurt in this rye dough allows me to skip some of the more complicated rye processes to inhibit amylase activity and still have a nicely structured bread with minimal gumminess. I hope home bakers who are new to rye will try this relatively simple process for a delicious, nicely textured 100% rye bread, and that bakers who’ve used some of the more complex rye approaches will try this recipe too and give feedback.
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Lovely crumb, aroma and flavor to pair with butter or soft cheeses, dip in stew, or enjoy plain with a glass of dry white wine
Rye grain has far less gluten and is higher in fiber than most wheat varieties. Rye also has more amylase enzymatic activity, which breaks down starch and can lead to a gummy crumb. Specifically, the amylase of rye is active at a wider temperature range than wheat amylase (meaning as the dough bakes, the amylase is active for longer), but one inhibitor of amylase activity is acidity, making sourdough leavening (and the addition of some yogurt) ideal for rye breads.
As with all rye breads, it’s highly recommended to let this bread rest 1-2 days before cutting into it to allow the crumb to set.
Shaping this well fermented, sticky rye dough
Other techniques for managing rye’s tendency to break down include the Detmolder method and scalding. This blog post summarizes the Detmolder method for fermenting rye during three stages and temperatures from Jeffrey Hamelman’s book, “Bread” and here is an article from Stanley Ginsberg’s “The Rye Baker” blog about scalding to pre-gelatinize some of the flour.
If you’d like to check out some more traditional recipes, here is Stanley Ginsberg’s tourte de seigle, which uses both a sourdough and a yeast sponge; and here is Apollonia Poilâne’s pain de seigle, which has some bread flour, yeast, and a Poilâne style sourdough starter…with yogurt.
Beer Types
For the 120g beer in this recipe, I prefer a malty American pale ale, an English bitter, or a porter rather than a hoppy-piney IPA or a roasted-flavor stout. Of course, your own preferences and inventory can be your guide. Moreover, skipping the beer altogether (replace with water) will still result in a super flavorful bread.
Tourte de Seigle (100% Rye Bread)
Tourte de Seigle is a deep and earthy flavored whole grain rye bread from the Alps areas of France, Switzerland, and Germany. It's delicious with butter and paired with hearty stews, also dry white wine, as per Baking History. This Pain de Seigle recipe uses a relatively simple process and I've included beer for enhanced malty flavors and aroma, and plain yogurt to boost the crumb texture with additional lactic acid.
Ingredients
Levain / Sourdough Starter Build
Dough
Instructions
Levain (the night before)
Dough (the next morning)
Shaping (early evening)
Bake for 60-65 minutes (late evening)
Cool and Set (cut the morning after the next)
Shopping List
Rye Whole Grain Flour
Rye Berries
Mockmill 100 Grain Mill
Round Rattan Proofing Basket
Sourdough Starter (Dry)
Breadtopia Hearth Baker
Expandable Cooling Rack
Bench Knife by Lamson — Walnut Handle
Breadtopia’s Choice Kitchen Scale
$18.00Parchment Paper Sheets — 200 Sheets
$19.00Tourte de Seigle (100% Rye Bread)