Finnish Rye Bread (with starter), Ruisleipä recipe
When there is no more rye bread..
I was inspired to make Finnish Rye Bread when I noticed my very last bag of rye bread from Finland very quickly disappearing..
Rye bread like this is not commonly available in most countries outside Finland.
Well, there is rye bread from Germany, but it is sweet and moist, Finnish rye bread is not like that at all.
I of course freeze my treasures (Finnish rye bread) that I buy from Finland when visiting or online, and enjoy them as a treat, but this rye bread would be also something my stomach enjoys more than fluffy white bread..
So how to make sure I can have all the rye bread I want (and need!)?
I thought: "It's time to make a starter and bake the rye bread myself!"
Sure rye bread can be made without a starter, but it does not taste the same.
Traditionally, starter was the remains of the last dough that dried up in the bread-making bowl walls. There are many ways to make a starter, but I wanted to make something quick and easy, so I used my last piece of Finnish rye bread to make a starter.
And the result is so much beyond my expectations that I cannot even say how surprised I was when the bread I made was so good! It even looks like famous Vaasan ruispalat bread, wow!
How to keep the rye bread starter alive?
I will definitely try to keep my starter alive. Next time the starter will be a piece of the ready-made dough.
You can dry the starter, just spread it on baking paper and let dry, store in a closed jar. Or you can freeze a dough ball. Or just close the starter jar and store it in the fridge, it will stay good for 2 weeks.
Note: When making the starter, remember always to use a clean spoon to mix the starter to avoid too much / wrong kind of bacteria growth. Also boiled water is better than tap water.
11 comments
Greetings, is there a way to make the starter without the initial bread or cracker parts?
Hi Martin! I’m sorry it did not work for you! It sounds to me that there were maybe too much flour, rye is a bit sticky and if you add flour or wheat flour until it’s not sticky at all – it’s no longer soft. Try to add as little flour as possible. You can use more of the wheat flour to help as it’s less sticky. I hope you bake more – you’ll get the hang of it!
Hi Joanne! Your rye sourdough starter sounds awesome and you can sure use that! You know what to do then, loaves, individual ones or even the one that has a hole in the middle :) Happy baking!
Hi, what a lovely recipe. It looks delicious!
I already have a rye sourdough starter that I feed and use regularly for all my loaves/rolls/pizza etc. as I like it’s flavour and strength. Do you think I could use this instead of making a new one with shop bought Finnish bread, which I have never found here, or would it not be suitable for this recipe?
Hi and thanks for this great recipe! My bread however went very white/gray on top after baking in the oven, and it was very hard. The underside of the bread had a nice fluffy brown color, like yours.
Do you know what I maybe did wrong?