Whole Grain Sourdough Rye Bread

I made two kinds of Sourdough Rye Bread to find out which one would taste better. This one is a 50% Rye Hearth Bread which I baked on a pizza stone to give it a rustic look. Though it tasted excellent, I still would like to improve the texture of the bread. It is, like pretty much everything else I bake, 100% whole grain and that makes it a little dense. It is a big improvement over other rye breads I made before though.



This is my second version of rye bread and is called Three-Stage 70 Percent Sourdough Rye. Here you see the loaves rising on a cookies sheet. I used the Detmolder Method of Rye Bread Production which builds the sourdough slowly over 2 days to make the culture strong and healthy. This method is supposedly used by professional bakers in Austria and Germany and I must say that when I tasted the bread it immediately reminded me of my childhood. It tasted exactly like the rye bread I used to eat as a child in Austria.



The two breads in comparison. On top the "Austrian" Rye Bread and on the bottom the 50% Rye Hearth Bread. I am still not totally satisfied with the results, so back in the kitchen I will go and try to improve the recipe.