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Polish Sourdough Rye Bread (Chleb Na Zakwas Żytni) Recipe

Polish Sourdough Rye Bread (Chleb Na Zakwas Żytni) recipe
The Spruce Eats

Sourdough adds tang to this Polish rye bread recipe that features a caraway-seed topping. The starter will take two days to ripen or use the shortcut.

Ingredients

For the Sourdough Starter:

4 tablespoons medium rye flour
3 tablespoons warm milk

For the Bread:

4 cups medium rye flour
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon salt
1 (0.25-ounce) packet instant yeast, or 2 1/4 teaspoons
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2 1/2 cups warm water
1 large egg white, at room temperature, beaten
1 tablespoon caraway seeds

Method

1
In a small bowl, mix together the 4 tablespoons rye flour and milk.
2
Cover with plastic and set in a warm place to ripen for two days or until it smells pleasantly sour.
3
In a large bowl, combine 4 cups rye flour and the all-purpose flour, salt, yeast, butter, water, and starter. Knead 7 minutes by machine or 10 minutes by hand.
4
Place the dough in a clean, greased bowl, cover with plastic, and let it rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
5
Punch down the dough, knead it for 1 minute and divide it in half.
6
Heat the oven to 400 F.
7
Shape each dough half into a round on two parchment-lined baking sheets. Cover each round with oiled plastic and let them rise 30 minutes or until almost doubled.
8
Brush the risen rounds with egg white and sprinkle them with caraway seeds. Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until instant-read thermometer registers 190 to 195 F and bread sounds hollow when tapped.
9
Slide the bread round off the baking pans and cool them completely on a wire rack.
10
Slice, serve, and enjoy! If you have leftover rye bread and it's starting to go stale, put it to use making rye croutons to enjoy on salads and soups.

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