Rye sourdough bread with curry is part of my all-time favorite meals when I want to limit my rice intake. Baked to perfect tanginess, chewiness in the crumb, and the crunchy crust with amazing, complex, and sweet flavor of fermented rye, this bread goes well with spicy, medium, or mild curries.
I got my inspiration to make sourdough bread for the first time from The perfect loaf. This amazing blog is by Maurizio Leo, who is so hands on and knowledgeable about all things breadmaking. I have followed his blog, methods, and awesome Instagram page for inspiration attentively. Once I started experimenting with rye myself, I quickly learned how to pair rye sourdough bread with curry for maximum flavor in a curry meal. Any sourdough bread with curry is great but with 100% rye sourdough or 50 % rye with 50% hard red wheat blend has my perfect flavor that compliments the spicy curries that I make.
Rye sourdough bread is hearty, and extremely high in fiber. Making one is a labor of love. These breads will be hard and difficult to digest if they are not proofed for long time. Once properly proofed and fermented, rye sourdough bread has flavors like no other with such rye sourdough bread with curry makes a delicious, filling and nutritionally complete meal that aids good gut biome, slows digestion, and won’t raise blood glucose level all that much. It certainly did not raise any blood glucose level in tests we did on me and my husband.
Pairing rye sourdough bread with curry, flatbread with curry or Naan with curry has been around for a long time and is a wonderful way to enjoy curry without rice. Spicy, complex curries soak up the hardy rye bread turning it into a delicious, soft morsel that you want to keep digging in to. Whenever I am trying plant-based diet, my high fiber hearty long fermented rye sourdough bread with curry meals helps me keep my plant-based diet low carb as much as I can.
Tips for making my rye bread recipe and a rye sourdough bread with curry meal.
Flour
I like to grind my own flour when I am baking a rustic loaf. Freshly ground flour in a stone grinder gives maximum flavor to rustic sourdough bread. I use soft ground or hard ground depending on what I am baking. My recipe of rustic long rise bread is made with extra hard ground rye and hard spring wheat blend.
If you do not own a grain mill, look for a good brand of whole wheat or rye flour for bread making. I love unbleached king Arthur flour for my bread. Keep the flour in an airtight container with an oxygen absorber. Be aware that flour will lose its flavor and freshness much faster than whole grains.
Enrichments and flavors
What enrichments do I add to my bread? Enrichments add extra fiber, proteins, and enhance the micronutrient value of the bread. Tose qualities help slower but better absorption, longer digestion. Most common additions to my breads that I do is extra dose of dietary fiber, seeds, and nuts. Rice or oat bran and psyllium husk will increase the dietary fiber content and help to make a denser bread that is lower in carbohydrate per serving. Chickpea flour mashed white, or soybean paste, wheat gluten helps to add extra proteins to your bread. Spices, herbs, caraway seeds along with oil help give the bread a flavor boost. A couple of my favorite flavors are shredded coconut loaf and turmeric, curry leaves in soft white wheat sourdough bread.
Any added enrichments, specifically fiber, will affect how the bread will rise. A denser rye bread with added fiber might need a little boost of a second leavening agent like baking soda. Extra fiber in the dough affects how much the bread is going to rise, and adding baking soda will help how the bread looks after baking.
Rye starter and fermentation
I use only rye and white wheat bread starters. In the beginning of my baking journey, I used to meticulously time and measure how much I feed my starters. It really is the best practice to make sure the starter is healthy, safe, and primed for breadmaking, with consistent results. As you gain more confidence, you might be able to trust your senses more to tell if the starter is doing well or not. If the starter is looking droopy, off colored and smell pungent/like nail polish starter has gone too long without a feeding. You might need to refresh it over two to three days with regular feeding every 24 hours with equal parts of flour and water. Do it during the same time each day and measure how much the starter rises after 12 hours. If it doubles in volume, it is ready for making bread.
How do you know if sourdough starter has gone bad? Any discoloration, or off smell indicates sourdough starter, may have gone bad. The best is to discard that starter and start fresh. Typically, if you forget to feed your starter more than three days, I wouldn’t recommend using it for baking. If you keep the starter in the refrigerator, the starter needs to be discarded after three weeks if it wasn’t fed.
If you are experienced with sourdough breadmaking you could try and rescue your forgotten starter. carefully scoop out the top and discard most of the starter saving couple tablespoons. add four tablespoons of fresh flour in a new container and six tablespoons of water. Leave on the counter covered and check for activity after 12 hours. If it rises but slowly, repeat this process every 12 hours until the starter starts doubling after it’s fed.
I make my artisan bread with long slow fermentation done in three phases.
The first step is mixing flour and water and allow it to autolyse for half an hour.
In the second step I mixed in the sourdough starter, salt, and do bulk fermentation with stretches and folds every 30 minutes over 4 hours. Four such folds every half an hour four sets in total.
10-inch Banneton proofing basket
Finally bread dough goes in a slow rise in the refrigerator over 16 to 18 hours. Time will depend upon the level of hydration, temperature of the kitchen and dough ingredients. If the dough has doubled and does not push back after a gentle poke it is ready for shaping.
Gently remove the fermented dough into a generously floured surface without deflating it. Shape the dough into boule or batard and place in a generously floured banneton/proofing basket smooth side down. Cover with a wet towel. Let the dough rise for about an hour or more until it doesn’t spring back when poked gently.
Bread scoring knife with replaceable razor blades
Bread is ready to be baked at this point. Score your favorite design before baking.
Rye sourdough baking tips
My favorite way to bake artisan sourdough bread is to bake in cast iron Dutch oven with the lid on. I always start with a cold oven with my Dutch ovens inside it. set the temperature to 450 ° F and preheat. Once the oven is up to temperature, I transfer my fermented loaves into parchment paper, and transfer them into the Dutch oven. Close the lid immediately and bake the bread until golden and sounds hollow. Time will depend on the final weight of the loaf. 450 grams loaf will bake around 20 to 25 minutes and 750 double loaves will take around 35 minutes or more.
Make yourself a delicious curry and perfect artisan sourdough bread with curry meal is ready to go.
Pairing bread with curries
Let me rephrase why an artisan slow rise rye sourdough bread with curry has become one of my favorite meal options over the years. Tangy and sour sweet flavors of the rustic slow rise rye sourdough bread complement spicy, hot brothy curries or mild and aromatic curries alike. There are multiple combinations of nutritious rye sourdough bread with curry meals you could get out of single batch of bread. May it be a simple toast with curry dip, sandwich with a curry sauce, curry dinner soup style, it’s easier to plan and make ahead. There is a rye sourdough bread with curry meal that fits every family member, every mood.
I like my rye sourdough bread with curry meals to have full flavor with flavors with hot curry sauces warming up and soaking the tangy and chewy hearty bread making it a sponge of curried deliciousness. If the day is of a dry curry or a fry a lighter rye sourdough bread with curry is called for! There have been a few of my favorite over the years. Fish fry scrambled yellow curry tofu, potato fry, anchovies spicy fry to name a few lighter rye sourdough bread with curry meals.
A lighter 20 % rye sourdough bread with curry works so well because dry curry sauce coats the sliced bread with delicious fatty roasted spices like a flavored butter. Curry spice mixes with aromatic umami, and chilies flavor gets absorbed in to crumb of the bread creating a soulful dining experience.
Either way artisan rye sourdough bread with curry works like a charm for my family every time. Either with soupy curries, saucy thick curries, or dry curries with lot of fat rye sourdough bread with curry is a delicious combination.
Handmade bread warmer with basket
My favorite curry recipes for perfect rye sourdough bread with curry meal
more curry recipes from the blog
My tried and tested enriched rye sourdough bread recipe
Yields one loaf.
Ingredients
- 350 grams of wholegrain dark rye flour (freshly ground)
- 120 grams of rye sourdough starter
- 1 and half tsp of salt
- 100 grams of wheat gluten (optional/ skip and add whole wheat flour if you don’t want extra gluten)
- 2 tbsp of wheat fiber/ oat fiber
- 2 tbsp of flax meal
- Enough water to make a wet dough.
Method
On the First Day……
Grind rye grains. Measure all the ingredients in a bowl
Mix dry ingredients and whisk together a few times. Add water to make a wet and sticky dough.
Knead it for about 10 minutes well. Rest it for half an hour and perform the first stretch and fold by pulling four corners and folding on itself. Rest for another half an hour and do the same. Do the streach and fold two more times every half an hour interval (four turns in total.)
place it in well oiled bowl and cover lightly with a lid. ferment for 18 to 24 hours in the refrigerator.
On the Second Day ….
Take out the dough gently from the bowl onto a flour dusted surface. Without deflating the dough too much shape the bread to its final shape. The dough will be soft to touch. Place the shaped dough in to the well-floured banneton, smooth side down. Cover with a wet clean kitchen towel. Leave on the counter until for the second rise.
How much your rye bread dough will rise really depend upon the humidity and temperature that you have in your kitchen. Do not be alarmed if it does not look doubled. Bread is ready to bake when it does not spring back when you gently poke it with your finger. The second rise will take one to two hours on the kitchen counter.
Retarding the loaf in the refrigerator during the second rise
Cover the proofing basket with a lid or a bowl once the dough is inside them. Place the proofing basket with bowls covering them in the refrigerator for another 12 to 24 hours.
Baking the rye sourdough bread
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees with Dutch ovens inside. Turn the loafs into parchment paper and scorch on the top. Bake for 25 minutes until bread is golden and crispy. open the lid of Dutch oven and allow it to bake for another 5 to 10 minutes.
Take the loaf out of the oven and allow it to completely cool before cutting into it.
Alternatively, you could leave loaf for 24 hours on counter before cutting, because this bread does taste better the next day!
Note to the baker: When you are ready to bake. take the proofing basket out of the refrigerator and allow it to come to room temperature and rise a little bit. My rye bread took another 5 hours on the counter before it was ready for baking. Long wait, but so worth it. The flavor and texture of the bread is so exquisite that you cannot buy anything even close, from the store.
Enjoy with your favorite topping or curry on side.
4 responses to “Slow fermented rye sourdough bread with curry for a perfect treat.”
[…] Slow fermented rye sourdough bread with curry for a perfect treat. […]
How gorgeous! My husband wants to start baking bread, he just retired in March. Sour dough and rye are his favorite so of course I told him about this recipe! Thank you
You made a beautiful loaf of bread.
Thank you so much 😍