A fantastic recipe for traditional German sourdough bread may be found here. We buy bread in Bavaria, Germany, and this bread tastes virtually exactly like that. They still bake bread there every two weeks in a very old stone oven in the center of a little community. They make a large quantity at once, and you can purchase it and save extras in the freezer for the next baking day. The greatest German bread I’ve ever had!
| Prep Time: | 3 hrs |
| Cook Time: | 2 hrs |
| Additional Time: | 2 days |
| Total Time: | 2 days 5 hrs |
| Servings: | 20 |
| Yield: | 1 large loaf |
Ingredients
- 1 ½ ounces compressed fresh yeast
- 1 quart warm water
- 2 tablespoons white sugar
- 8 cups all-purpose flour, divided
- 8 cups white rye flour
- 2 tablespoons salt
- 1 teaspoon white sugar
- 2 cups warm water
Instructions
- First, make the sourdough starter. Crumble the yeast into a large bowl. Whisk in 1 quart of warm water and 2 tablespoons of sugar until dissolved. The water should be just slightly warmer than body temperature. Gradually whisk in 4 cups of flour, continuing to mix until all lumps are gone. Cover with a dish towel, and let sit for 24 hours at room temperature.
- After 24 hours, stir well, cover, and let stand another 24 hours. It will be a thin, light-colored sourdough which is then ready to use.
- In a large bowl, stir together the rye flour, remaining 4 cups of all-purpose flour, salt and sugar. Mix in the sourdough starter using a wooden spoon, then stir in 2 cups of warm water. I transfer the dough to a heavy-duty stand mixer to mix the first couple of minutes, then it can’t handle the heavy dough and I start using my hands by turning the dough out onto a floured surface. A clean countertop works best. Knead the dough, adding a few tablespoons of water at a time if it is too stiff. Fold the dough over, pull it apart, whatever you can do to get it kneaded up good. Total kneading time should be 15 to 20 minutes to get a smooth dough. Place the dough in a large bowl, cover, and let rise until doubled, 1 to 2 hours.
- When the dough has risen, scrape it out of the bowl and back onto a floured surface. Knead for about 5 minutes. This is important to activate the gluten. Shape into 1 or 2 long loaves. Place on baking sheets, and let rise for about 1 hour, or until your finger leaves an impression when you poke the bread gently.
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Bake the bread for about 45 minutes for 2 loaves, 1 1/2 hours if you made one big loaf. Don’t worry if the crust is dark. The bread will be delicious and so will the crust. Cool completely before cutting. I always freeze half.
- If you want to make extra starter for the next time, simply add 2 cups of all-purpose flour and 2 cups water to the sourdough starter on the second day, and whisk smooth. Then let stand at room temperature for 24 hours before next use. Use half, and save the other half for the next time. Let stand for 24 hours, stirring once before using. If freezing, use within 2 weeks.
- Humidity and heat play a big role in making this bread. It may not work well if it is to humid and hot outside. In this case I recommend that you make the bread starting at 5am.
Reviews
I just made this. The recipe is enormous. It yielded TWO huge loaves, even though the recipe talks about making it into one loaf. I can’t imagine one loaf of bread containing 16 cups of flour. It also was virtually impossible to mix using the stand mixer. We have a standard Kitchenaid stand mixer, and there’s no way that much dough was going to fit into the mixing bowl.
More information on shaping the dough would be helpful. Thanks for the recipe!
so very good but so much kneading amd time
This recipe makes a lot of bread. It is very tasty though!
I let the dough sit for 60 minutes to let autolysis help with gluten formation. I also kneaded for a full 20 minutes the first time. Proofed in a warm drawer for both rises.
Made it with underdeveloped start from whole wheat flour. Used AP flour, and it turned out great! Small loaf, will double next time.
recipe should be cut in half and done with one loaf at a time.
It’s a good thing I lift weights because the kneading took some effort.?? I think I could have done better job of that due to the density. I used dark rye because that’s what I had. The crust was very hard the first day, but softened up later. I liked it a lot and will make it again.
If you want to find something good make it yourself. Authentic enough for me
Stunning taste, made two massive loaves! Next time I’ll quarter it and freeze till I’m ready to bake
This is an excellent base recipe for German rye bread. I have made this many times. The key is to knead the bread very well. I use a Kitchenaid stand mixer. And after the dough comes together, I continue running the machine for another 10 minutes. The final dough should be satiny but a little tacky, not completely dry. This makes a lot of dough (3.6 kg or 8 lbs). I have the largest mixer and it is at its capacity. If mixing by hand, make a half recipe. I use dark rye flour (whole rye flour) and substitute 2 c of buttermilk for the 2 c of water in the final dough. I usually make it into 3 loaves—leaving 1 plain, adding caraway seeds to one and deeply browned onions to the third. ( I use 3 medium onions, sliced into half rounds about 1/4 inch thick and sautéed until dark golden brown. Blot with paper towels to remove moisture and knead into dough. Add additional white flour as needed for proper consistency. ) Outstanding flavor!
I will probably not make this bread again unless I can find out why my crust was rock hard! I could not even slice it. The center was fine and I had no issues with the bread rising. I did find the taste very bland so definitely add more spices. Not trying to be mean just stating that I has issues with this bread. It ended up in the trash after all the hard work :(.
I had to use stone ground rye and feared it would be too heavy so I lowered the amount to 6 cups and raised the regular flour to 6 cups. I felt it needed more salt. I did the full recipe but cut it into 4 loaves and put black caraway in 2, anise in 1 and regular caraway in the final. I like the texture of the bread and felt the directions were well written. I’d make again but with more salt.
I will make this again. Great texture and flavoring. Easy dough to knead. I followed the recipe as presented. A true German bread in my opinion. I was at a church event today and our past pastor who is from Germany, and his wife who is from Austria were there for a church dinner. They loved this bread. One cautionary note: When I was prepping for this I did not pay attention to the volume of flour required. I had to break the dough and starter up into three batches to fit my Kitchenaid mixer. That said, next time I will cut the recipe down by 1/3.
Just got done making this bread and it was amazing! I made it for my German wife and she said it reminded her of Germany. I flowed the recipe exactly and only putting Pumpkin seeds inside.
Ready for the oven
I have actually made this recipe several times. I have made it as is, and have made a significant change. The five out of five stars is for the recipe as is. But I will still give my “tweak”. This recipe worked perfectly. For those who have complained about it being flat, there are a few reasons. One is your yeast may be dead. Second, bear in mind that when she says 1-2 hours or until doubled in size, it is the size that matters more than the time. It might take longer, so just go with it. I used an existing starter, and the initial rise in my kitchen takes 18 hours. Really. So, please wait until it is doubled, rather than giving it exactly 2 hours. Now, for my tweak, I have a sourdough starter that is about six months old. I basically skipped steps 1 and 2, and went straight to step three, mixing a quart of existing starter with the flour from that point on. It was much much tangier, and slightly denser. Both recipes work, though. Guten Apetit!
Just like back home on the rine…
I think water is very little, I couldn’t make starter with that and add some more watter.
This recipe made wonderful bread. I love the flavor! Next time I will bake in cocktail bread pan and adjust the baking time. Thank you for sharing really authentic German bread recipe!
Hello; I have not tried this recipe yet, but it sounds great. What i would like to know is if / how this could be done in a cast iron dutch oven. Looking forward to replies and any help i can get…thanks