The best Danish bread ever.

We have been making some wonderful bread lately, all thanks to our good friends Richard and Louise. We holidayed with them and their beautiful children in Waitawere in January and were very impressed with the rich, black sourdough bread they had baked.





We were excited to try Richards recipe, and we are happy to report that we are now Danish bread converts, and find this the easiest bread we have ever made, and by far the most delicious.



So, I am sharing with you the recipe Richard gave me.

“sourdough” starter

200 G rye flour
1 g yeast
1 tsp salt
1 tsp organic honey
100 g organic yoghurt (I use De Winkles)
200 ml water (MUST be ‘bottled’ - I’ve bought a 10 litre one) as the chlorine kills it!


Mix all together in a non metal bowl using non metal spoon, & cover with a damp towel
Just sits on bench for 24 hours
Next day add a further 200g rye flour
& enough water to make it smooth then it sits for another 24 hours & its ready

This sourdough bug can be kept alive indefinitely, just needs regular feeding. I feed the bug by adding one cup of rye flour, and one cup of water, then mix well. Cover it with a damp tea towel and leave it on the bench. Once it is bubbling up, you are ready to make bread. This feeding - using cycle is what keeps the bug happy and healthy.
If you are not going to make bread for a week or so, or you are going on holiday, store the bug in the fridge. Cover the container loosely.



Then to the bread

300g Sourdough starter
2 cups knibbled rye or knibbled mix - your know the cracked grains
2 cups rye flour
700-800 ml water (bottled again)
2 cups High grade white flour
1 tablesp golden syrup (I use 1– 2 tblspn of Molasses makes it darker & I think better flavour)
1 tablespoon rough salt
3/4 cup linseeds
1 cup ml sun flower seeds

Richard chucks in pumpkin seeds too & sprinkles sesame seeds on the top.

I often add a cup of cooked brown rice for delicious moist, nutty flavour!
You can make a sweet loaf by adding one cup of chopped dates, and one cup of walnuts, and an extra tablespoon of molasses.

Mix all together – its quite a wet mixture

Put into 2 loaf tins (put baking paper in first if metal)
I use the flex red rubber ones so don’t need paper etc.



Leave for 12 hours

Poke holes in the bread to the bottom before putting in oven

Put in oven at 200 deg for 75 min (I often leave in for 100 min)

When you take it out spread a little butter over the top.

Leave to cool for 4 hours (I can NEVER wait that long) but it easier to cut