BakerybenchProduction
Rye Sourdough Bread Formula in Baker's Percent (No Yeast)
This is a rye bread raised with sourdough only, with no yeast. The home recipe lists a sourdough stage and a main dough. This page adds both together into one overall formula and shows the maths.
The formula
| Ingredient | Baker's % | Per 500 g flour |
|---|---|---|
| Flour, total | 100 % | 500 g |
| Water, total | 71.3 % | 356.5 g |
| Salt | 2 % | 10 g |
| Total | 173.3 % | 866.5 g |
The flour is made of 83.6 % rye flour, including the rye flour in the starter, and 16.4 % spelt or wheat flour. The overall formula adds the sourdough stage and the main dough: 610 g flour, 435 g water and 12 g salt, a dough of 1,057 g. About 26 % of the flour is pre-fermented in the sourdough stage. Hydration is water ÷ flour × 100 = 435 ÷ 610 = 71 %.
Scaled to bakery batches
| Ingredient | 1 kg flour | 10 kg flour | 25 kg flour |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flour, total | 1,000 g | 10,000 g | 25,000 g |
| Water, total | 713 g | 7,130 g | 17,825 g |
| Salt | 20 g | 200 g | 500 g |
| Dough | 1,733 g | 17,330 g | 43,325 g |
How the numbers are calculated
- Add the percentages. 100 + 71.3 + 2 = 173.3 %. Total dough weight is always flour weight × 1.733.
- From the dough you want to the flour you need. Flour = dough weight ÷ 1.733. For 40 loaves of 800 g you need 32,000 g of dough, so 32,000 ÷ 1.733 = 18,465 g of flour.
- From the flour to each ingredient. Ingredient = flour × percent ÷ 100. With 18,465 g of flour: water 13,166 g, salt 369 g.
- Pieces from a batch. 10 kg of flour makes 17,330 g of dough. At 800 g per piece that is 21 pieces.
You can do the same with the baker's percentage calculator: enter the percentages above and tick flour and liquid.
Decoration
Decoration is part of the formula. The recipe is only complete with the dusting and the finish, so they belong in the recipe and in the costing. They are not part of the dough weight or the baker's percent above, and in many bakeries they are forgotten in the costing.
| Decoration | 300 g loaf | 500 g loaf | 1,000 g loaf |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flour for the proofing basket (about 5 % of the baked weight) | about 15 g | about 25 g | about 50 g |
- Proofing basket: rye and wheat breads normally go into a proofing basket, with the seam up or the seam down. The basket is dusted beforehand with flour, or with a special flour that stops the dough sticking. The share of flour is about the same as for the baguette, so scale it to the loaf size.
- Shiny surface: if the loaf should shine, dust less flour and brush or spray the loaf with water before baking. The flour disappears and the surface shines. No decoration is visible then.
- Cuts: most breads get two decorative cuts across the top, made just before loading. Every bakery does this differently.
- Seam: the loaf has a seam where it was closed. With the seam on top, the loaf splits open there in the oven, which gives the typical tear, and a round loaf opens in a classic rustic way. With the seam at the bottom there should be no tear. If it tears anyway, the loaf was loaded under-proofed: it has too much power, the surface is already set and then it tears.
- Spraying after baking: breads that come out of the oven with a pale surface should be sprayed with water at once, very early, as soon as they leave the oven. Spraying later is a serious fault: the water soaks back into the loaf and the crisp crust turns soft.
In the bakery
- Sourdough and mixing: the same three-stage sourdough at room temperature as for the rye-wheat bread (dough yields of about 210, 200 and 180, about 24 hours, 12 hours or longer, and 9 hours), dough temperature 29 °C, and in a Diosna mixer 2 minutes slow and 7 minutes fast.
- Dough temperature and kneading: rye breads need a higher dough temperature than wheat breads, so the water goes in warmer. Kneading is usually somewhat shorter than for wheat breads. The dough must be neither over-kneaded nor under-kneaded, so watch the kneading closely.
- Rye needs a tighter process: check the parameters more closely and keep to them. The loaves tolerate only narrow limits, otherwise product quality suffers.
- Yeast and proof: rye dough lacks stability, so the loaves spread flat if the dough is over-proofed. Be careful with any yeast you add, and be careful with proof time.
- Raw material: rye flours are less standardised than wheat flours, so the loaf looks a little different every day. Wheat bread forgives much more.
- Baking: start at about 290 °C and let the temperature fall to about 270 °C, with 5 to 7 litres of steam in a large oven. A 1 kg loaf bakes in about 1 hour. Set the programme in your own oven. Steam routine: give steam in the first minute, then pull the draft and let the steam escape. The rest of the baking time runs without steam. This applies to rolls and breads alike.
- Cooling: let the baked goods cool a little before you handle, pack or (for pan breads) tip them out of the tin. The starch network is not yet stable while the crumb is hot, and hot breads can collapse.
Things to watch
- The weight of a baked loaf is lower than the weight of the dough piece, because water evaporates in the oven. Scale dough pieces heavier than the weight you want to sell.
- Weigh salt and yeast on a scale with a suitable resolution, especially for small batches.
- The sourdough starter contains flour and water too. This page assumes a rye starter with 100 % hydration and counts its flour and water in the totals. A different starter changes the hydration slightly.
- The flour is 83.6 % rye and 16.4 % spelt (type 630) or wheat (type 550). Both are counted as flour.
- Cracked crust: surface or proofing baskets dusted too heavily, too much steam, or a start temperature that is too low. Dust less, give less steam and start hotter.
- Flat loaves come from flour with high enzyme activity, too little acidity, a dough that is too soft, cuts that are too deep or loaves loaded too ripe. Round, domed loaves come from the opposite: too much acidity, dough too firm, loaded too early or steam pulled too soon.
- Blisters and a hollow space under the crust: flour with very high enzyme activity or sprouting, acidity too weak or a sourdough that is too young. Keep the ripening times of the sourdough stages and dust baskets with a rye and potato flour mix.
- Spraying with water too late after baking: the water soaks back in and the crisp crust turns soft. Spray right when the bread leaves the oven or not at all.