We already baked Ötzi’s Favorite after freshly spawning the rye and einkorn starter. Today, we use it to bake a New York Deli Rye, which isn’t really a rye bread by my standards, but a mixed wheat bread with just a teeny tiny bit of rye. It’s astounding (and sometimes confusing) what’s going for rye bread in other countries.

Here in Germany, a breads needs to be made from at least 90% rye to deserve the name rye bread and be sold as one, otherwise it’s just a rye mix bread. Under 50% rye it’s a mix of whatever’s the main flour.

But enough about that.

For the NY Deli Rye you need:

phase 1:

• 160g rye and einkorn starter (at peak)
• 250g medium rye flour (Roggen 1150 for the Germans)
• 210g warm water

Mix everything and let it stand in a warm place (22-24°C / 71 – 75F) for 4-5 hours. The sourdough will be puffy and airy.

final bread dough:

• all of phase 1
• 300g warm water
• 500g bread flour or first clear (in Germany: Weizen 1050)
• 16g salt
• 15g caraway seeds (optional – I’m not too fond of them in my bread, so I used a german bread spice mix instead)

Mix and knead everything until the dough is smooth and elastic. Due to the high amount of bread flour, you should look at the dough passing the windowpane test.

Pre-shape the dough into a ball or two, depending on making one big or two smaller loaves, and let them rest covered at room temperature for an hour.

Shape a long loaf (or two) and let it rest in the banneton for up to an hour. The dough is ready when it’s puffed up and small cracks are visible in the surface.

Meanwhile, pre-heat the oven to 220°C / 430F.

Tip the bread out of the banneton and make some deep scores across. And I mean DEEP!

Bake it with steam for 50-60 minutes (big bread) or 40-45 minutes (2 small ones).

Let the bread cool and enjoy a sandwich with pastrami, brisket, or a strong cheese. If you didn’t add the caraway, you can also eat it with cream cheese and jam.

Enjoy!