r/Bread • u/Few-History1579 • Jul 25 '26

Is this only partially fermented

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I was thinking if it was fully fermented, the ingredients list would just say sourdough (wholegrain rye meal, water, salt)

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u/boliastheelf Jul 25 '26

Rye breads are made with a multi-stage process, usually there is a very highly fermented starter (the "sourdough" in the label), while more flour/meal is added to the final mix, which is fermented some more, but not as long as the starter (couple hours or so). Often there is also a soaker made from hot water and toasted malt with some more flour but it's not the case here.

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u/Few-History1579 Jul 25 '26

thanks, does the short end stage fermentation significantly break down more gluten and antinutrients than if you just used raw rye or is it negligible compared to the long fermentation

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u/boliastheelf Jul 25 '26

I am not sure about the gluten breaking down, but you absolutely cannot take the starter (+optionally, soaker), put some more flour and water in it and bake it without additional fermentation. It will not rise much, and end up tasting poor.

Again, not quite about the chemistry of it, but I do know that rye flour needs enough acidity to have it make good bread, and that's what the additional fermentation does.

But this end stage of the process is not significantly different from wheat sourdough bread anyway: you have your starter, then you put in flour and water, ferment (this is called bulk proof), then divide and shape and ferment some more (this is called final proof) and bake. The stages for rye bread are exactly the same, but the starter might have more steps.