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The bread we're going to be making today is the kind of bread I grew up with in my country,
Lithuania, and I've always loved it so much, but I obviously couldn't buy it anywhere in
Spain, so I'm so happy to finally be able to make it myself at home. Trust me, when
you start making your own bread, especially with your own starter at home, you're going
to have such an amazing feeling of achievement. So I guess it's time to get started. For the
bread we're going to need 2 cups of wholegrain rye flour, 3/4 cup of water, 1/2 cup of the
starter, 1 tsp of salt, 1 tsp. of brown sugar, and you'll need 1/2 cup of sunflower seeds
or any other seeds that you like. My favourites are definitely sunflower seeds. You can also
add 2 tbsp. of caraway seeds if you like that kind of stuff, but if you don't, that is totally
fine as well. We'll be making the bread in two steps. For step 1, you'll need to mix
all the starter, 1/2 cup of warm water, and 1 cup of flour. You can start by mixing the
starter and water, just to dissolve it, and then start adding the flour, little by little,
and stir it while you do it. Once you get nice smooth mixture, something like the one
you would use for pancakes, but slightly thicker, just cover the bowl with a kitchen towel or
something similar. Leave it there in room temperature for 12-16 hours. I usually prepare
that in the evening, and then I leave it there overnight. By the next morning, it's going
to be ready for Step 2. In the morning, it's going to be time for Step 2. So we'll need
to add another cup of flour and 1/4 cup of water, and then a teaspoon of sugar and a
teaspoon of sea salt, and also your chosen seeds. So mix it all up, and you probably
won't even need to knead anything by hand. It will be enough just to stir it. But it
might be useful to get another person to hold the bowl for you because it's quite difficult
to do it alone. Once you're happy with your dough, and it looks nice and smooth, then
it's time to grab your bread tin, and prepare it by putting some butter or oil on the sides
and on the bottom, and then sprinkling some flour to make sure that it doesn't stick.
Then, it's time to shape the bread. Just wet your hands, and that will prevent the bread
from sticking too much to your hands, and then shape it lightly to a shape that would
look a bit like a loaf of bread. Put it in the bread tin, cover it with the same kitchen
towel, and leave it in a warm place in the kitchen for 2 to 3 hours, just to let it rise
once again. Rye sourdough will probably not rise too much, it's not like dough based on
wheat flour, so it's not going to double or triple, but it will go up a bit. So once you
see that it's ready, warm up the oven to 200 degrees, put the bread in, and cook ir for
45-55 mins. It's always better to cook it a bit more than too little, and you'll see
that it's ready when the crust becomes nice and brown. A final tip to make sure that the
crust doesn't get too hard, you need to wrap it in a damp towel, and leave it until it
cools down. The moisture in the towel will prevent the crust from becoming too hard.
So the bread will be really nice and fresh for 2 or 3 days, and then on the 4th day,
it will start becoming slightly drier and not so nice when it's cold. So that's when
I start warming it up. You could chuck it in the toaster, but I don't like using toasters.
I'd rather use my hob, so I would generally just take a frying pan and a bit of butter,
melt it, and then put some slices of bread on it, and cover it with a lid. Cook for around
4-5 mins on medium fire, and I would generally turn the slices of bread midway. And that's
it really. The bread will be warm, moist and as if it's just been cooked. As I said at
the beginning, this bread will stay fresh for a week easily. You don't have to refrigerate
it, it will not catch any mould. So this is all I wanted to share with you about bread
making. I hope you're going to give this bread a try. If you do, please let me know, and
I'll be so happy if you upload a picture on Instagram and tag me or send it to me on Facebook
or Twitter. I would really love to know what your creations look like. Thanks so much for
watching, and please subscribe to my channel if you like my videos. I guess I'll see you
in my next one, and happy bread making! Bye!