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Medium Rye Sourdough Bread is flavoursome, hearty bread, from places in the Northern Climes where it's cold and wet. Thus, it's a great bread for hearty foods, foods that are full of flavour. I find you can throw almost anything at it. Medium Rye Sourdough likes to accompany robust, sour, bitter salty, or even sweet, flavours.
On the other hand, flavours that are subtle or mild will tend to be overpowered by the rye. That's not a bad thing if you're using a range of flavours with it, though.
Foods that I would recommend to shine beside medium rye include, but are not limited to or by the following:
- Cheeses: Medium Rye Sourdough likes all kinds, especially blue, brie, anything salty - I really like shaved grana padano, or a really ripe brie on toasted rye bread like this one. Camembert on its own to my tastes is just not strong enough, and will generally be lost to the medium rye. But a cream cheese, a ricotta, some sour cream or a really simple cheese will all hang well with medium rye sourdough.
- Fish: Any salted fish - sardines, anchovies, tuna, salmon, even rollmops are great with medium rye sourdough.
- Meats: Cured meats like proscuitto, kransky, cabanossi and salami get on well with medium rye sourdough bread. So does crispy bacon, ham off the bone, and continental sausages of all kinds.
- Vegetables & Pickles: Rye and pickles. What can I say? Rye Sourdough is lightened by lettuce, too, and fresh cucumber, shaved carrot, beetroot, celery.
- Fruit: Figs, dried orange slices, red grapes, grapefruit, bananas all like to be consumed with medium rye by their sides.
- Jams and spreads: Where do I begin? Medium rye sourdough loves to be toasty with marmalade, fig jam, quince paste, nutella, apricot jam - pretty much anything, but especially the strongly sweet or tart flavours work best with medium rye sourdough bread.
In this recipe, the rye flour is used more as the basis of the flavour, rather than as a complement, like it is in the light rye sourdough recipe. It's what is often known as a 50/50 rye sourdough, so the other 50% in this bread is wheat.
This version is again made from the 'Old Dough' method, meaning it's easy to make if you are an occasional sourdough baker, but later I will document the standard 'wet' sourdough method as well. There is very little difference in product, just the method here is designed with a reserved amount in mind.
Medium Rye Sourdough Recipe from the 'Old Dough Method'
You'll need:
650 g of organic light unbleached wheat flour 
650 grams of organic rye meal
300 grams of old dough
750 - 850 ml of warm water
26 grams of cooking salt 
Method:
Dough:
Mix the warm water with the old dough, and break up the old dough with your fingers, till it's in quite small chunkettes.
Leave to stand for 15 minutes.
 Add in the flours by laying them over the wet mixture in the bowl and gradually pushing the flour into the liquid using your fist. You don't punch it, just push it in one bit at a time. Soon you will have a flat, dry pancake.
Allow to rest for an hour or so.
Reserve Old Dough:
Cut off a 300 gram chunk and reserve in a small plastic container with a loose fitting lid for your next baking session. Keep this in the fridge. Check out 'Old Dough Method' for more info.
Delayed Salt (autolyse):
Add salt by wetting the dough with either a spray gun or wet hands, sprinkling the salt over the top of the wet dough. Knead it in until combined, which will be when the salt can't be felt as you knead. Round the dough, and leave with the seam on the bottom. Read more about the delayed salt method.
First Proof:
Let the finished dough rest and rise for about twelve to twenty four hours, depending on the season. It's ready when you poke it and there is little, if any, resistance. It feels like it has given up. Your finger marks will stay there for a while. If it resists, it isn't ready.
Middle Proof:
 Now cut the dough into two chunks of roughly one kilogram each. Round them, with the seam at the bottom.
Rest for an hour or more. Again, if you poke the dough and it resists, it isn't ready yet. On the other hand, if it feels like it is giving in, it's ready.
Final Proof:
Now form into two cylinders, just by squeezing the bottom in with the outside of both hands, as if you are holding an open book. Spray or wipe with water, and dust with ryemeal.
Slash with 3 diagonal cuts, or whatever suits your style. Place in pre oiled bread tins.
Allow to rise, covered, for as long as it takes, until the dough fills the tins.
If you touch it lightly, it will be quite delicate.
At this point, you can't really mess things up, so be confident in allowing the dough to rise as much as you can. This final proof can take a day or more. I like to use my inverted bread box for this - by placing the tins on the lid and then covering it all with the base, you get reduced airflow, and so the breads don't crust up. It is quite similar to the way a commercial proofing cabinet works, only this one absorbs its heat from its surroundings. It's actualy my favourite eco tool in breadmaking - it requires no energy at all to bring the bread up beautifully. If you want to speed things up a little, put the box in a warm place. Slow things down? Put the whole thing in the fridge to retard it.
Baking:
Bake at about 160 degrees centigrade (or less) for more than an hour in a moist oven. It's a slower bake for this bread, at a lower temperature. Don't worry too much about how long it takes. Keep an eye on it. Medium Rye needs to cook like meat, because it's a dense bread, not a light one at all. Don't expect to get a kick in the oven with this bread. Many times I've slowly baked it for a couple of hours. You will think the crust is too hard to eat, but in an hour the crust will be completely soft. That's the way to do this bread. Check out the info in this site for detail.
Other recipes in this site include: 
Basic Sourdough Recipe
White Spelt Sourdough Recipe
Basic Sourdough Variation (Baking By Feel)
Wholemeal Sourdough (Old Dough) Recipe
White Sourdough (Old Dough) Recipe
Light Rye Sourdough (Old Dough) Recipe
Medium Rye Sourdough (Old Dough) Recipe
Continental (Semi Leaven) Bread Recipe
Light Wholemeal (Semi Leaven)Bread Recipe
Light Rye (Semi Leaven) Bread Recipe
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For more Sourdough Breadmaking information, recipes and resources - read on!
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Happy Sourdough Baking!
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