Not all rye bread has sprung from a landfill, but this one has and it’s delicious.
written by Thor Erickson
photography by Tambi Lane
“I found a field of rye growing next to the Knott landfill!” my friend Hubert yelled into his cell phone with excitement. He continued talking with his thick German accent. “I am harvesting it now and will be over shortly.”
A retired geophysicist and university professor, Hubert looks more like a mash up between Brian May, the guitarist of the rock band Queen, and jolly old St. Nick.
Hubert, who rides his bicycle everywhere arrived at my house and quickly unpacked the harvested rye berries along with a bag of dirt. We ground the grains into a small bag of flour to be used for a sourdough starter and, due the location of where he found the rye, we packaged the dirt to be analyzed by Oregon State University.
Second to wheat, rye is my grain of choice when baking bread. Often referred to as “wheat’s crazy second cousin,” rye has gained recent popularity due to its lower gluten content. Rye hasn’t always been popular. Historically, rye was considered a weed and was used by Romans as a cover crop during winter months. Even the naturalist Pliny the Elder scoffed at using the grain for food, writing that it “is a very poor food and only serves to avert starvation.” Through the years, Europeans refined both the farming and the use of rye in foods and alcohol.
When the dirt sample results came back as “organic,” we harvested more and proceeded to experiment with different recipes. The result was a sourdough rye bread that is well worth the effort.
Note: This recipe will take 4–5 days to complete—totally worth it!
Use a 1-quart-sized container with enough room for the starter to triple in volume.
The starter needs to be fed on a regular basis. Every 10 to 12 days you take it out of the fridge and feed it:
This is a very dense, rustic, yet flavorful loaf. Enjoy this sliced and lightly toasted with butter and fresh garden herbs or use it to create open faced sandwiches. Perfect for a late summer picnic.
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