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Having searched local health food stores for rye berries to no avail, I have followed advice given to vary recipe so long as volume is honored in the three categories. I converted to wheat base using sprouted wheat flour and wheat berries (cooked al dente). Result in dough was lovely. Room temp rise and frig rise went well. Now in the oven. I am expecting a different flavor profile…milder but nutty. But expect it will be delicious! Excellent article and recipe. Thank you.
That is beautiful! I’m glad the volume-per-ingredient-category strategy worked and you could make the recipe with your inventory. I’m sure you created a completely unique and delicious bread. Cooking the wheat berries is a neat idea.
Rye flour is the ingredient that does best with a 24 hour set, and since you used other flours, I’d say dig in.
When I fist saw this post I knew I was gonna have to try this one!
The whole recipe is wonderful and I am in love with the Pullman Pan!
I’ve been obsessively using it for all my whole wheat since I got it, glad it was on the provisions list.
I found the temperature in my oven to hot to maintain 425 for more than 30 minutes. So I used the Pullman lid after about 45 min as it looked like I might be getting too dark, and I turned the temperature down to 350 for another hour. At 200 degrees I took it out and let it cool about 19 hours.
The results are marvelous and I look forward to tweaking the recipe to my pantry, which I kinda already did, as I skipped the chia, added amaranth instead. I also used Buttermilk and Barley Malt options instead of the Kefir and other sweeteners. And I think next time I’ll use either more Buttermilk, as a non drinking household fetching dark beer was the most out of the way item I had to get. I did have to order online the Rye Berries, but that was pretty easy, but sad my local health food store no longer carries them. All in all I will be baking this loaf for years to come! Thanks so much!
Really beautiful looking loaf.
You’re welcome!
I hope to try it with buttermilk and barley malt at some point too.
Your bread looks beautiful, and with that avocado… 
Looking so yummy. Would you like to share recipe with us.
Hi. I found this recipe a few weeks ago. This is my first loaf I’ve ever baked so I’m a complete novice. After a few failed attempts, I made some sourdough starter and just got this recipe going. I’ve gotten past the bulk fermentation step but it hasn’t gotten stringy after 5 hours. Would more time help, or should I try a new batch?
Definitely let it go longer. If after 12 hours, it’s unchanged, I’d mix in 1 tsp of baking soda and bake it. The ingredients are too precious to waste. 
I love this type of bread, so happy to see a formula for it.
Can I use all water for the liquid as I don’t usually have kefir and beer at hand. Looking forward to trying this recipe.
Good substitutes for kefir are buttermilk or a thin yogurt (if you have a double strained Greek yogurt just dilute it a little til it resembles standard yogurt). Even regular milk is an okay substitute though it won’t add the same acidity.
Beer brings malty flavors and perfumey hops, but it’s not tragic to skip this and just use water.
Happy baking!
Thank you, melissa, for your reply 
Hi Melissa,
I tried the recipe with a few substitutes to accommodate what I had at hand. Here are the modifications I made: instead of beer I used yogurt (liquid, runny type); whole wheat flour instead of sprouted spelt flour and regular rye flour instead of sprouted rye flour; mixture of adzuki beans and rye berries (which I soaked and cooked); and honey to replace maple syrup.
I let it proof at room temperature (26C) for around 6 hours, then moved it to the fridge for a further 12 hours. Then the next morning took it out and left it at room temp for another 1 to 1.5 hours… I wasn’t sure if I should bake it straight from the fridge or let it warm up a bit. Plus I was trying to figure out whether it had risen enough.
And I probably left it in the oven too long and overbaked it.
Despite all of that it came out well with great flavor. However I do have some questions and am hoping you could perhaps help troubleshoot?
I baked the bread in two pans; one came out with cracks on top and a more fragile, delicate texture that crumbled more easily when I was slicing it. What could have caused the cracks? (That one also stuck to the pan but that is maybe because I didn’t grease it enough.)
Would it be possible to make this bread using all rye flour and no spelt/wheat flour?
I had tried making a 100% rye seeded bread previously; it came out ok but the top sloped downwards and the crumb was too fragile and didn’t hold together well. I still don’t know what caused this…
Any tips, comments, feedback would be appreciated.
Thanks again for such a successful recipe
You most definitely can do flour substitutions. Here are the two I picked recently.
All rye flour with sprouted rye berries
All einkorn flour with sprouted kamut berries
In brainstorming why one of your loaves came out more fragile – was it a smaller pan that perhaps overcooked more than the other because of it’s size? Did you take the internal temps of the breads when they were finished? That is a bit of a mystery since both pans came from the same dough. Also, the back left corner of my oven is hottest…maybe you have a similar issue?
Thanks a lot for your feedback!
I think both were overcooked, though probably as you mention, the longer, narrower loaf was dryer. I did take the internal temp; it was above 204 so i took them out. And the loaf with the more fragile structure also stuck to the pan.
So if rye bread is overcooked it will result in more fragile crumb? That’s good to know.
And you’re right, my oven also tends to run hotter toward the back left corner. I did switch the place of the pans in between though.
Thanks again for your helpful comments. Look forward to making the recipe again.
Thinking more, I should have asked about hydration. Did your dough/batter seem dryer than what was in the photos in the recipe? That could also impact the crumb texture.
Hi Melissa,
I’ve got the dough proofing in the fridge right now - when I bake it tomorrow morning, do I need to let it come to room temperature first and put in preheated oven?
Or can I put the cold dough in cold oven and preheat the oven with the dough inside?
That should be fine, just expect a longer bake time. I can’t predict how much longer, but maybe +15 minutes? Hopefully you have a thermometer
Thanks for your prompt reply! I will put it straight from the fridge into cold oven; fingers crossed it will work…
I noticed the dough kind of shrank a bit in the fridge and is quite dry and stiff; is this normal?
Shrinking a little can happen – and by tomorrow, it might have expanded. You can brush the top with a little water to prevent it from drying out too much.
