Recipe - please help with whole wheat substitute using rye flour

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breadmaking on 1 Feb 2025 at 10:05

Hi TFL members

Please look through this recipe i intend to bake

https://www.ellyseveryday.com/ellys-everyday-blog/ragi-seed-finger-millet-whole-grain-sourdough-bread

The recipe calls for WW flour is it possible to substitute it with Rye flour instead as i would like to use some of the rye i have with me. Using the gel method  (Weigh water, psyllium husk and sourdough starter into a bowl or jug. Mix thoroughly with a whisk and rest for 15 minutes to allow the psyllium to gel.)

I had something like this while volunteering overseas - it was very good!

Thank you for your help and reading my post

 

DRY INGREDIENT MIX

  • 300g whole wheat flour
    I used organic hard white wheat for this recipe, freshly milled in my Mockmill 200. You can use any kind of whole wheat flour for this recipe
  • 100g ragi flour
    Ragi is also known as ‘finger millet’ and is widely available in Indian grocery shops. It can usually be purchased in whole grain or flour form. If you cannot access ragi in your country, you can substitute for just about any other type of flour! (Just make sure it’s whole grain, eg. pearl millet, quinoa, buckwheat, brown rice, wild rice, amaranth, sorghum, teff etc.) 
    Ragi Seed (Finger Millet) Whole Grain Sourdough Bread
  • salt


WET INGREDIENT MIX

  • 400-440g water (to make a 100-110% hydration dough)
    I used 440g of water in the video, but around 400g would probably be enough. Different flours absorb different amounts of water, so some experimentation is to be expected.
  • 10g psyllium husk
    I used whole psyllium husk but powdered husk could also be used.
    Other natural ‘gelling’ ingredients, such as ground linseeds/flax and ground chia seeds can also be used, however they are required in higher amounts. (The subject for another video and recipe!)
  • 100g sourdough starter
    I used whole wheat sourdough starter fed with an equal ratio of water and flour (100% hydration starter)

I assume you're talking about dark rye here. If you substitute all the WW with dark rye, you might find the loaf much denser and harder to work with (clay-like qualities). You might want to hold back some water and adjust based on how much your rye absorbs. I've never used psyllium with any 75% rye bread so I don't know how it will change the texture and whether or not such gelling ingredients are suitable. Conceptually I would say the substitution could work, but you'll end up with a very different bread altogether. 

-Lin 

Differences can be slight to drastic - depending on how much rye is used. My guess would be you are soon to find out. If ya can't go by the dough - follow directions - go from there. Enjoy!

Since it’s her recipe, she might be able to offer some pointers.  The rest of us are just guessing.

I would guess that you could but I’ve no idea how it might turn out.  It’s a relatively small amount of ingredients, so testing your idea won’t be too costly.

Paul

My experience is with wholemeal rye in preferments. I found it behaves very differently to wholemeal wheat when used in a preferment at that percentage. Paradoxically it gets more sour at lower hydration. Using 20% for a preferment might be ok as a wholmeal  wheat substitute, but will be different, both in taste and handling.

Also used finger millet flour in the past but was not crazy about the result with bread, either in taste and texture or dough handling, but found it made amazingly good sweet biscuits with lovely crunch and malty taste. 

I have used hulled millet soakers to good effect. Combine well with flax seed soakers. 

No harm in trying this as an experiment to see how it goes, but might be challenging to work with both the rye and finger millet flours. Maybe start with slightly lower %s and then increase them according to how they turn out.

Hi breadmaking ... 

I'd say it depends on the characteristics you are looking for in your finished bread.

If you want a bread with similar crumb and crust and loft to a wheat bread, then, no, you can't just sub that much rye into the same recipe and expect the same bread. If you do make the substitution, you will be baking a rye bread.

According to your list of ingredients, you'd be making a high percentage rye bread -- 75% rye/25% ragi. Rye works very differently than wheat flour. It has a different type of gluten -- one that doesn't generally stretch and grow in the same way wheat breads do -- and high rye doughs are generally worked in a different manner than wheat doughs. They feel different in your hands. They shape different. They bake different. They taste different.

Plus you are planning to make a bread at or above 100% hydration. Your rye flour may or may not be able to handle that kind of hydration. I just made a 100% rye boule that was somewhere around 70% hydration and, man, that was some dense muck that adhered to my fingers as I mixed it and took serious scrubbing to get off. At that hydration, the dough was close to saturated and I don't think it could have absorbed much more water.

Have you baked a high rye before? It might be good to try one. Maybe use up your rye flour that way.

Whatever you choose, keep us posted on the results.

Rob