This the best bread I've had since leaving Germany several years ago. I took the suggestion and added a little potatoe flour. Otherwise I followed it exactly. I compared it to some bread we purchased from Chicago. The Chicago bread was slightly darker but the consistency about the same. Has anyone tried adding a cup or two of regular stone ground rye in place of some of the white rye? White rye is not available locally so if I can get by with a little less it would good. My German wife dreamed that I lost this recipe the first night after trying this bread. She was really impressed. Thank you for posting this recipe. Jerry

This is a great recipe but a lot of work. I've used other, simpler recipes that are just as good. On the other hand...I did get two GIANT round loaves out of this so I guess it was worth the effort. The starter does rise A LOT, so be sure to use a huge bowl or one of the special buckets you can buy for this type of recipe. Also, although the dense, firm texture seemed just right, the bread I baked seemed to suffer from the "dry crumblies" - maybe next time I'll add a little potato flour as I read on kingarthurflour.com that this may help moisten it just a tad so it will hold together better. All in all a good recipe for that elusive, German flavor! Update: I tried adding 3T. potato flour and the texture was much better. Could probably even use more. My German m-i-l tells me her neighbor actually adds a cooked, grated potato to the dough when she makes this kind of bread.

We lived in Germany and miss the bread. This was just like "home". Recipe was easy to follow.

I served this to my German in-laws. It's the closest I think I'll ever get to the real deal. The firm texture is right on. The flavor is very mild, great toasted with jam. The 2lb. box of rye flour I bought was only 7 C. so I added a cup of white. Mixing was a chore. The two loaves were huge, though. Now if I can only find the right kind of leberkase...

I really enjoyed these, the hard crust was a treat

I have made this bread several times and as a German I can tell you it IS authentic! Great recipe!!!

A Wonderful formula! Works great everytime. Thank you so much for sharing. I have many German friends are they are so greatful for this bread. I usually make a double batch for sharing. For good results patience is key!

You did a very good job on this. The only difference is we use wheat flour in place of white. We also use sunflower seeds.

I absolutely loved this recipe. I lived in Germany for a year and absolutely fell in love with the bread there. Ever since I've returned to the States, I've been wishing that I could purchase German-style bread, but it's nearly impossible to find. But now i don't have to find it because this recipe tastes so authentic. I do, however, want to share the three things that I did differently with this recipe. First, I used my own super tasty and entirely local sourdough starter so I didn't follow the first part of the recipe about creating a starter. Second, I halved the recipe because it sounded like so much bread. To do this, I had to make an educated guess on how much to use of the sourdough starter I already have. I went with two cups, and it seems to have worked perfectly. Third, I made the dough using the dough cycle of my breadmaker. After the cycle ended, I shaped the bread and let it rise for an additional hour. Even with these changes, the bread turned out amazing and like an authentic loaf of Bauernbrot.

i've tried this recipe, it's turn out ok.

This is an exceptional recipe. I doubled the recipe and thought my mixer was going to kick the bucket, so I ended up kneading it by hand - what a workout! Exceptional bread!

I made this recipe and the bread is very good with a crunchy crust. I only made half of the recipe and was able to knead it entirely in the mixer. I still needed to use a very large bowl for the starter because it rose up and ran over. I lost part of the starter, but the dough still balled up in the mixer and cleared the sides of the bowl and I didn't need to add extra flour or water to the measurements. My husband is also from Germany and remembers bread baking day when he was little. He thinks this recipe is pretty authentic too.