Rye bread rolls again

I managed to resurrect my sourdough starter by adding more yeast and keeping it in the refrigerator for a week, and I made a whole-wheat sourdough bread that came out pretty good (good crust and crumb, but not sour enough for my taste). It was basically the same ingredients and amounts as bread-machine bread, except for starting with sourdough starter for part of the liquid, bread flour, and yeast, and substituting molasses for the sugar.  I also baked it on baking parchment (no loaf pan) for the first half of the baking time, then directly on the terracotta tiles for the second half.

The whole-wheat sourdough looked good, as well as tasting pretty good.

So this week I decided to do the rye bread rolls again—the recipe that originated my sourdough.  Now that I have a starter, the recipe is a little different:

Feed starter:

1 cup sourdough starter
½ cup warm water (105°–115°F)
½ cup Strauss yogurt (the sourest one in our local market)
1 cup rye flour

Mix together in bowl, cover with wet dish towel, and let sit at room temperature for a day.  Remove and refrigerate one cup of the mixture for future sourdough starter, and let the rest sit for a day or two more at room temperature.

Dough:

the aged sourdough starter
1¼ cup warm water (105°–115°F)
1 teaspoon yeast
1 tablespoon salt
1½ cup bread flour
3 cups rye flour
1½ cup raisins

Stir down the starter, blend in water, yeast and salt. Let sit for 3–4 minutes so yeast can dissolve.

Stir in bread flour.  Add rye flour a cup at a time until dough forms a mass.  Stir with silicone scraper until dough has lost most of its stickiness.  Stir in raisins (this is different from last time, when I didn’t add the raisins until just before shaping). Turn from the bowl onto floured surface.

Knead on well-floured surface until dough soft and elastic (about 6 minutes), adding about ¼ cup rye flour to keep dough from sticking.  May need to scrape surface initially, as dough starts out very sticky. Put in greased bowl, cover, and let rise for 1–2 hours.

Punch down, divide dough into 2-oz pieces, and roll into balls.  Place on baking parchment on baking sheets, cover, and let rise until double in size (about one hour). Makes 24 rolls.

Glaze:

1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon milk

Remove cover, brush each roll with glaze, and cut X into top of each roll. Bake in preheated 400°F oven for 35–40 minutes.  Done when browned on the bottom and feel solid when pinched.

Cool on wire rack.

The rye rolls came out looking good. They had a nice flavor and texture, but not as much sourness as I would like. I think I also need to cut the crosses deeper.