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If cooking is chemistry, baking sits on the border with biology.
Factors that *could* be an issue:
- humidity in your refrigerator
- humidity in your kitchen
- the current balance of yeast to bacteria in your starter
- the activity of your starter, which is both temperature related and just based on how happy those microorganisms are
The rise of your bread is determined by the amount of carbon dioxide released during fermentation of available starches, the distribution of those bubbles in a gluten network, and the timing of the two. I hypothesize that a slightly warmer kitchen has led to an earlier peak in CO2 levels, which formed larger bubbles. When you slashed the tops, more CO2 was released than usual and the bubble-caverns collapsed more than usual. Note that rye has less gluten in it to begin with than wheat, more free sugars (so fermentation produces more CO2) and more amylase to break down starch into sugar (so it will get sticky faster than wheat).
You might want to try:
- rise your rye dough in a cooler place
- add a small amount of white vinegar or lemon juice to your recipe. Acidulation reduces amylase activity, and as a result, lots of rye bread recipes incorporate some vinegar
- reduce any sugars you add to the rye dough
Good luck!

If cooking is chemistry, baking sits on the border with biology.
Factors that *could* be an issue:
- humidity in your refrigerator
- humidity in your kitchen
- the current balance of yeast to bacteria in your starter
- the activity of your starter, which is both temperature related and just based on how happy those microorganisms are
The rise of your bread is determined by the amount of carbon dioxide released during fermentation of available starches, the distribution of those bubbles in a gluten network, and the timing of the two. I hypothesize that a slightly warmer kitchen has led to an earlier peak in CO2 levels, which formed larger bubbles. When you slashed the tops, more CO2 was released than usual and the bubble-caverns collapsed more than usual. Note that rye has less gluten in it to begin with than wheat, more free sugars (so fermentation produces more CO2) and more amylase to break down starch into sugar (so it will get sticky faster than wheat).
You might want to try:
- rise your rye dough in a cooler place
- add a small amount of white vinegar or lemon juice to your recipe. Acidulation reduces amylase activity, and as a result, lots of rye bread recipes incorporate some vinegar
- reduce any sugars you add to the rye dough
- use slightly less of the sourdough starter, as this will cause the bread to rise more slowly and have smaller bubbles
Good luck!