Rye Bread

Rye bread (Danish: rugbrød) is a type of bread common to Northern Europe in many varieties, but almost unknown in the south. This version is a typical Danish example. In Denmark, most people eat this type of bread on a daily basis.

Medium
🥪 Danish

Servings

3 loaves

Ingredients
Everything you'll need to make this recipe
1

1500 g rye flour

2

1000 g cracked rye seeds

3

5 tsp salt

4

About 2 L water

5

300 ml sourdough starter

Instructions
Step-by-step guide to making this recipe
1

Mix the salt with the rye flour in a big bowl.

2

Add 1.8 L of the water and mix it.

3

Mix in the sourdough starter. The result should be wet enough to flow very slowly.

4

Cover it with a cloth and let it rise for at 12–30 hours as convenient. Then add the cracked rye seeds.

12–30 hours

5

If the resulting dough feels dry, add a bit of water. The result should be just dry enough to retain an approximate shape, but no drier.

6

Take out 300 ml of dough to act as the starter next time you make this recipe.

7

Butter 3 bread forms and put the dough into it, forcing it into all corners with a spoon. Then using a fork, make deep holes as close as you can all over the bread.

8

Let it rise for 5–10 hours, and then bake it for about 90 minutes at about 180°C.

5–10 hours

9

Let the bread cool for 15 minutes, and then tip them out to cool further on a table.

15 minutes

10

The loaves can keep for about a week in a plastic bag. Do not refrigerate.

Notes
  • The bread is very difficult to cut for 2 hours or so after baking. Allow to cool before slicing.