Rye Bread Recipe
The best rye bread ever, with a delicious, slightly crispy crust, an airy, soft crumb and incredible flavor from an overnight starter. Use it for your favorite sandwiches or toast it and top it with a dab of vegan butter!
Servings: 16 slices
Calories: 111kcal
Equipment
- Small bowl
- 8½ by 4½ inch loaf pan
Ingredients
- 2¼ teaspoon instant yeast (or active dry yeast)
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup (divided)
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- ½ cup non-dairy milk (I used oat milk. Use any non-dairy milk of your choice)
- 1 cup rye flour
- 2 cups bread flour (you may not need all of it)
- 1 tablespoon caraway seeds (plus more for sprinkling on loaf)
- 1 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Mix the yeast and a tablespoon of maple syrup with 1 cup lukewarm water in a large bowl. Mix and then add to it 1 cup bread flour. Mix with with a wooden ladle for a minute. This is the starter. (See notes below if using active dry yeast.*)
- Cover the starter with a tight lid or cling wrap and set aside in a warm spot overnight or for at least six hours. The starter will get puffy initially and will then settle down and will look very bubbly.
- Mix the ½ cup of milk with ¼ cup of water and heat until lukewarm. Add to the bubbly starter along with maple syrup and olive oil.
- Next stir in a tablespoon of caraway seeds, a cup of rye flour, 1 ½ cups of bread flour and salt into the starter. Use a wooden spoon to vigorously mix the flours into the starter until a shaggy dough forms.
- Turn out the dough onto a well-floured surface and begin kneading it, adding more bread flour as necessary, until very smooth and supple but still very slightly tacky--it should not stick to the surface when kneading. I needed almost ½ cup more of bread flour. Form a smooth ball with the dough.
- Oil the bowl you made the dough in and place the ball of dough in it. Coat the top of the dough with oil, then cover the bowl with a tight lid or cling wrap and place the dough in a warm spot until it has doubled, about 1 to 1½ hours.
- After the dough has doubled, turn it out on a surface, making sure that the top of the dough ball is now on the bottom. Punch the dough down into a disc.
- Roll up the dough into a cylinder. Press in the seams and tuck in the ends to form a loaf. Make sure that the loaf is seam side down when you place it in an oiled loaf pan.
- Brush the top of the loaf with a mixture of 1 teaspoon maple syrup and 1 teaspoon non-dairy milk, if you wish, for a better color to the baked loaf. Sprinkle the top with optional caraway seeds.
- Cover the loaf with a clean shower cap or with a kitchen towel. Set aside in a warm spot to rise for 1 ½ hours or until the dough has domed nicely over the top of the loaf pan.
- In the half hour before the loaf has finished rising, preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit/230 degrees Celsius.
- Place the loaf pan in the preheated oven and immediately turn the temperature down to 400 degrees Fahrenheit/205 degrees Celsius. Bake 45 minutes.
- Let the baked bread stand on a wire rack for 20 minutes or until the loaf pan is cool enough to handle. The loaf should easily pop out of the pan. Return the loaf to the cooling rack until it has cooled to room temperature. Slice and serve.
Notes
*If using active dry yeast, let the yeast stand after mixing with water and maple syrup for five minutes until it's creamy and bubbling.
Tips for success
- Rye flour is low on gluten, so it needs some help, both with rising and with creating a loaf that is not dense and inedible. Combining bread flour with rye flour helps give the bread both structure and lightness.
- If you don't have bread flour, you can use all-purpose flour. In that case, add a teaspoon of vital wheat gluten to the starter to help the bread rise.
- Adding maple syrup (or sugar) to the dough helps feed the yeast, allowing it to multiply. This in turn helps the rye bread rise better and adds lots of great flavor.
- The liquid portion of the rye bread dough includes a combination of plant milk and water. The milk creates a softer crumb. You can make the bread with just water, if you would rather.
- Add caraway seeds to the dough to give the rye bread an authentic flavor. If you don't like the flavor, you can skip them.
- You can shape the dough into an artisan-style boule instead of a loaf. In that case let the dough rise for the second time, in a floured banneton or in a bowl or Dutch oven lined with parchment paper. Turn it out onto a lightly oiled baking sheet before baking.
- Brush the top of the loaf after forming it with a mixture of maple syrup and non-dairy milk for a rich, golden-brown color.
- Refrigerate: Slice and store the bread in an airtight bag for up to a week.
- Freeze: The rye bread can be frozen, sliced or whole, in a freezer-saf bag for up to three months.
- Thaw and reheat in the oven or toaster before serving.
Nutrition
Serving: 1slice | Calories: 111kcal | Carbohydrates: 19g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 2g | Saturated Fat: 0.3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 151mg | Potassium: 77mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 31IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 20mg | Iron: 0.4mg