Danish Sourdough Rye Bread (Rugbrød)
I’ve been making this loaf for longer than I care to remember, a consistent sellout at Marlow’s Artisan Food Market and a family favourite. This is a delicious and nutritious wholegrain loaf. It’s much healthier than your average sourdough bread. Contains less carbohydrate, it’s lower in gluten, has more fibre and in general keeps you fuller for longer.
Rugbrød, this seeded-sourdough loaf is a staple of Danish cuisine, served at lunch and celebrations such as Christmas and Easter. It is a dense and long-lasting loaf, with malty and slightly sour notes, with a ragged crust and moist but textured crumb. It is just perfect for open sandwiches. The huge advantage of this bread is that it stays fresh for days, the reason being it contains so much water. Not only that it’s lovely toasted too.
Essentially this is the easiest sourdough loaf to make. No kneading, stretching or folding. It’s important however to use a starter that has recently been refreshed, so it’s really active. I don’t use a leaven for this loaf, I just increase my maintenance starter.
Rye sourdough starter
My seed blend
Here you can see I have a seed blend. It consists of golden & brown linseeds, sesame, buckwheat, millet, sunflower & pumpkin seeds. Soaking them in freshly boiled water aids easier digestion.
Cracks have appeared on the surface of the loaf, indicating it’s ready to bake.
Proving time can vary, for me this took 1 hour and 45 minutes to get to this stage, with a room temperature of 21.5C.
Danish Sourdough Rye Rugbrød
If you’re new to sourdough baking, this loaf is a great place to start. The method is very simple with delicious and impressive results.
Smørrebrød
Open sandwiches require a sturdy, wholesome bread base for generous toppings such as smoked salmon, prawns with egg or sliced cheese and tomatoes. The options are endless…..
Danish Sourdough Rye Bread (Rugbrød)
Equipment
- 900g loaf tin
Ingredients
Day 1 – Pre-ferment
- 125 g active rye starter 100% hydration
- 230 g dark rye flour
- 290 g cold water
Seeds & chopped rye grains
- 50 g chopped rye grains
- 150 g seed blend ie. golden & brown linseeds, sesame, buckwheat, millet, sunflower & pumpkin seeds
- 200 g boiling water
Day 2
- Pre-ferment as above
- 330 g dark rye flour
- 12 g fine sea salt
- 2 tbls molasses (black treacle)
- 220 g water tepid
- 2 tsp caraway seeds optional
- a few mixed seeds for sprinkling on top the loaf
Instructions
Day 1
- Place the starter in a large bowl and add the cold water and flour. Stir with a spoon to form a nice loose mixture, cover. In a separate bowl place the seeds and chopped rye, pour over the boiling water, cover. Leave both at room temperature for 10-12 hours. (Overnight).
Day 2
- Uncover the pre-ferment. It should be nice and bubbly and have a pleasant, slightly fruity, alcoholic aroma.
- Now add all the ingredients to the pre-ferment, including the soaked seeds (they will have absorbed all the water). With a large rubber spoon, bring the mixture together and continue mixing for a couple of minutes, until it’s fully combined. Leave for 10 minutes so the flour can fully absorb the water. The wet dough will become slightly firmer.
- Lightly oil a 900g loaf tin and line the base with baking paper. Dust with rye flour.
- Pour the loose dough in the tin. Smooth the surface with the back of a spoon. Sprinkle with mixed seeds and heavily dredge with rye flour.
- Leave to rise. This can take 1½-3 hours (this largely depends on the temperature of your kitchen) when the surface of the bread starts to crack. It’s ready to bake.
- Pre-heat the oven 30 minutes before baking to 230°C fan° *See notes or as high as it will go. Place a tray of water at the bottom of the oven. Put the loaf in the oven and bake for 40 minutes turning half way through baking.
- Remove from the oven and tip it out of the tin and cool on a wire rack.
- Slice when the loaf is completely cold, it's important to let the crumb set. Best left for 4-5 hours or even overnight.
Notes
Tips:
- I like the addition of caraway seeds, this is of course optional.
- Store sourdough wrapped in a linen tea towel, then a waxed wrap. Sourdough needs to breath however if you wish to freeze it, pop it in a plastic freezer bag. It freezes incredibly well.
Hi Louise,
Thanks for this recipe – it is absolutely delicious and also easy to follow!
I needed more time for the pre-ferment and for the proofing, but that was fine as I made the bread over the weekend and was in no rush!
Best wishes,
Jen
@tasteimpressions
Hi Jennifer,
I’m delighted you like this recipe because this is my favourite sourdough. You’re right, room temperature plays a big part in the proving of this loaf. However the maturity of the starter does too. So the good news is the more you bake, the more lively your starter will become.
Thanks for taking the time to comment.
Best
Louise
I was looking for a better 100% rye bread and I have found it in this! It is so flavourful and not claggy like past loaves I have made. I used more steel cut rye, replacing the same weight of seeds with it. Thank you so much for a great recipe.
Hello Andrea, thank you so much and I’m so pleased you like my recipe. Glad you found the percentage of grains you like.
Dear Louise,
Absolutely love this Danish Rye loaf, easy to follow recipe and so much fun baking it. I didn’t have chopped rye grains but I replaced it with little extra flour. It worked well. This loaf has become a family favorite. Thank you for all your sourdough baking ideas, you are a star.
Love, Helena
So glad you like it Helena and thanks for taking the time to comment☺️
This was awesome! Such a success. I omitted the molasses because I don’t like the bitterness of that flavour.
I have 2 questions. First, can I substitute molasses with honey or maple syrup? They are more runny than molasses. Second,
When I baked it for 40 min, the temp was well below 190, which is the temp I usually take bread out of the oven at, or even 200 F.
My question is whether I should trust the 40 min and not worry about the temp, or make sure that my bread reaches temp before
taking it out. I baked mine about 50 min to get it to 195 when I took it out. I am pretty sure that my bread turned out drier than yours, but it was still SO terrific. Thank you for sharing.
Hi Nili, so glad you like my recipe. You can certainly substitute molasses with honey or maple syrup, they’re all liquids so it wouldn’t make any difference to the loaf. Have you ever tried molasses in a loaf like this? It’s a small amount and in my opinion, doesn’t taste bitter. It also comes with health benefits of iron and magnesium.
Secondly your question about temperature. I have never checked the internal temperature of sourdough, however if you have your oven set at the correct temperature of 230C or 450F (and it helps to turn it on 30 minutes before baking so the walls of the oven are really saturated with heat) then yes I would trust the timings. All the best. Louise
p.s. I should have clarified that I baked it at 450 F (oven temp), and I used a meat thermometer to test the temp inside the
bread about 2 inches in. When I bake sourdough, I always use a meat thermometer to check the interior temp of the bread
to decide when to take the bread out of the oven.
Thank you SO much Louise, I am going to make this loaf again tomorrow and I am going to trust the timing you suggest to see if I can get a slightly more moist loaf by following the 40 min guideline with no thermometer readings.
Happy New Year!
Great, I’m sure it’ll be lovely.
Hi Louise!
Loved your website and this recipe!
I have one question, perhaps you can help me with it…
My loaf turned out with a really nice crumb and texture, but the sourness was a little too strong.
I reduced the proofing time, since the room temp in my kitchen it’s about 26ºC (or more) these days. One hour after pouring the dough in the loaf tin, it was overflowing and i had to transfer it to another tin.
Do you think this adjustment in the sour flavour should be done by reducing the proofing time even more, or at the first stage, after feeding my starter? Maybe the preferment could be left less than overnight? My rye starter’s been really active and the preferment more than tripled in volume (and deflated) by the end of the 12h period…. I’ll keep testing it, since i loved the overall taste and texture, but if you have any thoughts on that matter, it would be lovely to learn from your experience.
Thanks!
Hi Marina, there are so many factors here, let’s try and break it down.
It sounds as if you have an extremely warm kitchen. Sourdough is happiest between 18-23C. Most households drop temperature overnight, this is why I suggest an overnight preferment. I think you will have to cut this time down + you have a really active starter. I can’t give you exact timings on this as, with all things sourdough it takes a little practice to get it right. That said your instincts are right, cut down on the timing for the preferment and the second proving. Good luck and happy baking! Thank you for taking the time to comment :-))
Hi Louise!
Thanks for your reply! Yes, i’m from Brazil and the room temperature in my kitchen’s been around 26º to 28ºC, these days. I’ve been succeeding with wheat sourdough for years, but just began experimenting with rye!
Just so i can have an idea for what i’m looking for in the pre ferment fase, should i use it when after it doubles in volume, or do you use it while still very “young”? I love the taste of rye! I’ll keep practicing, thank you so much! Be well!
Did you leave the preferment for 10-12 hours originally? If yes try cutting that time in half and see how it turns out? You could also try using it when it’s doubled in size. Sorry there isn’t one clear answer. In the second stage, when you see a few cracks appear on the surface of the dough in the tin, it’s ready to bake. I hope this helps! Be well too 🙂
In the process of baking this now – wondered if you had ever tried shaping and baking in a dutch oven. I’m excited and hope this turns out – will be the first use of my freshly made rye sourdough starter!
Containing only rye flour which is low in gluten and the dough is very wet making shaping very difficult. I make a similar loaf, I prove in a basket then bake in a Dutch oven, it’s lovely but quite different in looks and the crumb is slightly dryer. If you search ‘Finnish Rye Bread’. Hope that helps answer your question.
Thanks so much!
Hi, should I add the water tray just when I add the bread or when I start preheating the oven?
Hi Daniel, add the tray of water to the oven 5-10 minutes before putting the bread in. If you put it in there too early all the water will evaporate.
And another question – I have a loaf pan with a lid. Should I cook it with it, without it?
On second thoughts you will have to see how much it rises when you prove it in the tin. It may be better to revert to my method of adding the tin of water to the oven.
I didn’t add water, and baked with a lid for 30 mins and 15 without. Came out great!
Really pleased to hear it!
This really is a wonderful recipe which creates a truly delicious bread. The instructions and ingredients are very clearly written and Louise’s guidance is instrumental in achieving a remarkable Rugebrød.
I the recipe made a large bread, dense, delightfully seeded and delicious. It kept for a week inside a linen bread bag in my pantry. We ate it traditionally with cream cheese & smoked salmon, toasted with my home made Seville orange marmalade and as open sandwiches with avocado and chicken plus super with poached eggs.
An all round winner and baking again today after its overnight slumber.
Thank you for sharing this recipe, it will remain a favourite here.
Definitely a five star recipe
Thank you again Pauline :-))
Pauline, thank you so much for taking the time to comment. I’m delighted you like my recipe, it’s certainly loved in my house. It is a large loaf that keeps remarkably well as you mention however I have halved the recipe successfully, I then use a 450g loaf tin. :-))
I made this yesterday exceot for the pre-ferment, instead of 290g cold water, I used 150g lacto-fermented pickle juice and 140g of whey. And I left out the chopped seeds and chopped rye grains as I didn’t have them handy but did include the caraway seeds in day 2. No need to worry about this keeping very long – it will likely be gone tomorrow! It’s delicious! My mother-in-law raved about it and she’s a sourdough bread baker herself. Thanks a bunch for the recipe!
So pleased it was a success and you enjoyed the loaf Jerry.
Hi, do you think this recipe would work with Spey flour?
*spelt
Yes I do think it will work with wholegrain spelt, it just may not be as dark.
A great recipe thank you😇 Want to bake it again but don’t have dark rye available. Can I use rye instead ?
The bottom of the bread seems a bit moist . Could that be from the tray of water below?
Thank you 😇
Glad you like it! Do you mean you only have light rye flour? It will look very different but it will work. I would use 5% less water with the light rye. I think the original loaf was moist at the bottom because it was slightly under baked. Maybe add an extra 5 minutes next time? All ovens vary.
Hi Louise,
I love this bread and I want to try your recipe using my rye sourdough starter. I keep it in the fridge. Do you suggest to take it out in the morning, refresh it land eaving it out of the fridge util the evening when I’ll start withe the recipe? Thanks
Hi Valentina,
As long as your rye starter is active, i.e. fed in the last 2 days, you can use it straight from the fridge. Hope this helps.
I’ve had a few attemps at rye bread recipes from various sources and just tried Louis’s recipe today. I am delighted with the results and will be making this bread regularly from is on. I think the starter enjoyed the hot weather as the overnight pre- ferment was very lively and we were ready to bake after 2 hours proofing. I’ll be trying out different seed combos too. Thank you so much for this recipe.
It’s a pleasure Susy, I’m so pleased you like my recipe :-))
I have a question. My loaf was delicious but its a bit sticky on the knife when you cut it. Does this mean I underbaked a little?
This would very much depend on when you cut into the loaf as it needs to settle after baking. Nothing less than 4 hours is what I recommend but honestly it’s best left overnight. If you have left it for the recommended then I suggest baking it for an extra 5-8 minutes. Obviously all ovens vary. Hope that helps Susy.
Thank you for this. I’m at the moment exploring more and more flavours for sourdough, mostly interested in rye, and I found this. Will definitely try this ASAP. Thanks again! So much deserve a follow on Instagram and subscription as well!
Carlo_Panadero
Please let me know what you think Carlo. I make this bread every week, my family love it :-))
Hello can you use normal starter instead of rye starter?
Yes you can. Alternatively you can feed a portion of your starter with rye flour to convert it then use it to make the preferment. Hope that helps.
A friend brought this to a game night party and we fell in love with it. Now I’m a subscriber and plan on making this bread. Moist, delicious, healthy. Loved it.
That’s great to hear Melinda. Thanks for taking the time to comment, it’s much appreciated:-))