Nordic Whole-Grain Rye Bread Recipe (2024)

My Norwegian mother-in-law puts the dough in a cold oven, sets the temperature to 225 degrees F and lets it rise for 30 minutes. Then she turns the temp up to 350 F and lets the loaf bake until done (1 - 1 1/2 hours). Dense and delicious!

Never, ever did an instruction call for an accompanying video more than this one: "When a walnut-size piece of dough smeared on the rim of the bowl slides slowly and smoothly down the inside, like a snail leaving a trail, it is wet enough."

If you save the water you drain from the soaked grains you can use it as part of the water you add in the final mix. This might add nutrients that otherwise would go down the drain.

Medium Rye Flour? Is that White Rye Flour?

If you want to try this without having leftover leaven and grains, you can make the starter with:
138g water
66g buttermilk
194g rye flour
2 g yeast
For the grains, you can soak 234g cracked rye and 117g sunflower seeds in 650g water.

I live in Denmark, and I make this kind of bread a lot. An important tip -You should never try to slice this kind of bread until at least 12 hours after baking. It's also a good idea to wrap the warm loaf in a dishcloth and leave it out on the kitchen counter overnight after baking.
If you don't have any luck with this recipe, you might want to try the Danish cookbook author Trine Hanneman's: http://trinehahnemann.com/recipes/bread/trines_rye_bread_recipe.html

Second try worked! I used a lot less water than first time. More of a wet dough than a batter. ( No snail.) Let it rise at room temp all night. Baked at 450 degrees for 15 minutes, then 360 degrees for 90 minutes to 220 degrees internal temp and left the pan in the cooling oven another night. Sliced bread next day. Very good. The learning experience and the taste and texture of this thread was worth all the work.

What are the dimensions of the recommended pans? "Medium" and "standard" are confusing.

I would just use 400 gms of a rye starter. If you already do sourdough just take 1/4 cup of your reg starter and feed with equal amounts rye flour and water for several days to change it from wheat to rye.

Found a different recipe with a picture that looked right. Didn't require sourdough. Was amazingly easy to make. Soaked rye berries overnight. Beautiful when it came out of oven but way crunchy. Rye needed to be simmered to soften. Nearly inedible as it was, i turned these lovely ingredients into porridge. Crumbled a slice into small pot. Added milk, raisins. Simmered until the darn rye berries were soft- 12 min. Yum! Your failure can be eaten! Keeps tightly wrapped in fridge for ages.

I made this bread using 400 g of ripe 100% hydration sourdough starter mixed with 400 g dark rye flour, the soaked grain/seeds, and some soaking water. No yeast. I filled two random loaf pans I had with the dough coming up half way before letting it proof at room temperature (75F) for 6 hours. The dough had risen to the top of the pan by the time it went into the oven. I baked as per instructions and the temp. of the loaves was 211F after 80 min. It came out delicious and looks like the picture.

Check out the Farine blog. She had a similar issue with the first loaf and photos of 2 attempts. She lists some changes suggested by Stanley Ginsberg who wrote the book "The Rye Baker."

My bread came out like a viking ship ballast for an Atlantic crossing. Humor in cooking.

All comments were helpful, but I still followed the recipe as precisely as I could, and it turned out amazing! Soaked berries for 24hrs. starter set for 24 hrs, and then the dough for 5 hrs (as I forgot earlier). 10 min on 450 and 80 on 360. Internal temp was 205, but I was afraid the breads were overbaked, as the tops were quite hard and sides had separated. So, I covered twice with dishcloths and a baking pan on top and left overnight. The next morning, the bread was perfect and moist inside!

I also used whole rye berries as I overlooked the word "cracked", but the soaking softened them up a ton, so it was totally fine! I initially thought the salt would be too much as I don't like salty foods, but I'm so glad I followed the recipe since the flavor is just right! Also, I am literally a first time bread baker. This recipe reminds me of the many many trips to Scandinavia! It is a winner.

I don't have any cracked rye, but I do have buckwheat, sorghum, millet, barley, and bulgur. Could I use any of these in place of rye berries for the grains?

Second try worked great. First i didn’t simply drain the grains. I squeezed another cup or more-of the liquid out. Secondly my kitchen is on the cool side. So i move the rise out near the woodstove and let it rise about three and a half hours. Delicious.

Was nervous about this based on comments in the reviews, but mine turned out great. I used coarse rye meal rather than cracked rye berries and added 1.5 cups of water rather than 2 because the meal had absorbed so much when soaked. Baked for 80 minutes. Turned out with excellent flavor and texture. When toasted, the crust is super crunchy and the inside still moist and lovely. Much better than I was expecting!

Followed the instructions to a tee:-Starter was pretty thick. Used all the starter so as not to waste the remainder. -Used rye flakes.-Didn't add more water.-After 45 mins in the oven I noticed bread was pulling away from the sides of the pan. Checked and it was fully cooked. -Would have preferred more salt to my taste. Turned out just like the Danish rye from my local bakery :)

I only had whole rye, and ran it threw my vitamix to break it down a bit. I like a nuttier bread so I added an extra 1/2 cup of pumpkin seeds and added a nut crust on top. Added the water gradually to the dough til texture was as described. Didn't need all the water. Turned out amazingly delicious! It was so easy, just takes time to prep and waiting for it to cool! I enjoy it sliced thin and well toasted.

Followed the tip from Anna about starting with 1.5 cups of water and adding bit by bit and it worked perfectly first time. Also used the water from soaking for added flavor. Used King Arthur Baking Harvest Grains Blend as a sub for rye berries and sunflowers seeds. Looks picture perfect.

Disastrous. Separation of crust and inner, which is just a sad gloopy mess. This recipe should be taken down. A waste of ingredients and efforts.

Maggie that’s wrong. The recipe amounts are quite precise. No leftovers.

I’ve made this recipe twice now, and it’s a great hit. I do have comments. There seems to be a typo in the amount of the medium rye flour, and it should read 500 grams for the four cups of flour. Also, couldn’t it be more efficient? Why drain the moisture out of the mash and then add water back? Couldn’t this all be measured accurately to begin with ?

Despite the reviews I attempted to make this. I reduced the salt to 15g, and with only 1 loaf pan timing adjustments were made.First loaf I let rise in pan on counter for 1h30, then in fridge for 5h, then room temp for 45m. After baking, top crust was completely separated from the loaf by a gap and the loaf was slightly underbaked.Second loaf stayed in bowl in fridge overnight. Put in pan, left at room temp for an hour, then baked for 1h30 at 350. No separation and looks much better than 1st

I soaked the cracked rye berries for 24 hours as suggested and when I went to make the bread, the berries were covered in mold! Eat that point, I threw them out and gave up.

Starter was too stiff so I used 1C instead of 3/4C like it says. I used my two "Standard" sized pans (didn't appreciate the vaguery but I went off another comments suggestion and used two 4.5x8.5s) I should have used two of the larger sized, or even three of the regulars! These rose quickly and still have more oomf. I transferred the dough from one of the 4.5x8.5 into a 5.5x9.5 but I wish I split it three ways. These two pans are too small to hold all the dough.

This bread is delicious. One question. The dough rises right to the edge of the pan, as it should, but in the course of baking it sinks back down, and the center slumps. What can I do to stop this from happening?