Rye Bread
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This recipe for homemade Rye Bread gives you a perfect rustic loaf, loaded with fibre and aromatic caraway. With my step-by-step instructions and detailed tips, you’re guaranteed a success no matter your baking expertise level.
The Best Rye Bread Recipe
I’ve been baking up a storm lately! When I have free time on my hands, I always gravitate to my true calling: bread making. Most bread recipes are made with a short list of ingredients and incredibly easy steps. Nothing is quite as satisfying as pulling out a gorgeous homemade loaf from the oven!
Not to mention that smell. The aroma of freshly baked bread is absolutely hypnotizing. Especially with the caraway seeds in this loaf of rye bread! You’ll barely be able to contain yourself while it’s baking. Trust me, it’ll all be worth it in the end once you sink your teeth into a slice.
What Is Rye Bread?
This variety of bread is more dense, fibre rich, and a bit darker than whole wheat bread. While the flavor is a bit stronger than typical white or whole wheat bread, the main source of flavor that we all recognize and love about rye bread comes from the caraway seeds.
While similar to pumpernickle, rye bread is a little more airy and light. It’s the perfect type of loaf to make when you want to pack a bit more flavor into your bread while still maintaining a great balance between a soft and dense bite.
- Yeast – Active dry yeast. If you use instant yeast, you can skip the first proofing step and mix it straight into the flour.
- Water – It’s super important to make sure your water is lukewarm. The best temperature of the water should be anywhere from 95 degrees to 105 degrees for this. You don’t really want anything warmer, as it will kill the yeast.
- Brown sugar – While granulated can be used instead, brown sugar will give your bread a deeper flavor.
- Salt – To taste.
- Caraway seeds – The classic flavor of rye bread comes from caraway seeds. Make sure they’re fresh, and not stale.
- Vegetable oil – Canola or olive oil will work too.
- Flours – Rye, and all purpose. You can also add in a bit of whole wheat flour, so for example instead of 3 cups of all purpose flour, use 1 cup whole wheat flour and 2 cups all purpose.
- Cornmeal – For dusting.
How To Make Rye Bread
- Proof the yeast: Add the lukewarm water and yeast to the bowl of your mixer. Give it a quick stir, and leave the mixture for 5-10 minutes to foam up.
- Form the dough: Add the brown sugar, salt, caraway seeds, oil, rye flour, and 2 1/2 cups of the all-purpose flour. Using the dough hook, mix on medium speed until smooth. Add the remaining flour and mix until the dough is firm and comes clean off the sides of the bowl. About 5 minutes.
- Rise: Spray a large mixing bowl with cooking spray. Place the dough in the bowl, spritz the top of the dough with oil, and cover with a clean kitchen towel. Let the dough rise in a warm, draft-free environment for 30-40 minutes, or until doubled in size. Preheat the oven to 425F. Place a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet and sprinkle it with a bit of cornmeal. Punch the dough down and form it into a ball by pulling the dough from the center to underneath, repeat these pulls about 4 or 5 times. Sprinkle some flour over the risen dough. Cut a few slashes into the top of the dough with a sharp knife. Place the ball on the the prepared baking sheet. Let it rise for 30-40 minutes or until doubled in size in a warm, draft-free environment.
- Bake: Pour 1 cup of water into a shallow metal pan and place it onto the lower rack of your oven. Transfer the dough, with the parchment paper, onto a baking sheet or dutch oven. Bake for 30 minutes or until crusty and golden brown.
How to tell when my bread is done baking
Every oven is different. Not sure if your bread is done? Turn the loaf upside down and give the bottom a firm thump with your thumb. It’ll sound hollow when it’s done.
You can also use an instant read thermometer. Insert the thermometer into the thickest part of the loaf. It’ll read 200F when the bread is completely done.
Best place for your dough to rise
Dough thrives in a warm, draft-free environment. If your oven has a “proof” function, then use it. The “proof” function preheats the oven to 100 F degrees, causing a warm, but not hot environment for your dough to rise nicely.
If your oven doesn’t have this “proof” function, I would still use the oven. What I usually do is preheat the oven to 200F degrees, or whatever the lowest setting is for it. Once it reaches that temperature, turn off the oven, then place the dough in there to rise. This will speed up the proofing process tremendously.
My dough isn’t rising!
The most important part about bread baking is the yeast. If you are having trouble getting the dough to rise, this is an issue with your yeast.
- Make sure your yeast is new. Even if it’s close to the expiry date but not past it, the yeast may be dead.
- If the yeast doesn’t foam up in step 1, stop. The bread will not rise. This can be one of two issues:
- The water was too hot and killed the yeast. You just want want lukewarm- about 110F/43C.
- The yeast is dead and you’ll need a new jar.
- Yeast thrives in a warm environment. Preheat your oven to the lowest setting, then turn it off. This is a perfect draft-free place for your dough to rise.
- Last, but DEFINITELY not least, store your yeast in the freezer and it’ll stay fresh much longer.
What to serve with your freshly baked bread
You can make some gorgeous sandwiches:
Or serve it as a side to soak up these saucy dishes:
- Chicken and Mushrooms in Creamy Dill Sauce
- Beef Ragu
- Instant Pot Swedish Meatballs
- Beef Barley Soup
- White Chicken Chili
How to store homemade rye bread
The bread will need to be fully cooled down to room temperature before storing. Keep your loaf in a bread box, large freezer bag, airtight container, or cake plate with a dome to ensure it doesn’t go stale. It’ll last 3-4 days at room temperature or 6-9 days in the fridge.
How to freeze homemade rye bread
Wrap the loaf well with both plastic wrap and foil. It’ll last frozen for 3 months. Let it thaw at room temperature, or you can use your microwave if it has a bread function.
Looking to expand your bread baking repertoire?
- No Knead Bread
- Homemade Croissants
- Ciabatta
- Artisan Bread
- White Bread Recipe
- No Knead Skillet Bread
- Cinnabons Cinnamon Rolls
- Raisin Bread
- Slow Cooker Bread
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Rye Bread
Ingredients
- 1 ½ tablespoon active dry yeast
- 2 cups water (lukewarm)
- 2 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoon caraway seeds
- 2 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 ½ cups rye flour
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoon cornmeal (for dusting)
Before You Begin! If you make this, please leave a review and rating letting us know how you liked this recipe! This helps our business thrive & continue providing free recipes.
Instructions
- Proof the yeast: Add the lukewarm water and yeast to the bowl of your mixer. Give it a quick stir, and leave the mixture for 5-10 minutes to foam up.
- Form the dough: Add the brown sugar, salt, caraway seeds, oil, rye flour, and 2 1/2 cups of the all-purpose flour. Using the dough hook, mix on medium speed until smooth. Add the remaining flour and mix until the dough is firm and comes clean off the sides of the bowl. About 5 minutes.
- Rise: Spray a large mixing bowl with cooking spray. Place the dough in the bowl, spritz the top of the dough with oil, and cover with a clean kitchen towel. Let the dough rise in a warm, draft-free environment for 30-40 minutes, or until doubled in size.
- Form the bread: Place a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet and sprinkle it with a bit of cornmeal. Punch the dough down and form it into a ball by pulling the dough from the center to underneath, repeat these pulls about 4 or 5 times. Sprinkle some flour over the risen dough. Cut a few slashes into the top of the dough with a sharp knife. Place the ball on the prepared baking sheet. Let it rise for 30-40 minutes or until doubled in size in a warm, draft-free environment.
- Preheat the oven to 425 F°. Place a shallow pan (not glass, glass will break) on the lower rack in the oven. Transfer the baking sheet to the middle rack in the preheated oven. Pour 1 cup of water in the shallow pan on the lower rack.
- Bake for 30 minutes until crusty and golden brown.
Notes
- You can mix the all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour, so use 1 cup whole wheat flour and 2 cups of all-purpose flour.
- You can also place the loaf of bread in a Dutch oven to bake, if doing so, make sure to preheat the Dutch oven first.
- Do not use a glass pan for the water bath in the oven, as it will break.
- The bread will need to be fully cooled down to room temperature before storing. Keep your loaf in a bread box, large freezer bag, airtight container, or cake plate with a dome to ensure it doesn’t go stale. It’ll last 3-4 days at room temperature or 6-9 days in the fridge.
Nutrition Information
Notice: Nutrition is auto-calculated for your convenience. Where relevant, we recommend using your own nutrition calculations.
Thank you for the recipe. My first rye bread. It came out well and tastes great. I think mine looks like the one in your photos, so I feel like I made it properly.
It looks great!!
Excellent recipe. Tried four others before this and they all failed. Have made this several times with great results.
I’m so glad you like it!
I have been trying to find a good recipe for rye bread and this one is a hit. I left out the caraway seeds because we don’t like them. I also made it in a loaf pan instead of on a sheet pan. I had the same trouble someone mentioned (with a different recipe) where the loaf spread out on the pan. I still used the pan of water underneath in the oven. It turned out great!
The recipe tastes great and plan to make it again.
However I followed the instructions by putting on a cookie sheet. My bread flattened out. What could I have done to prevent that from happening? Also I kneeded the bread by hand.
It’s possible you needed a little bit more flour. Glad you liked it!
This is a very easy bread recipe, and it is also super fast for making bread. Other recipes take 3-4 hours.
I made this recipe a few times. I have also added whole wheat, and most times I did have to add more flour to get the right consistency. One time I also added buckwheat flour by mistake…it turned out absolutely delicious every time. And so excited to discover you are Romanian as well. Thank you!
My pleasure! Glad you like the recipe!
The first time I made this recipe it turned out perfectly, a huge hit! However, when I attempted it a second time the yeast never foamed up, and I did this again with a new package. Is sugar needed with the lukewarm water mix and I just missed that part? Thanks!
You don’t really need sugar. This is most likely due to the yeast. However, you can give it a try again and yes you may try adding a teaspoon of sugar and see if that helps. If it doesn’t, I suggest getting some new yeast. 🙂
This recipe is a keeper
This recipe is super easy. The bread comes out beautifully and it is perfect for sandwiches.
What size dutch oven? And if you use a dutch oven, still need the tray with water? Thx!
Big enough to fit the loaf! 5.5 qt or bigger. And yes you will still need the water tray! It goes on the bottom rack and the pan or dutch oven on the middle rack 🙂
Can bread flour be substituted for all purpose flour?
Yes! It can be used 1:1. However, bread flours increased protein could result in a dough that’s dry, so you may need to add water.
Can you substitute bread flour for all purpose flour??
Yes!
How long do you have to preheat the Dutch oven? Thanks Jo
For this recipe you don’t have to preheat the Dutch oven.
Thanks Jo I read this in your recipe notes
RECIPE NOTES
You can mix the all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour, so use 1 cup whole wheat flour and 2 cups of all-purpose flour.
You can also place the loaf of bread in a Dutch oven to bake, if doing so, make sure to preheat the Dutch oven first.
You can but honestly it’s not necessary, but if you do like in the no knead bread, you should preheat it for about 20 minutes.
My family and friends loved the bread. For me, it’s simple easy ingredients, so i gave it a go. I will make it again.
Hi Jo!
Is sugar and oil a must?
Yes they are, the sugar helps activate the yeast and the oil provides tenderness to the dough.