Delicious Homemade Rye Bread doesn’t get much simpler than this bakery style artisan bread. Caraway and rye flour gives the bread its distinct flavor. And guess what? No machines required! You can make this bread by hand!
Rye is one of our family favorites, but we can never find it in our local bakeries. It is a bread that is full of flavor and brings an interesting twist to sandwiches. Classic sandwiches using rye bread are pastrami on rye, tuna on rye, and corned beef on rye, but you could use rye in a variety of different sandwiches to bring out a new flavor. Or you can go the route of my children who just devour it plain. Seriously, who would have thought little kids would love rye bread so much?
This recipe is super simple to put together, gives some great bread making techniques, and makes a lovely light rye. I’ve also included instructions for a dark rye that has cocoa powder and molasses in it if you’d like to try your hand at that.
How to make Bakery Style Rye Bread:
The key to making great bakery-style bread at home is all in the method. Bakeries use steam ovens to get that wonderful chewy crust. You can create your own steam oven by placing a shallow pan of water in the oven with your bread. The water will evaporate in the heat, filling your oven with steam.
Using a baking stone or pizza stone is vital to creating both the perfect crust and the perfect crumb. Bakeries use fancy ovens of the masonry variety. See, the oven in your house cooks using radiated (the flame or the electrical elements) and convected heat (the air moving around the oven. A convection oven has fans to assist in the circulation of the air). A masonry oven is able to use conduction on top of convection and radiated heat. Masonry ovens utilize stone, just as their name suggests. Stone retain heat really well. When you put a loaf of bread directly on a hot stone, the stone transfers its heat to the bread through conduction. So when you use a pizza/baking stone, you are literally adding a third heating method into your oven. Isn’t that awesome? There’s your science lesson for the day!
Don’t have a mixer? No problem! Watch the video below where I show you how to make this bread by hand! No machines required. It’s THAT simple!
This recipe first appeared on The Stay At Home Chef on January 30, 2013
I made two loaves light and dark rye. This recipe is very good, nice and chewy and easy recipe to follow and make, just cooled and hubby already has it half gone! will definitely make again.
All right, gosh, where to start on this great recipe and process for a good bodied, healthy rye bread. From start to finish, it was, for me, a breeze. The ingredient proportions are spot on for my tastebuds. I had to tell them to turn the music down.
If you enjoy bread making, regularly or occasionally, make this bread. Then grab some fresh corned beef, the refreshing adult beverage of choice, sit down and enjoy!
Excellent recipe! The one thing I would add to this video is how long you should expect to mix the ingredients in the stand mixer. It takes a bit of time to come together. Otherwise your instructions are awesome!
Awesome recipe! Amazing flavor! Easy to make!
I miss Winnipeg rye bread. I made this bread and used rye berries instead of caraway. I was blown away. Great bread. I used almost a cup of extra flour and it was still to sticky. It rose right out of the large bowl. I kept flouring the counter and turning it with my dough cutter. I don’t have a pizza stone so I preheated my cookie sheet and used parchment paper with corn meal. Came out great and it was delicious.
I also miss Winnipeg Rye Bread😩 Try ground caraway (I uses my coffee grinder and make 1/4 cup). For me it’s not the same without some caraway. I use caraway in Hungarian dishes. Many things affect how much flour is required. Kneading takes me 15-20mins to get it not sticky and soft as baby butt cheek. Great exercise!
Is this correct Sodium: 3528mg?
Hi. I made this for the second time today – its so delicious! I used a bit more all purpose flour this time because it was too sticky on my first try. That worked well but it was a little too sticky when I shaped it by hand. What can I do about that?
This turned out very good. I didn’t have caraway seed so I subbed with fennel. Quite delicious. The crust was crispy (which is exactly what I like) and the inside soft. I did use a thermometer to ensure the inside was done at 205 degrees. I had to add quite a bit more flour than the recipe called for, as it was too sticky with only 3.5 cups of white flour.
This is the best and easiest bread recipe I have ever found. I bake two loaves a week and they always taste delicious. Not needing to knead the dough is wonderful.
I decrease the rye flour by 1/4 cut and increase the AP flour by the same amount – loaves seem lighter and have more spring. I like to add 1/4 cup of canola oil – makes long larger loaves like this one last longer. I also use 1/4 cup of strained pickle juice along with the water to equal 2 cups. 3 tablespoons of dark brown sugar rather than the molasses.