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
Outstanding!
I was looking for a rye bread recipe and this method is similar to the method of the book, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. I was worried I had not baked it long enough, because if seemed overly moist when I first took it out of the oven (probably in too much of a hurry to sample it!). A day later, it is perfect! My loaf is not as pretty as yours, but the flavor is amazing. I did not have rye flour, but I substituted the rye flakes I had, and it just made it have a coarser grain. Thanks so much for this, will certainly try your other recipes.
This is the best bread I have ever made. Makes delish toast if any leftovers.
Super easy and followed your directions as written. I’ve made this four or five times now. Divine. Do quick and easy and wonderful texture.
Thank you!
Hello Rachel, I am a first time baker and I dun have a mixer. Your video is very clear and easy to follow. . I made my first loaf today! Thank you!
This looks like a great recipe but I”m trying to avoid all white flours. Can I substitute white whole wheat flour for the AP flour? If so, would I add a bit more liquid?
Your bread will be more dense but it will work. No extra liquid should be required. Just add flour until you have the right texture of dough (which always varies depending on things like the weather).
You can also add 1/4 cup vital wheat gluten which will make the loaf less dense if using 100% whole wheat flour.
Nice, tasty rye bread. I used Caputo 00 Chefs flour and when i couldn’t find rye flour in the area stores, i bought a small bag of rye berries and ground them myself. I found the dough to be quite wet at the start so I added lat least six additional tablespoons of the 00 flour, one at a time, to create a worksble bread dough, which I left in one piece. About 30 to 35 minutes in the oven at the recommended 450°F produced a crunchy crust and a soft crumb. Thanks for this easy and yummy bread recipe. No comparison to commercial rye breads.
Today I happened upon your recipe. Wow! We ate 3/4 of the loaf in one sitting. It was so easy and the crust was great! My picky eater son now wants me to make another loaf. I didn’t have a pizza stone, I used my cast iron skillet, heated up in the oven first. Everything else the smel steam, etc. This is my go to recipe now.
This is a great, simple recipe that makes a yummy loaf. Thanks heaps! My family loves it
Okay I followed your directions and the loaf turned out perfectly. Nice chewy loaf with a good texture and no air pockets. I did knead it about five minutes before shaping . Thank you Rachel! My bookclub devoured it. Super delicious and artisanal texture! Thanks.
I made your rye bread and my wife exclaimed: “Bob, that is the best bread you’ve ever made!” -Thanks, Rachel!
Our crust came out very hard. Do you know what we are doing wrong? Everything else is wonderful
With bakery style bread, the crust should be hard with a soft interior.