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 just made this bread for the first time and it’s sooo yummy!! Crust came out nice and golden. Rye bread was a staple at my house growing up. I can’t believe it took me this long to try and make it myself! Thank you for sharing this recipe! My mom will be proud 🙂
I’ve made this several times this past month – it was marvelous and the loaves were gone in hours…… Love it great toasted.
Amazing and so easy, thank you
Love the video — I know most people read the recipe — I but did also— but there’s nothing quite as beautiful as a smiling happy chef like you 🙂 , I’ve been baking rye bread for many years now, I also love it — somehow I always forget that important water tip at the end to get the golden brown crust (albeit, I use a convection oven, so the crust is actually reasonably golden brown, but definitely the water technique helps out tremendously. Thank you for the video
Perfect! I actually made a slurry or warm water, cornstarch and egg white (had some in the fridge). Taste and crumb is excellent. CRUST IS PERFECT!!!I actually used a little less than 3 cups of regular flour. Wouldn’t change a thing.
Unfortunately your written instuctions did not specify instant yeast. I unfortunately did not watch your video until after making my loaf. I read the comments which mostly said the bread turned out well following the recipe. I’m hoping my loaf will rise as against my intinct I , I did not proof the yeast.
Modern yeast tends to work out just fine without proofing so you’ll be okay with instant yeast or active dry.
If you let the yeast bloom in the warm water for about five minutes before you add it to the rye flour, etc., it will turn out fine.
This came out very well. I did have to add quite a bit of extra flour (almost an extra cup) but it was extremely humid here. The dough spread out a lot during the first ride so I added more flour before the second rise. The loaf gels irs shape beautifully in the oven and had a crisp crust and soft interior. Thank you for the recipe.
Could I substitute bread flour for regular?
Yes
I was wondering if you had ever done refrigerator “proofing” with this recipe.
Yes, it works.
My first time making rye bread and it turned out great . Followed the recipe exactly and the crust is to die for. Thank you for your recipe.