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 baked this last night and it was absolutely amazing! I didn’t have caraway seeds at home, so I substituted with a tsp of nutmeg and two tsp of cocoa! Came out beautifully! So soft and delish! Thanks for the great recipe and guide, Rachel!
Added weights and ratios, made the process much more consistent and repeatable, I also only had active dry yeast so I made the modifications where necessary.
1.5 cups dark rye flour – 156 g
3 cups all purpose flour – 360 g
Warm water- 426 g – creates 83% hydration with the rye flour ratio of 30%
1.5 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar – added to water to proof yeast
1.5 Tbs yeast – active dry
1.5 Tbs caraway seeds
1. Proof yeast in warm water and sugar – 7 to 10 minutes
2. Mix rye, caraway, salt, and half the all purpose in a bowl
3. Post proofing, mix in the water, yeast
4. Add flour as needed to get to a tacky but manageable dough.
5. Place in a lightly greased bowl, cover and let rise for an hr or until double in size.
6. Remove from bowl and form into a tight loaf shape by pulling gently from the center with thumbs and folding the dough into itself.
7. Pre-heat oven and pizza stone to 450 degrees if you have one with a tin tray for water as well.
8. If the dough is slack, place in a heavily floured basket, if the dough is tight, place on a board with corn meal and let rise for another 1/2 hr to 40 minutes.
9. Score the top of the loaf.
10. Slide the loaf onto the stone and pour water into the tray to create steam, bake for 30 minutes.
11. Let cool on wire rack for at least 1 hr before cutting.
Thanks!
James, your variation has about 50 ml less water. This worked better for you?
This is a great recipe. I made one rye and one pumpernickel and they were both terrific. Crust was amazing. Thank you so much.
This bread is heavenly. I will try it in a loaf pan to use for traditional sandwich bread. Thank you!
I love Marble Rye. can it be made from this recipe? would you have to make the 2 colors separately and roll the dough like a stromboli, or would you make 2 ropes and twist them & tuck the ends under, and make it in a loaf pan? Please let me know. Thanks!
Yup! Just make the two colors and braid them together.
Thanks! By the way, has anybody commented on your comment box? The font is about 50% to 66% the size of the posted comments, but such a faint weight you can barely see what you’re typing. To see things like periods & commas I must backspace until I’m where it looks like I must have deleted it and reenter it & see if the blinking cursor moves! I’d take a screenshot & send it to you if I knew it would get to you… (I think I just entered 3 periods, fingers crossed)
I would like to get a stone to use when making this bread, which looks fantastic. Do you have any recommendations? Like most everything, there are so many choices.
My husband rarely likes anything o cook but LOVED this bread! Will definitely be making this a lot! Thanks so much! Hoping you come up with a Pumpernickel recipe. Just love your video and how easy you made this recipe to follow?
Very good.. I followed the recipe as written and it was delicious.. I used a cast iron skillet to bake it in. And it came out perfect! Will definitely make this again :))
What a great idea! I have a cast iron skillet but not a pizza stone. We love rye bread but the only time I made it the loaf pulled apart during baking and was too heavy. I like the idea of the water in the pan on the shelf beneath the bread. I’ll try and get back to you on my results.
PS: I used to have a pampered chef pizza stone but gave to my daughter, as the stone smelled rancid from the oils….even though I followed the directions to clean (supposedly shouldn’t use soap, just a damp sponge after scraping off any food that’s stuck).
I made this bread using a cast iron skillet as one of the other reviewers used. It worked great and the bread was delicious! My husband loved it and he loves rye bread. Next time I will try the dark rye version. I definitely give this recipe 5 stars! So easy with the Kitchen Aid Mixer I’ve had for 38 years.
Very good.. I followed the recipe as written. I used a 12 in cast iron skillet to bake it in.. came out perfect! Will definitely make again.
Do you know if whole wheat flour would substitute well for the all-purpose?
It produces a more dense loaf.