Rye bread recipe: moist rye bread with sourdough or yeast

Rye bread is one of the easiest breads to bake. You do not knead, you stir. The dough is wet, it stands for a long time, and all it needs is a loaf tin.

Ingredients for one loaf

You need a loaf tin of about 1.5 litres.

• 100 g active rye sourdough
• 450 g water at room temperature
• 300 g wholemeal rye flour
• 100 g white flour
• 150 g sunflower seeds
• 50 g linseed
• 12 g salt

How to bake rye bread

1. Stir the sourdough into the water.
2. Add the flour, seeds and salt. Stir with a wooden spoon until everything is mixed. The dough should be like thick porridge.
3. Grease the tin well and pour in the dough. Smooth the top with a wet spoon, and prick it with a fork.
4. Cover, and let the dough rise at room temperature for 8 to 12 hours. It should have grown a little and have small holes in the surface.
5. Heat the oven to 180 °C, and bake the bread low in the oven for about 75 minutes.
6. Take the bread out of the tin at once, and let it cool on a rack.
7. Wait a day before you cut it. By then the crumb has set.

Without sourdough

If you have no sourdough, use 10 g fresh yeast, 50 g extra water and 50 g extra rye flour. The dough then needs only 2 to 3 hours, and the flavour is milder.

Four tips that help

• Use coarse rye flour: Wholemeal flour gives a moist crumb and the most flavour.
• Swap the seeds freely: Pumpkin seeds or cracked rye work well. Use the same weight.
• Use a thermometer: The bread is done when it reads about 96 °C inside.
• Use a sharp knife: A thin, sharp knife gives whole slices.

Once the bread is baked

Put the rye bread in the bread bag, and the bag in the fridge. Freeze what you won't eat in time, in slices. See how long bread can stay in the freezer.

Bivoks™ bread bag299 NOK

Room for big, heavy loaves: the bag measures 30.5 × 43 cm. Handles the freezer and closes with a clip.

See the bread bag →

Frequently asked questions

Need a sourdough? See storing and feeding a sourdough starter.