Whole Grain Swedish Rye Bread Recipes

TRADITIONAL SWEDISH WHOLE RYE BREAD

Steps:

• Soak the seeds in hot water the night before it's time to bake. Place the seeds in a pan or other heatproof container and pour over boiling water. The water shall cover all the seeds. Cover with a lid and let the mixture sit overnight.
• Prepare a levain by mixing 200 grams of water, with 250 grams rye flour and 80 grams mature sourdough starter. Let it ferment overnight, approximately 8 hours in room temperature, about 71ºF/21ºC.
• Drain the seeds through a strainer and mix with the levain and the rest of the ingredients. Mix thoroughly so that the seeds are distributed throughout the dough, and so that there is no dry flour left.
• Let the dough bulk ferment for 4 hours at a temperature of 71ºF/21ºC. If you want a more sour taste you can let it ferment longer in a colder environment, but be careful. The taste can become a bit overwhelming.
• Distribute the dough into two bread forms that you have oiled and sprinkled with a thin layer of flour. Use a fine strainer or a sieve. Smooth the surface with a spatula.
• Let the dough proof for 2. 5 hours at a temperature of 73ºF/22ºC. It should rise about 25-30% of its initial volume.
• Preheat your oven to 480ºF / 250ºC. You don't have to bother about steam when baking this bread. But it requires some time in the oven, at least 90 minutes. Bake on the high temperature for 20 minutes, then turn it down to 390ºF / 200ºC. It's a good idea to place an extra oven plate over the bread. That will prevent it from being burned on the top. Check if it's ready with a thermometer. The internal temperature should be about 215ºF / 100ºC. Turn the oven temperature down to 215ºF / 100ºC, but don't turn it off.
• Let the bread cool in the form until you can handle it. Take the bread out of the form and place it in the oven again for about 5 to 10 minutes. That will create a crust on the sides and the bottom of the bread that will prevent it from molding.

SWEDISH RYE BREAD I

Steps:

• Dissolve yeast in warm water.
• Scald milk. Transfer milk to a large bowl, and add salt, molasses, brown sugar, and melted shortening. Cool to lukewarm, and add dissolved yeast. Add rye flour, beating with mixer. Gradually beat in white flour. Place dough in a greased bowl, and turn to coat the surface. Cover with a damp towel, and allow to rise till double in bulk in a warm place.
• Punch down the dough, and place on a lightly floured board. Knead until dough becomes elastic, and does not stick to the board. Allow to rest for 5 minutes. Divide into 3 equal portions, and shape into loaves. Place in greased 9 x 5 inch bread pans. Let rise until double in bulk.
• Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 35 to 40 minutes.

WHOLE GRAIN SWEDISH RYE BREAD

Steps:

• combine honey, molasses, salt, butter and caraway, pour boiling water over, and set aside to cool.
• Add yeast to warm water, stir to dissolve, and add to honey molasses mixture when cooled to lukewarm.
• add 2 cups of WW flour to mixture and using dough hook, mix well.
• add the remaining flours until you have a smooth dough that can be kneaded.
• Knead for 8 to 10 minutes and place in lightly oiled bowl, cover and let rise until doubled in size (about 1 1/2 to 2 hours).
• Punch down, turn out onto floured surface and knead for 2 minutes.
• Separate dough into 2 equal parts, shape to fit 2 loaf pans.
• Cover and let rise for another 1 1/2 to 2 hours until almost doubled in size.
• Bake at 375 for about 30 minutes. If tops are browning too much, cover with foil for the lase 15 minutes.
• Cool on wire racks, and enjoy with butter!
• note- I leave the loaf pans in the oven for the second rise, and then just uncover and turn on the oven to bake, I add 5 minutes to the baking time to compensate for the preheating time.

SWEDISH RYE BREAD

Steps:

• In a bowl, dissolve yeast in 1/4 cup water. Add sugar, molasses, shortening, salt and remaining water; stir well. Add rye flour; beat until smooth. Add enough all-purpose flour to form a soft dough. , Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1-1/2 hours. Punch dough down. , Shape into 4 round loaves. Place on greased baking sheets. Cover and let rise until doubled, 45-60 minutes. Bake at 350° until golden brown, 30-35 minutes. Brush with butter.

ARTISAN SOURDOUGH RYE BREAD

Steps:

• Sourdough Version
• In a mixing bowl, mix the starter into the water. Add the molasses, all the seeds and orange zest.
• In a separate bowl, combine the flours and salt.
• Gradually stir the dry ingredients into the wet using a dough whisk or spoon until the flour is well incorporated. Cover with plastic and let rest for 15 minutes. After about 15 minutes, mix again for a minute or two. Again let rest for 15 minutes and mix one more time as before. Now cover the bowl with plastic and let sit at room temperature for roughly 12-14 hours.
• Instant Yeast Version
• The only difference is don't use sourdough starter and instead mix the instant yeast into the dry ingredients before combining with the wet ingredients.
• Both Versions
• After the long 12-14 hour proof, stretch and fold the dough and shape into boule or batard (round or oblong) shape for baking. (If you didn't follow that, I'm afraid you're doomed to watch the video.) Cover again with plastic and let rest 15 minutes before putting in a proofing basket for the final rise. If you don't have a proofing basket, line a bowl with a well floured kitchen towel and put the dough in there for the final rise. The final rise should last somewhere between 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Keep the dough covered with plastic to prevent it from drying out.
• Preheat your oven to 475 F a half hour before baking.
• Score the dough with a razor or sharp serrated knife and bake until the internal temp is about 200 F.
• Let cool completely before eating.

GRANDMA'S SWEDISH RYE BREAD

Steps:

• Dissolve one package yeast in water.
• Add rest of ingredients and knead, adding additional white flour as needed if the dough becomes too sticky.
• Set in warm place until dough doubles in size.
• Pat down dough, form into loaves in buttered bread pans.
• Allow dough to double in size.
• Bake 375 degrees for 25 minutes.
• As loaves are removed from the oven, brush tops with melted butter to highlight the beautiful nut-brown color.
• For a real treat, top slices with chopped dates and walnuts mixed with cream cheese.

NORDIC WHOLE-GRAIN RYE BREAD

Steps:

• On Day 1, make the starter: In a medium-size bowl, mix 3/4 cup warm water with the buttermilk or yogurt. Whisk flour and yeast together, add to the buttermilk mixture and use your hands to mix together until sticky and moist; add more warm water as needed. Cover tightly and set aside at cool room temperature overnight, or up to 24 hours.
• Also on Day 1, soak the grains: Mix 4 cups cold water with the rye berries (or meal) and sunflower seeds. Cover and set aside at cool room temperature overnight, or up to 24 hours.
• On Day 2, make the bread: Drain the soaked grains in a colander. Measure 35 ounces/1,000 grams of the grains and place in a deep bowl. Add 14 ounces/400 grams of the starter and mix well. (Any remaining starter can be saved to use with other bread recipes.) Add the flour, salt, malt (or molasses), yeast and 2 cups water. Mix dough firmly by hand to combine. The dough should be grainy, but quite runny and wet, almost like a thick batter. To achieve that texture, add cold water, 1/4 cup at a time, mixing after each addition. To test: When a walnut-size piece of dough smeared on the rim of the bowl slides slowly and smoothly down the inside, like a snail leaving a trail, the dough it is wet enough.
• Thickly butter 3 medium or 2 standard-size loaf pans. Divide the dough evenly among the pans, filling them about half full. Cover and let rise at room temperature until dough almost fills pans, about 2 hours. (Dough will not rise more during baking.)
• Heat oven to 450 degrees. Bake loaves for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 360 and bake until firm and glossy brown, 80 minutes to 2 hours more depending on size and moisture content of loaves. Let cool completely in the pans before turning out. Bread freezes well, and lasts for at least a week at room temperature, wrapped in paper.

SWEDISH RYE BREAD

Steps:

• Grind the caraway seeds, anise seed, and fennel seeds in a mortar and pestle or a spice or coffee grinder and place in a large bowl with the orange zest and milk.
• In a large warmed bowl, mix the yeast and molasses with 1/4 cup warm (105° to 115°F) water. Let stand about 5 minutes or until the yeast foams. Add the milk mixture, salt, and melted butter. Beat in the rye flour until smooth. Beat in enough bread flour to make a stiff dough. Cover the bowl and let the dough rest for 15 minutes.
• Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board. Knead, adding flour sparingly, until the dough is smooth and springy, about 10 minutes. If desired, you may mix and knead the dough in a heavy-duty mixer using the dough hook.
• Cover and let rise until doubled, 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Punch the dough down. Turn it out onto a lightly oiled board. Knead to squeeze out air bubbles. Divide the dough into two pieces and shape into two oblong loaves. Grease two 9 × 5-inch loaf pans. Place the loaves in the pans smooth side up. Cover and let rise until almost doubled, 45 minutes to 1 hour.
• Position the oven racks so that the top rack is in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to convection bake at 325°F. Bake on the center rack for 25 to 30 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted into the bread comes out clean and dry. Remove the bread from the pans and cool on a wire rack.

OVERNIGHT SWEDISH RYE BREAD

Steps:

• In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in water; stir in sugar and let stand for 5 minutes. Add milk, molasses, brown sugar, oil, oats, orange zest, salt, fennel, aniseed, caraway, rye flour and 6 cups of all-purpose flour. Add enough remaining all-purpose flour to form a soft but sticky dough. Cover and let rise in a warm place overnight. , Punch dough down. Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Shape into four loaves. Place in greased 9x5-in. loaf pans. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour. , Bake at 350° for 35-45 minutes. Remove from the pans to cool on wire racks.

NATURALLY LEAVENED RYE AND OAT BREAD

Steps:

• Starter/Levain
• I made 200g of almost all-rye sourdough starter by feeding 40g starter with 80g water and 80g whole grain rye flour, and I used it when it was a little more than doubled in size. Other ways of building up this large amount of ripe starter are fine too.
• Mixing and Bulk Fermentation
• Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. If possible, scrape the batter into a straight-walled dough bucket or separate out a tiny amount of dough to put in an aliquot jar to help track fermentation (explanation above, photo in the gallery below).
• Cover and let the batter rise until it has expanded by about 75%. In my ~80°F lit oven, this was about five hours.
• Shaping and Final Proof
• Grease a non-stick loaf pan or line a regular loaf pan with parchment paper. I used a medium USA pan, which is 9 x 5 x 2.75 inches.
• Scrape the batter out of your bowl or bucket directly into the loaf pan.
• Repeatedly wet a spatula with water to smooth out the surface of the batter, dipping between the edges of the batter and the pan to create the curved edges of a loaf shape.
• Sprinkle with rye flour if desired, cover, and let the batter rise about 2 centimeters. (See the gallery below for a sense of the expansion.)
• Baking
• Preheat your oven to 450°F for about 20 minutes with a pan on the bottom shelf. You'll pour boiling water into the hot pan when you load the bread into the oven. An alternate option for steam is to make a tight foil tent around the loaf pan and leave it on for the first 15-20 minutes of the bake.
• Boil a cup of water.
• Place the loaf pan in the oven and pour the boiled water on the hot pan below it, then quickly close the oven door.
• Bake for 20 minutes, then lower the oven temperature to 390°F, and bake another 25-30 minutes. Rotate the pan if needed for even browning. The internal temperature of the bread should be over 208°F when it's done.
• If possible, wait 24 hours before cutting the bread to let the inside set. You might want to rotate the loaf onto one long side and then the other during this setting period, so it doesn't get dense at the base. If you can't wait for the loaf to set, toast each slice to solidify the crumb.