Calling this the best rye bread is not a claim I make lightly. With a delicious, slightly crispy crust, an airy, soft crumb and incredible flavor from an overnight starter, this rye bread is truly going to be the most amazing bread you made or ate. Use it for your favorite sandwiches or toast it and top it with a dab of vegan butter!
I love rye, a wonder grain known for its many nutritional properties and health benefits. The high-quality fiber found in whole-grain rye promotes heart health, fights diabetes and inflammation, and can help with weight loss.
I’ve been making homemade rye bread for years now, and the recipe I am sharing with you today is my favorite everyday bread. It’s also a super easy one.
We begin the rye bread recipe with a sponge starter or biga that rests overnight, adding amazing flavor to the bread. You can use a healthy and recently fed sourdough starter instead if you have some on hand. If you begin the sponge starter from scratch you will need to give it time to stand overnight or for at least for six hours. The trade-off in flavor is totally worth the time.
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Why you will love this bread
- Loaded with flavor. The rye flour and an overnight starter add tons of flavor to this bread, along with a sprinkling of caraway seeds.
- Amazing texture. The crust is lightly crispy and the crumb is wonderfully soft, making this the perfect sandwich bread.
- Simple recipe. This is a simple recipe that almost anyone can make (if you are a beginner baker be sure to stick rigorously to instructions– tweak only if you know what you are doing).
- Healthy bread. Rye is great for you, and the overnight fermented starter make this bread truly better for you.
- Versatile. You can bake this bread up in a loaf pan for your favorite sandwiches, or for toast. Or shape it into an oval or boule for a more artisan look (do it preferably in a bowl or banneton so it rises vertically). The bread is also perfect to serve with soups and stews.
Tips for success
- Rye flour is low on gluten, so it needs some help, both with rising and with creating a loaf that is not dense and inedible. Combining bread flour with rye flour helps give the bread both structure and lightness.
- If you don’t have bread flour, you can use all-purpose flour. In that case, add a teaspoon of vital wheat gluten to the starter to help the bread rise.
- Adding maple syrup (or sugar) to the dough helps feed the yeast, allowing it to multiply. This in turn helps the rye bread rise better and adds lots of great flavor.
- The liquid portion of the rye bread dough includes a combination of plant milk and water. The milk creates a softer crumb. You can make the bread with just water, if you would rather.
- Add caraway seeds to the dough to give the rye bread an authentic flavor. If you don’t like the flavor, you can skip them.
- You can shape the dough into a loaf or you can make an artisan-style boule. In that case let the dough rise for the second time, after shaping into a round, in a banneton or in a bowl or Dutch oven and turn it out onto a lightly oiled baking sheet before baking.
- Brush the top of the loaf after forming it with a mixture of maple syrup and non-dairy milk for a rich, golden-brown color.
Ingredients
- Instant yeast or active dry yeast. Either will work in this recipe.
- Maple syrup. You can use sugar instead.
- Flours: Rye flour and bread flour. You can use all purpose flour instead of bread flour but in that case add a teaspoon of vital wheat gluten when making the starter for a better rise.
- Extra virgin olive oil or any oil of your choice.
- Caraway seeds. These are optional but highly recommended.
- Non-dairy milk. I used oat milk.
How to make rye bread
Mix the yeast and a tablespoon of maple syrup with 1 cup lukewarm water in a large bowl. Mix and then add to it 1 cup bread flour. Mix with with a wooden ladle for a minute. This is the starter.
Cover the starter with a tight lid or cling wrap and set aside in a warm spot overnight or for at least six hours. The starter will get puffy initially and will then settle down and will look very bubbly.
Add ¾ cup of non-dairy milk and water mixture, another tablespoon of maple syrup and two tablespoons of oil to the starter.
Then stir in a tablespoon of caraway seeds, a cup of rye flour and 1 ½ cups of bread flour.
Mix with a wooden spoon until a shaggy dough forms.
Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface. Knead the dough for seven minutes by hand (you can also use a stand mixer), adding more bread flour as needed until you a smooth, supple but still very slightly tacky dough. I needed nearly ½ cup more flour.
Form the dough into a smooth ball. Oil the bowl and place the dough back in it, making sure to coat the top with oil.
Cover the bowl tightly with lid or plastic wrap and let the dough stand for 1 to 1 ½ hours or until doubled.
After the dough has doubled, turn it out on a surface, making sure that the top of the dough ball is now on the bottom. Punch the dough down into a disc.
Roll up the dough into a cylinder. Press in the seams and tuck in the ends. Make sure that the loaf is seam side down when you place it in an oiled loaf pan.
Brush the top with a mixture of 1 teaspoon maple syrup and 1 teaspoon non-dairy milk. Sprinkle the top with optional caraway seeds.
Cover the loaf with a clean shower cap or with a kitchen towel. Set aside in a warm spot to rise for 1 ½ hours. In the half hour before the loaf has finished rising, preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit/230 degrees Celsius. Place the loaf pan in the preheated oven and immediately turn the temperature down to 400 degrees Fahrenheit/205 degrees Celsius. Bake 45 minutes.
Once the bread has baked, let it stand on a wire rack for 20 minutes or until the loaf pan is cool enough to handle. The loaf should easily pop out of the pan. Return the loaf to the cooling rack until it has cooled to room temperature. Slice and serve.
Storage instructions
- Refrigerate: Slice and store the bread in an airtight bag for up to a week.
- Freeze: The rye bread can be frozen, sliced or whole, in a freezer-saf bag for up to three months.
- Thaw and reheat in the oven or toaster before serving.
Recipe FAQs
You certainly can. Use 1 cup of my sourdough starter recipe, within a day after feeding and making sure the starter is strong and bubbling with yeast. Mix ½ cup warm water into it. You don’t need to add any more yeast — proceed with adding the flours and kneading.
Rye has a delicious, nutty, malty taste. Because it is mixed with bread flour in this recipe it is not an overwhelming flavor but rather a very tasty, pleasant one that goes especially well with spicy fillings. The caraway seeds complement the flavor of rye very nicely.
You can replace one more cup of bread flour in this recipe with rye flour. But if you do that add a tablespoon of vital wheat gluten to help with structure and rise, or you will get a dense loaf.
Like rye flour, whole wheat flour is low in gluten so you could end up with a very dense bread. If using whole wheat flour, add at least three to four tablespoons of vital wheat gluten to the dough.
More delicious bread recipes
Rye Bread
Equipment
-
Small bowl
-
8½ by 4½ inch loaf pan
Ingredients
- 2¼ teaspoon instant yeast (or active dry yeast)
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup (divided)
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- ½ cup non-dairy milk (I used oat milk. Use any non-dairy milk of your choice)
- 1 cup rye flour
- 2 cups bread flour (you may not need all of it)
- 1 tablespoon caraway seeds (plus more for sprinkling on loaf)
- 1 teaspoon salt
Instructions
-
Mix the yeast and a tablespoon of maple syrup with 1 cup lukewarm water in a large bowl. Mix and then add to it 1 cup bread flour. Mix with with a wooden ladle for a minute. This is the starter. (See notes below if using active dry yeast.*)
-
Cover the starter with a tight lid or cling wrap and set aside in a warm spot overnight or for at least six hours. The starter will get puffy initially and will then settle down and will look very bubbly.
-
Mix the ½ cup of milk with ¼ cup of water and heat until lukewarm. Add to the bubbly starter along with maple syrup and olive oil.
-
Next stir in a tablespoon of caraway seeds, a cup of rye flour, 1 ½ cups of bread flour and salt into the starter. Use a wooden spoon to vigorously mix the flours into the starter until a shaggy dough forms.
-
Turn out the dough onto a well-floured surface and begin kneading it, adding more bread flour as necessary, until very smooth and supple but still very slightly tacky–it should not stick to the surface when kneading. I needed almost ½ cup more of bread flour. Form a smooth ball with the dough.
-
Oil the bowl you made the dough in and place the ball of dough in it. Coat the top of the dough with oil, then cover the bowl with a tight lid or cling wrap and place the dough in a warm spot until it has doubled, about 1 to 1½ hours.
-
After the dough has doubled, turn it out on a surface, making sure that the top of the dough ball is now on the bottom. Punch the dough down into a disc.
-
Roll up the dough into a cylinder. Press in the seams and tuck in the ends to form a loaf. Make sure that the loaf is seam side down when you place it in an oiled loaf pan.
-
Brush the top of the loaf with a mixture of 1 teaspoon maple syrup and 1 teaspoon non-dairy milk, if you wish, for a better color to the baked loaf. Sprinkle the top with optional caraway seeds.
-
Cover the loaf with a clean shower cap or with a kitchen towel. Set aside in a warm spot to rise for 1 ½ hours or until the dough has domed nicely over the top of the loaf pan.
-
In the half hour before the loaf has finished rising, preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit/230 degrees Celsius.
-
Place the loaf pan in the preheated oven and immediately turn the temperature down to 400 degrees Fahrenheit/205 degrees Celsius. Bake 45 minutes.
-
Let the baked bread stand on a wire rack for 20 minutes or until the loaf pan is cool enough to handle. The loaf should easily pop out of the pan. Return the loaf to the cooling rack until it has cooled to room temperature. Slice and serve.
Notes
Tips for success
- Rye flour is low on gluten, so it needs some help, both with rising and with creating a loaf that is not dense and inedible. Combining bread flour with rye flour helps give the bread both structure and lightness.
- If you don’t have bread flour, you can use all-purpose flour. In that case, add a teaspoon of vital wheat gluten to the starter to help the bread rise.
- Adding maple syrup (or sugar) to the dough helps feed the yeast, allowing it to multiply. This in turn helps the rye bread rise better and adds lots of great flavor.
- The liquid portion of the rye bread dough includes a combination of plant milk and water. The milk creates a softer crumb. You can make the bread with just water, if you would rather.
- Add caraway seeds to the dough to give the rye bread an authentic flavor. If you don’t like the flavor, you can skip them.
- You can shape the dough into an artisan-style boule instead of a loaf. In that case let the dough rise for the second time, in a floured banneton or in a bowl or Dutch oven lined with parchment paper. Turn it out onto a lightly oiled baking sheet before baking.
- Brush the top of the loaf after forming it with a mixture of maple syrup and non-dairy milk for a rich, golden-brown color.
Storage instructions
- Refrigerate: Slice and store the bread in an airtight bag for up to a week.
- Freeze: The rye bread can be frozen, sliced or whole, in a freezer-saf bag for up to three months.
- Thaw and reheat in the oven or toaster before serving.
Nutrition
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