Danish-inspired rye bread and open sandwiches

RECIPE

Sep 07, 2023

This Danish-inspired ryebread or rugbrød is a rich, dark loaf packed with flavour. It is beautifully moist with all its seeds. I love to serve this bread for open sandwiches: thinly sliced with a generous smear of butter topped with my favourite fillings. Enjoy!

Makes 1 large loaf

INGREDIENTS

For the rye starter (Days 1–5):

125g dark rye flour

125g water

For the seed mixture (Day 6)

65g jumbo oats

65g rye flakes

100g bag of pre-mixed seeds (sunflowers, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, brown linseed)

20g pumpkin seeds

20g sunflower seeds

10g black sesame

10g chia

10g golden linseeds

200g water

25g rye starter

For the dough (Day 7):

200g dark beer or water

100g rye starter

10g fine sea salt

60g malt extract (optional)

200g dark rye flour

10g butter or 1 tbsp vegetable oil

To decorate:

2 tbsp mixed seeds

METHOD

To make the rye starter, mix 25g rye flour with 25g water in a large jar or container. Cover with cling film but leave a small gap. Set aside at room temperature for 24 hours. Day 2: add another 25g rye flour and 25g water to the same jar and mix well. Again, cover with cling film but leave a small gap. Repeat this process for another three days. The rye starter is ready to be used on Day 6. You should see some bubbles and the starter should have a yoghurt or yeasty aroma.
Day 6, in a large bowl, place the water, rye starter, jumbo oats, rye flakes, seeds and mix well. Cover and leave at room temperature for 24 hours.
Day 7: add dark beer or water, rye starter, salt, malt (if using) to the seed mixture and mix well. Add dark rye flour and combine. This dough is more like a batter so don’t be alarmed by the ‘sloppy’ consistency.
Grease a 900g (2lb) loaf tin with butter or oil making sure you coat all the corners well.
Wet your hand and scoop the dough into the tin. Use the back of a spoon dipped in water to smooth the edges and get into all the corners.
Wet the top of the loaf with water and sprinkle with mixed seeds.
Leave to proof at room temperature uncovered for about 5–7 hours (or leave in the fridge overnight), or until the loaf has risen by at least 20%. You should see some little pinhead holes on the surface.
Pre-heat an oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5. Place a deep baking tray at the bottom of the oven 1/3 filled with with hot water to provide steam.
Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes until crisp and beautifully brown or when the internal temperature of the bread reaches 97C.
Turn the bread onto a cooling rack and let it cool before slicing. Store in a zip lock plastic bag. This bread is even tastier after a few days as it matures.

TIPS

You can use any seed mix of your choice as long as it makes 170g in total. Supermarkets sell ready mixed bags of seeds, which I find very helpful.

Rugbrød is meant to be quite salty so, if this is not to your taste, reduce the amount of salt to 6g.

Instead of malt extract, you can use molasses or honey.

Proofing time can vary depending on the temperature of your home. My kitchen is always quite cool.

Thuy Cooks

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