How can I make rye bread? I have tried several times and in results in dense, bad tasting bread

Zoe Chrysopoulos
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22 Comments

ChefJune February 1, 2016
That looks like a reasonable recipe. How long are you kneading it? Rye flour has much less gluten than wheat. It usually takes me at least 20 minutes of serious kneading to get the consistency I like.
 
Nancy February 1, 2016
ChefJune are you asking about the Molly Yeh recipe I just made & praised?
If yes, it calls for 7-10 minutes (by hand or by stand mixer). And the result was a smooth ball of dough with nice give.
But there was an intermediate period of 20 minute rest between mixing the dough and doing the kneading. I've never seen that in a bread recipe before & I suspect it contributed to the relaxing of gluten.
 
boulangere January 16, 2015
I and many others have had good luck with this one: Rye Bread with Dill.
https://thesolitarycook.wordpress.com/2012/03/18/rye-bread-with-dill/
 
Nancy January 16, 2015
Cynthia- tux for suggestiion...this one looks good.
 
boulangere January 17, 2015
You're most welcome, Nancy. I hope you enjoy it.
 
Greenstuff January 15, 2015
The first rye breads I made were the light, spicy Swedish ones called Limpa. Food52er fiveandspice recently wrote about hers in the Breakfast of Champions column, and her recipe is here http://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/membership-and-networks/acs/getamember.html

It wouldn't be the Polish ryes you're eventually planning to make, but it's a really great breakfast bread, and it has those attributes that AntoniaJames suggests--some sweetener and a better rye to wheat ratio.
 
George H. January 17, 2015
Can't see your link.

In this, https://food52.com/blog/11909-swedish-rye-bread-limpa#CWfNpl:QVH, the bread looks still pretty dense, with added regular flour.
 
Greenstuff January 17, 2015
https://food52.com/recipes/32487-limpa-swedish-rye-bread

Most rye breads are at least somewhat dense. Limpa is fairly light though.

(Boulangere's blog post, mentioned below, is beautiful and detailed, if you'd like her to walk you through making a rye with dill.)
 
Zoe C. January 15, 2015
Thank you for all your replies! I went straight for the hard option I guess by making rye bread first instead of white. I was trying to make rye bread inspired from tasting it in Poland and the Czech Republic. I will have a search and see if I can find specific types as you recommended Nancy and knead it for at least 25 min as Chef June suggested. If you know of any recipes I could follow with detailed instructions THEY WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED! Thank you everyone!
 
AntoniaJames January 15, 2015
One other tip: all the extra "stuff" in any bread, such as the relatively large quantities of the different seeds in the recipe you posted, will make a bread without significant amounts of white bread flour and/or extra gluten even more dense and heavy. It all has to do with the strength of the dough, as noted above, and how much "heavy lifting" it must do (to rise despite those seeds, etc.)
Good luck, Zoe! ;o)
 
Jenny M. January 16, 2015
Polish rye bread are like Danish vary heavy and dense. Swedish limpa is a sweet semi rye bread, if you are use to sweet amarican roles limpa might be more to your taste.
 
Nancy January 15, 2015
I agree with Antonia James and smiller...you want to go for a ratio if less rye than wheat. Haven't tried chefjune 50-50 ratio but it sounds interesting. Another way to go is to look for recipes either from a trusted author or desired style if bread you want to make, e.g. black bread (Russian or polish with usualkt some molasses or coffee), Jewish rye (usually light colored with caraway), challah with rye (rich, with a different taste from white or we challah), Scandinavia n esp Danish (dense and good for smorreboard). Also, have you successfully made wheat bread from scratch? If yes, plunge on with your rye. If not, master the wheat bread basics first - that will give you a feel for what should happen, ans how to fix it when it doesn't. Last, if you don't already have favorite bread co bus, let me recommend at least these 3: Bernard Clayton, Dan leopard, Maggie glezer.
 
AntoniaJames January 15, 2015
Dan Lepard, yes. So, so yes. ;o)
 
Nancy February 1, 2016
New favorite rye bread. Just made for first time, though long on my list. Crumb is moist and flavorful, crust is lighlty crunchy and tastes of the honey in the egg wash. Great for sandwiches, with soup or just with plain butter. From Molly Yeh, of My name is Yeh blog.
blogs.forward.com/the-jew-and-the-carrot/197080/challah-gone-a-rye/
P.S. Sorry about all the Auto Incorrections. "co bus" incomprehensible, but originally wrote "cook books" etc.
 
Jenny M. January 15, 2015
I do not know amarican ryebread, but in Denmark ryebread are suppocede to be heavy and dence. It is typicalu baked whit sour dough
 
ChefJune January 15, 2015
I make rye bread 50/50 rye flour to organic whole wheat flour. It is denser than commercial rye bread, but it also tastes better and has more rye. I knead it a minimum of 25 minutes. Yes, the more time you spend kneading whole grains like this, the better crumb your finished bread will have. If you'd like my recipe, send me a private message.
 
luvcookbooks January 17, 2015
I would like your recipe if u don't mind.
 
sfmiller January 14, 2015
I'd suggest trying another recipe. Rye flour has much less gluten that wheat flour, and bread formulas that are predominantly rye (the rye to wheat ratio in this one is 2:1, whereas most light rye recipes are closer to 1:2) tend to be dense and heavy and dense as a result.
 
Zoe C. January 14, 2015
http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/22375/rye+bread

This is the recipe I have tried twice before to no avail :(
 
George H. January 17, 2015
That still looks pretty dense to me, no?
 
AntoniaJames January 14, 2015
Rye can be challenging! Try using part rye and part regular bread flour. I'd also add some vital wheat gluten, which gives the dough strength which in turn allows it to rise. The better rise will help with the flavor, too. I'd add a touch of sweetener to the bread, too. Do you have a particular recipe that did not work out well? If we could see the recipe, we could provide more specific advice! Thank you. ;o)
 
GsR February 2, 2016
I do that too as well as 1/2C of pickle juice. Adds to rise and flavor
 
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