Danish Rye Bread (Rugbrød)

A dense, deeply flavored Danish rye bread — naturally leavened with rye sourdough, studded with whole rye berries and baked in a tin.

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Prep Time 20

Cook Time 1 20

Soaking & proofing 18

Total Time 19 40

Servings: 1 loaf

Course: Bread, Breakfast

Cuisine: Danish, Nordic, Scandinavian

Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients

100 g whole rye berries about ½ cup — soak overnight, then bring to a boil; if still hard, simmer 5–10 minutes, then drain
400 g medium rye flour about 3¾ cups — sifted rye; svedjerug (Nordic heritage rye) if you can find it, but medium or light rye works well
400 ml water about 1⅔ cups — the dough should be wet and scoopable
200 g active rye sourdough starter by weight — a rye starter is too thick to measure by cup; fed with rye flour
20 g liquid malt extract about 1 tbsp — for color and a deep, malty flavor
15 g fine salt about 2½ tsp — rye takes more salt than wheat; 3% is intentional and balances the malt

Optional: seeds & kernels

100 g mixed seeds about ⅔ cup — sunflower, flax and pumpkin all work; stir in toward the end of mixing

Equipment

Digital kitchen scale Rye is a bread you bake by weight — cup measures are too rough for a wet rye dough.
Stand mixer Mixes the wet, sticky rye dough on low in a minute or two.
Danish dough whisk If you'd rather mix by hand, this handles a wet rye dough better than a spoon — cheap and endlessly useful.
Pullman loaf pan Gives rugbrød its classic dense, square shape and an even bake.
Bench scraper For scraping the sticky dough cleanly into the pan.
Instant-read thermometer The only reliable doneness check for a dense rye: 208°F (98°C) in the center.
Wire cooling rack The loaf needs air all round while the crumb sets.

Method

Soak the rye berries. The night before, cover the rye berries with cold water and soak overnight. In the morning, bring them to a boil — if they're still hard after that, let them simmer for 5–10 minutes until tender. Drain and cool before mixing.
Mix the dough. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle, combine the rye flour, water, sourdough starter, malt, salt and drained rye berries. Mix on low for a minute or two until evenly combined — this is a wet, sticky dough, closer to a thick batter than a kneadable one. That's exactly right for rye. (No mixer? A Danish dough whisk does the job by hand.) If you're adding seeds, stir them in during the last minute of mixing.
Into the pan. Scrape the dough into a greased or lined loaf pan (a Pullman pan is ideal). Wet the back of a spoon or your hand and smooth the top. Cover with a damp towel or plastic wrap.
Proof. Leave at room temperature for 4–8 hours, until roughly doubled and the surface looks domed and dotted with small holes. For a tangier crumb, proof in the fridge overnight instead.
Preheat. About 30 minutes before the loaf is ready, heat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
Bake. Bake for 1 hour 20 minutes. It's done when the internal temperature reaches about 208°F (98°C) and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped underneath.
Cool and rest. Turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely — then wrap it and wait before slicing (see notes).

Notes

Chef's tip — don't slice it warm. Rye needs time for its starch to set. Cool the loaf fully, wrap it, and rest it at least 12 hours, ideally a full day, before cutting. Sliced too early, rye turns gummy; rested, it slices thin and clean, and the flavor deepens over 2–3 days.

Bake by weight. Rye dough is unforgiving of guesswork.
Rye is thirsty. The dough should be wet and scoopable, not stiff. If it feels stiff, add a splash more water.
Malt extract: in the US, look for barley malt syrup — not diastatic malt powder. They are not interchangeable. Diastatic malt is enzymatically active, and rye dough is already enzyme-rich; adding more gives you a gummy, sticky crumb. Non-diastatic barley malt syrup is what you want here. If you can't find it, dark molasses works, though the flavor is sharper and less malty.