Homemade Rye Bread Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the ratio of bread flour to rye flour? ›

This recipe calls for 1 cup of rye flour and 3 cups of bread flour, and while you could play around with increasing the proportion of rye in this recipe (which is roughly 20% by weight), keep in mind that the more rye flour you use, the denser your bread will be.

The more white flour in the loaf, the higher it'll rise and the lighter its texture will be. So this is entirely up to you and your tastes. Experiment with different percentages of white flour/rye flour until you find the bread texture you like the most.

All rye breads need some wheat flour in order to properly rise, because rye is low in air-trapping gluten, so the real question comes down to the ratio of rye to white all-purpose flour.

They compete with the proteins that make gluten for water, and water is the substance that leads the proteins to combine to form gluten. This means that rye doughs often require a higher proportion of water than doughs in which wheat predominates.

Rye is very low in gluten, so kneading is neither necessary nor useful. Rye does contain gluten, but in a form which is not able to form the tight, stretchy network found in wheat flour. Instead, rye relies on pentosans to hold together into dense, rustic bread.

I discovered that substituting Organic Medium Rye Flour for 25% of the all-purpose flour in my recipes (by weight) yields baked goods with only subtle changes: slightly darker color apparent in light-colored baked goods; a mere hint of rye flavor; perhaps a little graininess in the mouthfeel.

Rye gluten does not develop into strong and stretchy dough the way wheat gluten does and this means that any time you add rye flour to wheat flour you can expect the dough to be more fragile. It is also stickier and more absorbent. The more rye flour you have, the more pronounced the changes become.

You can also put hot water in a heat-safe dish and place it on the floor of a cold oven (or on a lower shelf). The steam and heat from the water will help the temperature rise just enough that the yeast is active. The steam will also assist in keeping the surface of the dough moist so it will stretch as it rises.

Increasing the temperature and moisture can help activate the yeast in the dough so it rises. You can also try adding more yeast. Open a new packet of yeast and mix 1 teaspoon (3 g) of it with 1 cup (240 mL) of warm water and 1 tablespoon (13 g) of sugar. Let the yeast mixture proof for 10 minutes.

Rye is high in fiber and gluten, which may cause bloating in people who are sensitive to these compounds. Unsuitable for a gluten-free diet. Rye bread contains gluten, making it unsuitable for people on a gluten-free diet, such as those with celiac disease. May be high in added sugar.

How to tell when rye bread is done? ›

The very best thing to do is get a probe thermometer. Bread is around 98 degrees C on the inside when it is done. Rye bread is sticky by nature. It is a little less sticky when it is made with a sourdough starter, rather than wheat.

Bread doughs made with rye, especially those with a high percentage of rye, tend to be quite sticky and—to most American bakers—harder to work with. (To make up for this, any flour that is added to a rye dough recipe will usually be high gluten bread flour.)

If moistened rye flour is given too much time to ferment, however, amylase will degrade rye's starches. The starch will not absorb water in the expected ratio. As a result, the bread's interior will be excessively moist and gummy, sticking to the knife as it's sliced.

For a lighter loaf that still has good rye flavor, mix rye flour with bread flour, which helps form a better gluten structure within the dough. READ MORE: As for this particular bread from George?

Malted rye flour is a rich and dark flour that smells amazing when baked due to the malted rye flakes. You can create denser loaves or mix this with other flour to craft a lighter but equally tasty bake.

(Rye flour can't be directly substituted for all-purpose or bread flour because it has different gluten-forming properties.)

Rye contains much less gluten than wheat, and the gluten rye contains is of poor quality when it comes to trapping air bubbles. Consequently, breads made with mostly rye flour do not expand as much as those made with mostly wheat flour. The crumb of breads in which rye predominates tends to be dense with smaller holes.

You can always substitute all-purpose flour for bread flour one for one in any recipe that calls for it. Your bread might not raise quite as high or have quite as much chew, if you are using all-purpose flour, but it will still be delicious and homemade and all the good things.