Rugbrød Aka Danish Rye Bread (with 29 Pictures)

So, you're thinking to yourself: "I sure wish there was a bread I could make that's delicious, more than the sum of its parts, and doesn't require fancy equipment or expertise!". Enter Rugbrød. Complex, versatile, healthy, and approachable. Keep reading and hopefully I can teach you how to make this bread. All it takes is some common ingredients and patience.

I had the opportunity to visit Denmark a few years ago and they have quite the food scene. This bread serves as the base for smørrebrød and I quickly became obsessed. When I got home, I started playing around with recipes, and some trial and error, I am happy to share with you what is now my go-to recipe. That said, one thing I love about this bread is the versatility in making and enjoying. While this is my base recipe, I almost never make two batches the same as I continue to experiment. I home you come to enjoy it in the same manner. Experiment!

Ingredients:

Rye Flour 2.5 cups or 350 grams

All Purpose (AP) Flour 3/4 cup or 110 grams

Whole Rye Berries 1/2 cup or 95 grams

Whole Flax Seed 1 cup or 160 grams

Whole Pumpkin Seeds 1 cup or 150 grams

Barely Chopped Almonds 1/2 cup or 70 grams

Cracked Rye 1/2 cup or 70 grams

Cracked Wheat 1/2 cup or 80 grams

Flax Meal 1/2 cup or 60 grams

Yeast 2 Teaspoons or 6 grams

Sugar 2 Tablespoons or 28 grams

Salt 3 Teaspoons or 18 grams

Water 2 cups 85°-95° F

Buttermilk 1 cup

Dark Beer 1 cup

After you have gathered and measured or weighed everything you are ready to start assembly.

You can use a stand mixer if you'd like, but to minimize dishes, I suggest a 4L glass bowl. Using a spoon, a dough whisk, or just your hands, dissolve the sugar into the water then add the yeast.

Once the yeast mix gets foamy (~10 minutes at room temperature) go ahead and add your dark beer, buttermilk, then the rye, AP flour and salt (sifting the dry ingredients is not 100% necessary but it's like using your turn signal in an empty parking lot; it's a good habit). Mix the remaining dry ingredients, save the rolled oats, for a few minutes with the tool of your choice (again, I use a dough whisk). The most important thing here is to fully incorporate the wet and dry, but you don't need to spent more than a few minutes to accomplish this -- the mixture will be more batter-like than "dough" -- time is going to do the heavy lifting here (spoiler alert for next section).

After you feel wet/dry are incorporated, it's time to put it to bed.

I loosely covered my batter with plastic wrap and a Viking tea towel (tea towel is from Iceland but it still seemed appropriate).

This nap may only take a day, or it could take two. When I make this in the colder months I let it go two days. In warmer weather, it might need only a day. For this specific bath, the weather was great, and I started the next step after 24 hours.

Onwards!

Preheat your oven to 350° F, 176° C, Gas 3, 449.8166667° K, or 809.67 °R, and prepare your pan.

I used a 5 1/2" x 10 1/4" x 3" loaf pan. As there are not a lot of fats in this bread, it isn't a bad idea to line the pan with parchment paper or give the pan a spray of oil even if it's a "non-stick" pan.

Pour the dough in the pan, level the top with, then cover with the reserved rolled oats.

Pop in the oven and give it at least 1 hour before you mess with it. After an hour give it a turn and add 45 minutes. You are shooting for an internal temperature of about 205° F, give or take a few degrees. This batch took a little over 2 hours to get there. When it hits temp, it is done cooking and you should turn out on a cooling rack.

While you can certainly start snacking as soon as its finished baking, I have found that this bread benefits from additional time to completely gel (and for all the flavors to marry). I usually loosely cover the loaf in parchment paper and just leave it on the counter for a day or two. This also gives you plenty of time to contemplate toppings.

So, this bread is great for sweet or savory. A little butter and jam is delicious. This can be a foundation for a hearty lunch with fried fish, roasted pork, or grilled vegetables, all with appropriate accoutrements of course.

As for variations you want to have the same ratios for wet and dry ingredients, but the only true MUST have is the rye flour.

Don't like flax? No problem; use more almonds! No one would be mad if you used hazelnuts.

Nut allergy? Just use seeds -- flax, sesame, sunflower, pumpkin all shine here.

What beer should I use? Use a beer that you would enjoy drinking the rest of. In this case I used an imperial stout based on Mexican hot chocolate.

Don't drink alcohol? No problem! There are great non-alcoholic beers on the market, or you could completely omit, though you will need to up the amount of liquids overall -- a mixture of water and molasses can approximate the dark beer depth without the alcohol.

Vegan? Again, no problem! Almond milk, soy milk, macadamia milk with a slash of apple cider vinegar or champagne vinegar will certainly work.

No buttermilk? You can also use kefir or yogurt. I've used yogurt and it is lovely.

My point is, this is a wonderfully versatile bread and so long as you use the rough ratios I feel strongly that you will have to try hard to mess this up. Happy baking!