• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

www.WeekendBakery.com

Weekend Bakery

The place for the ambitious home baker

  • Home
  • Webshop
    • Rijsmandjes
    • Brood bakken
      • Mixen & Mengen
      • Snijden, rollen, schrapen
      • Rijzen & Bakken
    • Broodbak sets
    • Uitstekers
      • Uitsteker sets
      • Speciale XL uitstekers
      • Dieren
      • Bloemen en planten
      • Transport
      • Vormen
      • Lente & zomer
      • Kerst & Feest
      • Halloween
      • Overig
    • Zoet bakken
      • Baking Love
      • Bakgereedschap
      • Papieren bakvormen
      • Bakvormen
      • Speculaasvormen en koekstempels
      • In de keuken
      • Serveren
      • Houten lepels, spatels, schepjes…
  • Recipes
    • Best bread recipes
    • Sweet baking
    • Nederlandse recepten
    • Bread baking tips
    • Bread movies
    • WKB projects
    • Article index
  • Info
    • Contact Us
    • Baking Conversion Tools
    • Why Home Baking
    • Baking Glossary
    • Article Index
    • Bread Scoring with the Lame / Brood insnijden met de Lame
    • Send Us Your Loaf
    • Your Loaves!
  • About us
  • Show Search
Hide Search
You are here: Home / Best bread recipes / Rye Lovers Dark Rye Bread!

Rye Lovers Dark Rye Bread!

126 Comments Best bread recipes no yeast, pumpernickel, rye bread

Imaging: 10 hours in the oven at night and then awaken to the aroma of the fresh rye bread!

As a child I loved this dark, moist rye bread, which in Holland we call Frisian Rye bread (‘Fries roggebrood’ or our version of a fine pumpernickel, however the structure is more compact and very moist). I never thought that one day I would make it myself and the result would be so rewarding! You have to be patient with this one, because it takes about 10 hours in the oven, but if you put it in before going to bed you will wake to a wonderful smell of fresh rye bread that has magically transformed itself while you were sleeping. I like it best with mature Dutch cheese with cumin or cloves. Rye bread is also eaten with bacon to accompany split pea soup, one of our proud Dutch culinary traditions. And did I mention it is very healthy too, one of the best ways to get that recommended daily doses of fiber…

makes 2 loaves

Ingredients for the Rye Bread

700 g broken whole grain rye (cracked rye)

200 g whole grain rye flour

50 g fine rye flour (can be substituted with wheat flour)

50 g wheat flour

2 tbsps date syrup or molasses

13 g sea salt

700 ml HOT water

approx. 200 ml water at room temperature

wheat germ for coating

Note: We understand if you do not want to use tin foil. We want to experiment with other options like pullman tins, Dutch ovens or maybe a tin with wet baking paper lid, securely fastened with string. If you use anything else, we would love to hear about it of course!

Making the Rye Bread
Before you start you need two pans of about 20 cm long by 14 cm wide and 4.5 cm high to put the loaves in when they go into the oven. We use (disposable) aluminum pans, the same ones that are used to make sugar loaves. These pans have different measurements (21x10x6) but almost the same volume, so they work great too, the loaves are just a bit smaller and higher than the pans originally used for this type of recipe. Just aim for a volume of about 1260cm³ / 76.89 in³.

Before their night in the oven the loaves get coated in wheat germ…more fibres please

Start with placing the 700 g broken whole grain rye in a (plastic) bowl and add the HOT water (just off the boil). Mix with a wooden spoon, cover and leave to rest/soak for 2 hours. The broken rye grains will absorb all the water and become soft, this is very important for the rye bread to become a success! Preheat your oven at 110° Celsius/ 230° Fahrenheit (yes, you bake this bread on a low temperature!). Now add the rest of the ingredients, including the 200 g of water at room temperature.

Note: the adding of the exact amount of water is a matter of experience and depends on how soft you want the rye bread to become. You will see what works best for you and your own ingredients as you make the recipe more often. Now knead well by hand or mixer until combined. Be careful a KitchenAid style mixer can handle it because the dough is very tough and sticky, use your hands if your mixer gets too hot or starts acting funny. We use a bigger spiral mixer, brand Hauessler from Germany, that is up to this sort of job. Divide in two equal portions and shape them into loaves that fit in the pans. Roll the loaves through the wheat germ until all sides are thinly covered and place them in the pans.

The finished product is lovely and moist and keeps very well in the fridge

Now cover the pans completely with 2 layers of aluminum foil so no moisture can escape. Place the loaves in the preheated oven and leave them there for 9 to 12 hours (we did 9.5 the first time and 10 the second run and they both got good results). Take the pans out of the oven but DO NOT OPEN until completely cooled to avoid losing moisture! This can take several hours, so curb your curiosity.

The baking period needs to be this long because the rye substance is very compact and contains almost no air, making heat transfer slow. This is a very old Dutch (Frisian) recipe, we think this bread was normally baked (cooked almost) during the night on the residual heat of a stove.
Cut into 3-4 mm slices with a wet bread knife (dip in water after each slice), the bread is very crumbly and sticky. You can make little packs of sliced rye bread that keep very well in your fridge for over a week. You can keep the rest for much longer in the freezer.

We like to thank ‘roggebrood fanaat’ at bakkerswereld.org for this excellent recipe.

Best bread recipes no yeast, pumpernickel, rye bread

Reader Interactions

Share Your Comments & Feedback Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Please read our comment policy below before submitting your comment:

  • Only comment or ask a question about a recipe as shown on our website
  • We love to help you, but unfortunately we cannot answer every question personally

Comments

  1. Phoebe says

    September 11, 2024 at 07:46

    Can I leave out the wheat flour or use extra rye flour instead? (Wheat intolerance)

    Reply
    • Weekend Bakers says

      September 12, 2024 at 17:13

      Hello Phoebe,
      The wheat flour provides a little bit of gluten to hold the mass together, but it will be OK to use 50 grams of fine rye flour instead. It feels a bit like working with clay anyway.
      Hope it will be a success, the bread is delicious!

      Reply
« Older Comments 1 2 3

Primary Sidebar

Categories

  • Best bread recipes
  • Bread baking tips
  • Bread movies
  • Highlights
  • Holiday Baking
  • Nederlandse recepten & tips
  • Popular Recipes
  • Seasonal Favorites
  • Sweet baking
  • Uncategorized
  • WKB projects

Info

  • About Us
  • Article Index
  • Baking Conversion Tools
  • Baking Glossary
  • Bread Scoring with the Lame / Brood insnijden met de Lame
  • Contact Us
  • Send Us Your Loaf
  • Why Home Baking
  • Your loaves ’24 -’25
  • Your Loaves More 1 !
  • Your Loaves More 2 !
  • Your Loaves More 3 !
  • Your Loaves More 4 !
  • Your Loaves!

Seasonal Favorites

Ficelle with sourdough

Kouign-amann: Breton pastry with a hint of salty caramel!

Our version of Tartine style bread

Favorite flatbreads: Sourdough pita

San Francisco style sourdough bread

3 stage 70% Rye Bread with Raisins

Footer

Recent Articles

  • Our Sourdough Pizza Recipe
  • Wonderful Walnut Caramel Pie – The 2.0 Version
  • Fantastische Walnoten Karameltaart: Versie 2.0
  • Ons Zuurdesem Pizza Recept: Veel Smaak en Perfecte Bite!
  • Handy sourdough tips
  • Easter Raisin Buns with Pistachio filling
  • Making Pistache Paste
  • Het Panettone Project
  • The Joy of Baking – And how to find it!
  • Bakkersdozijn: Onze 12 plus 1 beste broodbak-tips!

Tags

almonds apples banneton boule Bread bread baking tips brioche butter cakes cheese chocolate christmas cinnamon Coffee Cookies couche cranberries crusty bread Dutch flatbread focaccia Holiday baking honey hybrid method Laminated dough lemon muesli muffins no knead pain rustique Patisserie pie pies & tarts pizza poolish preferment rye rye bread scones sourdough stretch&fold vanilla Viennoiserie walnuts yeast

Follow us on Social Media

  • Bluesky
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • YouTube

Favorites

  • De Zandhaas – Our local flour mill
  • The Fresh Loaf
  • The Perfect Loaf

All photos and text Copyright 2005-2025 by weekendbakery.com