Real Danish Rye Bread (Rugbrød)
In order to make Danish open-faced sandwiches, you need dark, dense rye bread generously slathered with butter. You can sometimes find decent rye bread in the super market (those of you in North America), however, this bread is often imported from Germany, and is never fresh. For the best flavour, nothing beats making the rye bread yourself. It's a bit of a production, but well worth it.
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| Tand smør: the best way to eat rye bread! |
Lucky residents of Copenhagen have many options for buying terrific, fresh baked rye bread. Reinh Van Hauen and Lagkagehuset (shown at left, in Christianhavn) are the most notable. The Danish pastries available at these locations are pretty tasty, too!
Making Danish Rye Bread
Danish rye bread is always made with sour dough, which gives the bread its characteristic tart flavour, and helps preserve the bread for much longer than regular yeast breads. Unless you have some sour dough starter on hand, you'll need about one week to make your own before you can make the bread.
Note that once you have sour dough, you can refrigerate it, meaning that for the second loaf of rye, you only need to allow yourself 2 days: 1 day for the prep and baking, and 1 day for the loaf to cool thoroughly!
About Rye
Rye is a kind of grass similar to wheat and barley. It is grown extensively as a grain crop in Northern Europe as well as in Canada, no doubt because it is a very hardy grain that is more tolerant to cold temperatures than other grains such as wheat. It is rich in soluble fibre (nice and healthy), and low in gluten (meaning that it doesn't rise well, thus the dense loaves). To make Danish rye bread, you will need rye in several different guises...
About Rye
Rye is a kind of grass similar to wheat and barley. It is grown extensively as a grain crop in Northern Europe as well as in Canada, no doubt because it is a very hardy grain that is more tolerant to cold temperatures than other grains such as wheat. It is rich in soluble fibre (nice and healthy), and low in gluten (meaning that it doesn't rise well, thus the dense loaves). To make Danish rye bread, you will need rye in several different guises...
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| The many faces of rye |
In terms of special equipment, I highly suggest the following:
A professional 3L non-stick rye bread form (available from EVA in Denmark). If you can't get your hands on one, try to find a bread form that has a 3 liter volume. If not, you'll probably have to adjust quantities and baking time. - A grain mill (shown at left). Cracked rye is basically impossible to find in shops.
- A stand mixer. Uncooked rye bread dough has the consistency of cement. A stand mixer will save you time and preserve your sanity.
- A rye bread slicer (below). Nothing beats these medieval-looking devices for getting thin, evenly sliced rye bread.
Old-fashioned, rugbrød bread slicer (a.k.a. The Guillotine)
Making the Sour Dough
300 ml Buttermilk- 100 ml Water
- 250 ml (150g) Rye flour
- 100 ml (60g) Whole Wheat flour
- 1 tbsp Coarse salt to add into the dough
- 1 tbsp Coarse salt to sprinkle over dough to preserve
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients, sprinkle with salt (which helps to keep unwanted bacteria out of the the starter as it "ferments").
- Let sit in a covered container for 7 days in a dark cool place (not in the refrigerator).
Preparing the Rye Bread Dough
1 bottle light ale (about 300ml)- 2 tbsp malt syrup or honey
- 2 tbsp kosher salt
- 500 ml warm water (not above 100 F)
- 1 tsp dry yeast
- 750g Rye flour
- Sour dough
Instructions
- Dissolve the yeast and a bit of sugar in 100ml of the warm water. Let stand for about 5 minutes until the yeast is frothy.
- In a stand mixer, combine all the ingredients and mix thoroughly.
Baking the Bread
- 500g cracked rye grain
- 250ml warm water
- 150ml raw sunflower seeds and/or flax seeds (optional)
- Sesame seeds to cover loaf
- 1 tsp coarse salt (for the new batch of sour dough)
Instructions
- Remove about 200g of the dough and put aside in a sealed container. This will be your sour dough for the next batch of bread. Sprinkle a teaspoon of coarse salt over the starter to preserve.
- In the mixer combine the remaining dough with the other ingredients and mix thoroughly (for about 5 minutes).
Place the well-mixed dough into a rye bread baking form (shown at left), sprinkle with sesame seeds, and let rise for at least 6 hours so the sour dough can impart its acidity. - Place the baking form in an over preheated to 350F and bake for 2 hours. For best results, spray water into the oven every 30 minutes or so.
- Turn off the heat, remove the bread from the baking form, spray with water on all sides and place back in the over directly on the rack for about an hour while the oven cools.
- Remove bread from the over and allow the bread to cool completely. This will take a couple of hours.
- Once cooled, wrap the bread in plastic wrap place it in the refrigerator for at least 1 day before cutting the bread. Ideally, you should use a rugbrød slicer to get even, thin slices.
- The bread's taste improves after a few days and stands up very well to freezing.
- Enjoy with your favourite open-faced sandwiches!
"Delicious!"
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