Overnight Danish Rye Bread (Rugbrød)

The rye bread that launched a thousand open-faced sandwiches. Normally a whirlwind of sourdough starters and long proving times, this recipe will give you a great Danish rye bread as soon as tomorrow.

Proper Danish rye bread, or ‘rugbrød’, is a marvellous creation that requires lengthy proving times and careful nurturing of a special rye-adapted sourdough starter. Any novice to breadmaking will be surprised how long it takes to create this modest loaf of bread, and it’s intimidating to embark on this long bread-making quest on the chance your loaves don’t turn out quite right. That’s more than an afternoon wasted. Here’s a compromise. I used to teach this Danish rye bread recipe on my Nordic bakery classes. Understandably, I couldn’t hold my students hostage for days on end to see the whole process of making proper rugbrød. This recipe is simple, it offers the same, knubbly texture which is courtesy of a traditional ‘grain soak’. As for the rye sourdough starter, I offer a workaround for that. You will need dark rye flour to make this bread. Dark rye flour is rich in oils and goes rancid much quicker than regular wheat flour, imparting weird, fishy flavours to your bread. If you have a crusty old bag of rye flour hanging around, you’re better off using a fresh one for this. Let’s go!