Rye bread

This rye bread recipe is lower in gluten than your average white loaf – this recipe uses white or wholemeal flour to give a light texture but you can experiment with ratios

Takes 50 mins plus rising and proving

Easy

Nutrition per serving

kcal 170
fat 1.1g
saturates 0.2g
carbs 34.3g
sugars 2.3g
fibre 6.9g
protein 5.6g
salt 0.3g

Ingredients

200g rye flour, plus extra for dusting
200g strong white or wholemeal flour
7g sachet fast-action dried yeast
½ tsp fine salt
1 tbsp honey
1 tsp caraway seed (optional)

Tip

Rye bread
Rye flour contains less gluten than white flour, meaning the loaf will have a closer texture than a white loaf. Mixing the rye flour with white or wholemeal flour helps to give it more elasticity and therefore a lighter texture, but if you want a more traditional rye bread you can adjust the quantities.

Method

Tip the flours, yeast and salt into a bowl. In a jug, mix the honey with 250ml warm water, pour the liquid into the bowl and mix to form a dough. Rye flour can be quite dry and absorbs lots of water, if the dough looks too dry add more warm water until you have a soft dough Tip out onto your work surface and knead for 10 mins until smooth. Rye contains less gluten than white flour so the dough will not feel as springy as a conventional white loaf.
Place the dough in a well oiled bowl, cover with cling film and leave to rise in a warm place for 1-2 hrs, or until roughly doubled in size. Dust a 2lb/900g loaf tin with flour.
Tip the dough back onto your work surface and knead briefly to knock out any air bubbles. If using caraway seeds work these in to the dough. Shape into a smooth oval loaf and pop into your tin. Cover the tin with oiled cling film and leave to rise somewhere warm for a further 1 – 1.5 hr, or until doubled in size.
Heat oven to 220C/200C fan/gas 7. Remove the cling film and dust the surface of the loaf with rye flour. Slash a few incisions on an angle then bake for 30 mins until dark brown and hollow sounding when tapped. Transfer to a wire cooling rack and leave to cool for at least 20 mins before serving