Rugbrød

Danish tin-baked rye sourdough loaf, dense with cracked rye kernels and sunflower seeds

Origin: Copenhagen & Denmark

From the journey of Rye.

Rugbrød is the bread Denmark eats every day. It is a rectangular, tin-baked sourdough loaf of rye flour and whole cracked rye kernels, usually studded with seeds, dark, moist, and sour, and sliced thin. It is the foundation of smørrebrød, the contents of the Danish lunch box, the madpakke, and the bread a Dane abroad is most likely to say they miss. The Danish loaf differs from its northern neighbours in being wet. Finnish rye is baked free-standing and firm; Swedish rye is often sweetened; Danish rugbrød is closer to a thick batter than a dough when it goes into the tin, which is why it is baked in one and why it can carry so many whole kernels without falling apart. Once baked and rested, it slices cleanly into the thin, sturdy slices that a knife-and-fork open sandwich requires. Rye has been Denmark's bread grain since the Viking Age, and it remains a major crop: Denmark is amongst the three largest rye growers in the European Union. Many Danish households kept a sourdough going for years, reserving a lump of each batch of dough, salted to slow it down, to leaven the next, and home baking of rugbrød has had a considerable revival. It is a bread that keeps. Wrapped in a cloth it stays good for most of a week, and it is at its best for slicing on the second and third days.

Ingredients

Soaker

  • 150 g cracked rye kernels (rye chops)
  • 50 g sunflower seeds
  • 50 g linseed (flaxseed)
  • 250 ml boiling water

Sourdough

  • 50 g active rye sourdough starter
  • 200 g dark rye flour
  • 250 ml warm water (about 35 °C)

Dough

  • 200 g dark rye flour
  • 1 tbsp dark malt syrup
  • 12 g fine sea salt
  • 100 ml warm water
  • 1 tbsp sunflower oil, for the tin

Method

  1. The evening before, put the cracked rye, sunflower seeds, and linseed into a bowl, pour over the boiling water, stir, cover, and leave overnight.
  2. At the same time, mix the starter, 200 g of dark rye flour, and the warm water in a large bowl, cover, and leave in a warm place for 12 to 16 hours.
  3. In the morning, add the soaked grain and seeds to the sourdough with the remaining rye flour, the malt syrup, the salt, and the warm water. Stir hard with a wooden spoon for five minutes into a thick, sticky batter.
  4. Take out 50 g of the dough, put it in a small jar with a pinch of salt on top, and refrigerate it as the starter for your next loaf.
  5. Oil a 2 litre loaf tin, scrape in the dough, and smooth the surface with a wet spoon. Prick the top all over with a fork.
  6. Cover and leave to prove in a warm place for two to three hours, until the dough has risen close to the top of the tin and small cracks appear.
  7. Bake at 180 °C for 1 hour 30 minutes, until the loaf has shrunk slightly from the sides of the tin and sounds hollow when turned out and tapped.
  8. Turn out onto a rack, cool completely, then wrap in a clean cloth and leave for 24 hours before slicing.

Notes

Rye chops, or cracked rye, are whole rye kernels broken into two or three pieces. Whole rye berries soaked overnight and simmered for 30 minutes can be used instead. Dark malt syrup is sold as maltekstrakt in Danish shops and as barley malt extract elsewhere; black treacle is a reasonable substitute in a smaller amount. Pumpkin seeds and sesame are common additions alongside or instead of sunflower and linseed. Rugbrød freezes well sliced, and a slice toasts straight from frozen.

The Gastrographer

The Gastrographer

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