Dark Rye Artisan Loaf

Dense and chewy artisan-style rye bread with the quintessential caraway seeds inside and a variety of seeds on top. This rye bread creates excellent sandwich slices – ideal for snacks, toast, and reubens.

There’s something truly enjoyable about combining flour and yeast, shaping the dough into a loaf or rolls, and baking them in the oven. I especially enjoy the fragrant smell of freshly baked bread wafting from the oven. It’s like a gift to my senses. And it makes me smile.

The hardest part is waiting for the fresh bread to cool completely so that I can cut nice thick slices and slather it with butter and jam. In fact, one of my favorite snacks is fresh warm toast.

If you’ve followed me for any length of time or read any of my posts, you may have noticed that I tend to enjoy bread quite a bit. This is me. Hence the name of my blog, Pebbles and Toast. I believe bread is the staff of life and I enjoy eating it almost every day.

So this Dark Rye Artisan Loaf was a difficult bread to share with you. For starters, the pandemic initially put flour in short supply. I could not find flour anywhere for a few months. And rye flour? That was near impossible – even when flour started appearing back on the shelves at our local grocery store. I could only find all-purpose flour for the longest time.

It wasn’t until I visited family out of state that I finally scored a couple of bags of rye flour. I’m here to tell you, it’s the little things in life. Little things like access to flour. Flour that allows me to make this Dark Rye Artisan Loaf

So let’s chat about flour. I use three different types of flour to make this incredibly tasty loaf, though you can use two. I’ll explain in a moment. First up is the rye flour. There are several different types of rye flour. But since I found medium rye flour, that is what I’m using. Honest. Use whatever type of rye flour you have access to.

Because rye flour contains less gluten and absorbs water very differently than wheat flour, it’s important to blend rye flour with a lighter bread flour or all-purpose flour. I also like to use half of a cup of semolina flour to give the loaf a nice chewy texture. I can’t take credit since I got the idea from King Arthur. If you don’t have semolina flour, you can use more bread flour or all-purpose flour.

I like using SAF instant yeast. It’s incredibly versatile, stores great in the freezer, and bakes incredible bread. I buy mine via Amazon Subscribe and Save whenever I run low. I keep a small portion in a mini size jar in the refrigerator and store the remaining yeast in the freezer. My mom taught me this trick a long time ago and it works great.

Now that we’ve discussed the flour and yeast, it’s time to combine it with warm water to make a sponge. It’s important to allow plenty of time for the flour and yeast to start bubbling. This may take as little as twenty minutes or as much as thirty. A lot depends on your yeast, flour, water, and temperature. The water should be lukewarm, around 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

Once the sponge is bubbly, add the remaining ingredients, which includes the all purpose flour and semolina we discussed, as well as the caraway seeds, maple syrup, molasses, and pickle or pepper juice. Wait. Pause. Pickle or pepper juice?

Okay, I’m not sure what it’s really called. But either work great in rye bread. It’s the liquid or “juice” that pickles or peppers are jarred in or marinated in. My husband loves putting banana peppers on his veggie sandwiches and pizza. And we keep a jar of the residual liquid to flavor this rye bread or salad dressings (it’s also really great in eggless salad and tuno salad).

These last few ingredients give this Dark Rye Artisan Loaf incredible flavor and color. The caraway seeds and pickle juice or pepper juice (water) are the quintessential flavor that rye bread possesses. The molasses and cacao give it a nice dark rich color. The maple syrup gives the yeast something to eat so that it rises well.

Once the dough is mixed together in a stand mixer or kneaded by hand, it’s important to give the dough time to rest periodically. Again, it’s because rye flour behaves a little differently. The one thing I’ve read over and over, and learned through trial and much error, is that you should try not to add more flour than is needed. And this is especially true when working with rye flour. If you add too much flour, your bread loaf will most likely turn into a bread rock. Not what we’re looking for here. I recommend starting with the least amount of flour and then adding just enough to get the dough away from the sides of the bowl.

Now that we’ve figured out how much flour we need and mixed our dough well, it’s time to shape our Dark Rye Artisan Loaf. You can shape your dough into rounds, loaves, or even rolls. It’s up to you. I like to shape mine into a loaf since it’s much easier to make the perfect size slices for sandwiches and toast. Albeit, you can easily cut the wider slices from a round in half to fit into a toaster. I also like dividing my dough in half and rolling it out on the counter and then rolling it into a thick short loaf. It makes for a nice uniform loaf of bread.

Lastly, I recommend topping the loaf with a combination of tiny seeds – any kind of seeds! I usually use an Everything Bagel blend, but you can use a mixture of black and white sesame seeds, poppy seeds, and dehydrated onion and garlic. It’s great on top of this loaf. But again, you can use any seeds you want or none. It’s up to you.

Now that we have our delicious bread, I want to know how you enjoy it!

As I mentioned before, my favorite way to eat this bread is toasted with a smidgen of plant-based butter. I recently found Miyoko’s Oat Milk butter and enjoy it on a piece of warm toast. But I also like slathering on some almond butter and topping it with slices of fresh banana and a sprinkling of cinnamon. It’s an easy and tasty breakfast treat.

But every now and again, my husband and I enjoy classic junk food. And this Dark Rye Artisan Loaf creates the perfect albeit occasional Classic Vegan Reuben Sandwich. It’s got just the right chewy texture, the classic rye taste, and a gorgeous dark brown color.

And hey, everyone is entitled to enjoy some classic junk food every now and then. So when we want to splurge a little, we use an incredibly tasty plant-based “corned beef” from Unreal Deli. The combination of this Dark Rye Artisan Loaf slices, Unreal Deli meat, vegan cheese (like Follow Your Heart smoked gouda slices), sauerkraut, and a truly special sauce is out of this world delicious!

This photo shows my Classic Vegan Reuben Sandwich served with baked carrot, parsnip, and beetroot fries. Yum!

I hope you enjoy this Dark Rye Artisan Loaf as much as I do.  

I’m just starting out and would love to see your results. Please leave a comment and rate it down below, tag a picture @pebblesandtoast and #pebblesandtoast on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook!   Enjoy!!

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Ingredients

• 2 tsp instant yeast
• 1½ cups medium rye flour
• 1¼ cups lukewarm water (100-110°F)
• 1½-2 cups bread or all-purpose flour
• ½ cup semolina flour*
• 1 Tbsp cacao or cocoa powder** (optional)
• 1 Tbsp maple syrup
• 1 Tbsp molasses
• 2 Tbsp oil (optional)
• 1 Tbsp pepper liquid (or pickle water or Apple Cider Vinegar)***
• 2 tsp caraway seeds
• 1 tsp salt (optional)
• Topping: Sesame seeds, poppy seeds, or everything bagel topping (optional)

Instructions

1. Make the sponge by combining the rye flour, yeast, and warm water in the bowl of your stand mixer.  Allow the sponge to rest for 20-30 minutes, until nice and puffy.

1. Add 1½ cups flour and the remaining ingredients (except the topping) and mix with a dough hook on low speed for 2-3 minutes, until the dough leaves the side of the bowl.  Gradually add in a little more flour, if needed, but see Note below.  Try not to add more flour than needed.
2. Allow the dough to rest for 5 minutes.  Knead the dough lightly by using the lowest speed setting for 1-2 minutes.  Allow to rest for five minutes.  Then mix 1-2 more minutes.  At this point, the dough should not be sticky.

1. Remove the hook and shape the dough into a ball.  Place the dough back in the mixing bowl or place in a large greased bowl.  Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise until doubled, about 1½-2 hours.

1. Remove the dough from the mixing bowl and shape into a large oblong loaf shape or two smaller loaves.  You can shape them in two rounds as well.  It depends on how you want to your bread.  I like rolling the two balls out on the counter and then rolling them up into one uniform loaf.

1. Place the loaf or loaves on a baking sheet; add any garnish, if desired; cover with a lightly damp towel; and allow to rise for 30 minutes.
2. Preheat the oven to 375° F.  Slash tops of loaves with a sharp knife or lathe, if desired. 
3. Bake for about 20-25 minutes for the smaller loaves and about 30-35 minutes for the larger loaf, until lightly golden and baked bread aroma escapes your oven.  This is how you know the bread is ready.  It should also sound hollow when you “knock” on it.
4. Remove from oven; allow to cool completely on a baking rack.

Notes

I use SAF instant yeast.  If you can’t find it in your local grocery store, you can order it on Amazon via subscribe and save.  I keep a small portion of yeast in the refrigerator; the rest is stored in a freezer bag or jar in the freezer.  Yeast stores and keeps extremely well in the freezer.

Only add as much flour as you absolutely need to get a not-too-sticky dough.  If you add too much flour, the resulting loaf will be dense.

The shape of bread is often more consistent if you flatten it out on the counter and roll it up.  Then pinch the ends together.

* If you don’t have semolina flour, you can use more bread flour or all-purpose flour instead.

** The cocoa or cacao powder lends nicely to the flavor and color.  You can omit it if you’d like a lighter loaf, or you can use a really dark cocoa powder to make it darker.

*** The pepper water, pickle water, or apple cider vinegar is solely for flavor.  You can omit or use water instead.

Dark Rye Artisan Loaf

Rachele (Pebbles and Toast)

Dense and chewy artisan-style rye bread loaf that creates excellent sandwich slices – ideal for toast and ruebens.

1 from 1 vote

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 3 hours hrs

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Course Bread

Cuisine European, Vegan

Servings 1 loaf

Equipment

• stand mixer
• oven

Ingredients

  

• 2 tsp instant yeast
• 1½ cups medium rye flour
• 1¼ cups lukewarm water 100-110°F
• 1½-2 cups bread or all-purpose flour
• ½ cup semolina flour
• 1 Tbsp cacao or cocoa powder optional
• 1 Tbsp maple syrup
• 1 Tbsp molasses
• 2 Tbsp oil optional
• 1 Tbsp pepper or pickle water or ACV
• 2 tsp caraway seeds
• 1 tsp salt optional
• Topping: Sesame seeds poppy seeds, or everything bagel topping (optional)

Instructions

 

• Make the sponge by combining the rye flour, yeast, and warm water in the bowl of your stand mixer. Allow the sponge to rest for 20-30 minutes, until nice and puffy.
• Add 1½ cups flour and the remaining ingredients (except the topping) and mix with a dough hook on low speed for 2-3 minutes, until the dough leaves the side of the bowl. Gradually add in a little more flour, if needed, but see Note below. Try not to add more flour than needed.
• Allow the dough to rest for 5 minutes. Knead the dough lightly by using the lowest speed setting for 1-2 minutes. Allow to rest for five minutes. Then mix 1-2 more minutes. At this point, the dough should not be sticky.
• Remove the hook and shape the dough into a ball. Place the dough back in the mixing bowl or place in a large greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise until doubled, about 1½-2 hours.
• Remove the dough from the mixing bowl and shape into a large oblong loaf shape or two smaller loaves. You can shape them in two rounds as well. It depends on how you want to your bread. Smaller loaves are easier to toast in a toaster. Though you can cut larger slices in half to toast as well.
• Place the loaf or loaves on a lined baking sheet; add any garnish, if desired; cover with a lightly damp towel; and allow to rise for 30 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 375° F. Slash tops of loaves with a sharp knife or lathe, if desired.
• Bake for about 25 minutes for the smaller loaves and about 35 minutes for the larger loaf, until lightly golden and baked bread aroma escapes your oven. This is how you know the bread is ready. It should be able to hear a hollow “knock” on the loaf when you knock on it, too.
• Remove from oven; allow to cool on a baking rack.

Notes

I use SAF instant yeast. If you can’t find it in your local grocery store, you can order it on Amazon via subscribe and save. I keep a small portion of yeast in the refrigerator; the rest is stored in a freezer bag or jar in the freezer. Yeast stores and keeps extremely well in the freezer.

Only add as much flour as you absolutely need to get a not-too-sticky dough. If you add too much flour, the resulting loaf will be dense.

The shape of bread is often more consistent if you flatten it out on the counter and roll it up. Then pinch the ends together.

The cacao or cocoa lends flavor and color. You can omit if you’d like a lighter loaf. The pepper, pickle water, or vinegar is solely for flavor. You can use water instead.

Keyword artisan, bread, plant-based, reuben, rye, vegan, yeast