German Dark Rye Bread

Home-baked Dark Rye Bread – is there anything quite like it? This rich, aromatic bread is made with a 40/60 rye to bread flour mix and infused with molasses, cocoa, and a triple-seed mix for its distinctive flavor and color.

Jump to:

• What's the Story Behind this Bread Recipe?
• Tips for Working with Mixed-Flour Rye Bread Dough
• What Goes into German Dark Rye
• How to Make the Best Dark Rye Bread
• German Dark Rye Bread

What's the Story Behind this Bread Recipe?

I am so excited to finally be able to share my German Dark Rye Bread recipe with you! Mr B and I both love rye bread, but it seems to be getting harder and harder to find a decent loaf of it, especially good dark rye bread. I started developing this recipe at least two years ago just to fill the void.

Mixing up rye bread is tricky, and I learned a lot about the chemistry of bread making during the process. Recipe ingredients must to be carefully considered and balanced just so to achieve the flavor balance and reaction you are going for.

In the end, creating this rye bread recipe took far longer to perfect (and many more test loaves) than I had imagined, but it was totally worth the effort, and I could not be happier with the final results! I hope you are, too.

Happy Baking!

Tips for Working with Mixed-Flour Rye Bread Dough

Authentic, Old World German Dark Rye contains only rye flour. It is thick and dense, with a tight, fine crumb. This is in part because rye flour contains far less gluten than wheat. Thus, breads made with all rye flour don't expand as much as those made with mostly wheat flour. 

This recipe is a mixed-flour rye bread; about 40% rye flour and 60% wheat flour. This hybrid-style rye bread has the flavor and texture you are probably most familiar with when it comes to dark German rye, especially outside of Germany.

Kneading Dough Containing Rye Flour

If you typically make bread with white bread flour, you are used to kneading a dough that has some elasticity - a bit of bounce-back. Think of white flour bread dough as an innerspring mattress.

In that light, mixed-flour rye dough (like this one, made with both rye and wheat flour) is more like a memory foam mattress. It doesn't bounce back as readily, and has an almost clay-like reaction when an impression is made. You can knead it all day long and it still won't be as bouncy as a full wheat dough.

(For the record, 100% rye dough reacts like a mattress filled with coarse, wet sand. No bounce at all.)

Adjusting for Humidity & Other External Factors

Balancing moisture in bread is tricky, and in rye bread in particular. The ratio of liquid-to-dry ingredients varies from season to season, and even from loaf to loaf. External elements, like humidity and temperature, can affect not only flour, but the level of activity in the yeast, so it is important to factor them into the bread equation.

Under optimal conditions, the liquid-to-dry ratio in this rye bread recipe is perfect. However, this recipe was calibrated to err on the side of being too moist as opposed to too dry.

Moisture in bread is a good thing: it is one of the factors that activate gluten proteins, and gluten is what makes bread supple and pliable. But occasionally you can have too much of a good thing.

If, after kneading the it for a couple of minutes, your dough continues to be sticky and unstructured (more like cookie dough than bread dough), go ahead and sprinkle in up to ¼ cup additional wheat flour. Try not to add more than that or your dough may result in stiff, crumbly bread.

After you add any flour, knead the dough for another couple of minutes before deciding if you need to add more. It takes time for the gluten to develop and start to pull the whole thing together. In many instances, the issue with overly sticky mixed-flour rye bread dough isn't too much moisture; it is that the baker hasn't given the gluten enough time to form.

What Goes into German Dark Rye

Important: For this rye bread recipe (and all bread recipes for that matter) we strongly recommend using a kitchen scale to weigh the ingredients. You can find ingredient weights by clicking from "US Customary" to "Metric" found on the recipe card beneath the Ingredients title.

★ Bread flour: For this recipe, it is important to use bread flour; not all-purpose flour. I use Bob's Red Mill Artisan Bread Flour for all my bread baking. (We are lucky enough to live only about an hour from Bob's Red Mill so we can easily restock.)

Bread flour contains higher amounts of protein and gluten. The extra protein lends structure to this dough, allowing it to lift and hold its shape better. The extra gluten helps balance out the relative lack of gluten in the rye flour.

★ Rye flour: This recipe was tested using both King Arthur Organic Medium Rye Flour and Bob's Red Mill Organic Dark Rye Flour, in separate batches. Both flours worked equally well, and there was little, if any, difference in flavor of the breads.

★ Seeds: The combination of three seeds - fennel, anise, and caraway - gives this rye bread its distinctive flavor.

Some folks have strong opinions about the seeds in rye bread; particularly about caraway seeds. If you want to leave one or more of the seeds out, go ahead. They don't affect the overall bake, but omitting them dramatically affects the flavor of the bread.

★ Milk: Adding milk to bread dough produces a softer, more supple loaf than water alone, due to its higher fat content. 

I always use whole milk when making bread. Milk can either be fresh, or rehydrated from dried milk.

Do not use all milk/no water in this recipe. The amount of yeast is balanced for the sugars in the molasses and milk. Changing the ratio requires adjusting the amount of yeast.

★ Butter: Use real, salted butter.

★ Yeast: Use regular active dry yeast. Do not use rapid rise yeast.

Color and Flavor Agents

Rye flour bakes naturally to a grey-blue color, and bread made with it can have a less than appealing appearance. For centuries now, bakers have added molasses, coffee, and/or cocoa to give dark rye dough its signature deep chocolate color.

★ Instant coffee: Use either regular or decaf instant coffee. Coffee enhances both the flavor and color of the bread.

You can substitute a cup of room temperature coffee for the instant coffee and water in the recipe.

★ Cocoa: Use a Dutch processed baking cocoa powder. Dutch processed cocoa isn't acidic like natural cocoa powder is. Acid weakens gluten and breaks it down; something you want to avoid especially when making bread that naturally has less gluten to begin with, like rye bread.

★ Molasses: Use light or dark molasses. Do not use blackstrap molasses.

How to Make the Best Dark Rye Bread

Note: I usually mix and knead rye dough in a stand mixer; however, the dough can also be mixed entirely by hand.

Mix Dough

Combine fennel seeds, anise seeds, and caraway seed in a spice grinder, clean coffee grinder, or mortar & pestle and grind until the mixture is the texture of medium-grind cornmeal.

In a large bowl, whisk together white and rye flours, cocoa, instant coffee, salt, and the ground seed mixture. Set aside.

In a medium saucepan over medium-low, heat the milk, molasses, and butter until the butter melts and the mixture is barely beginning to bubble just around the edges of the pan. Remove from heat.

Stir in the water. The mixture should register 105°-115°F| 40°-43°C on an instant-read thermometer. If it is hotter, allow it to cool before continuing.

Stir the yeast into the warm milk mixture. Let it stand until the yeast becomes foamy; 3-5 minutes.

Pour the wet mixture into the bowl of an electric stand mixer.

With the mixer on low, slowly add the dry flour mixture to the milk mixture, scraping the bowl as necessary.

Mix on low until the flour and milk mixture are thoroughly combined. The dough will be quite sticky.

Knead

Important: If, after kneading the dough for a couple of minutes, the dough continues to be sticky and unstructured, sprinkle in up to ¼ cup additional bread flour. (See Adjusting for External Factors for more.)

Kneading with a Stand Mixer

Using a bread hook, knead the dough for about 10 minutes; until it appears resilient and smooth, and no longer sticks to the edges of the mixing bowl.

Kneading by Hand

Spread a tablespoon or two of oil on your bread-kneading surface. Knead the dough by hand for 8-12 minutes; until it is smooth and resilient.

Rye dough isn’t as supple as white bread dough, and has an almost clay-like texture when fully kneaded. When you are done kneading, the dough should no longer stick to your hands.

Bulk Fermentation (1^st Rise)

Grease a large bowl with vegetable oil. Form the bread dough into a ball and put it in the oiled bowl, turning to coat.

Cover lightly with a damp kitchen towel or greased plastic wrap, and let rise for about 1 - 1½ hours; until it has almost doubled in size. The dough should be light and puffy.

Poke Test

To determine if the dough is done rising, poke a floured finger about ½-inch into the dough. It should feel soft and smooth, and your finger should leave an indent in the dough. If the dough springs back right away, let it rise for a little longer. If the dough springs back slowly, and a small indentation remains, move to the next step.

To grease plastic wrap, spray it lightly with non-stick cooking spray. Ungreased plastic wrap may stick to your loaf.

Proofing (2^nd Rise)

Gently punch down the dough, and then shape it into either a round or log-shaped loaf, depending on how you plan to bake it.

Place loaf into a floured banneton or brotform proofing basket.

I prefer to use a proofing basket and bake on a baking stone, especially when making rye and sourdough bread. If you don't have a proofing basket, then use a parchment-lined 8x4-inch bread loaf pan.

Cover the loaf of dough lightly with a damp kitchen towel or greased plastic wrap, and allow it rise for 30-45 minutes. Poke it again to determine if it is ready to bake.

Rye dough does not fully double on the second, proofing rise; it will be closer to a 50-70% increase.

Prep to Bake

Preheat Oven

Preheat oven to 400°F (177°C) about half an hour before the loaf will go in to bake, placing the baking rack in the center of the oven.

For this loaf, I highly recommend using a baking stone if you have one. Place the stone in the oven before you begin preheating the oven.

It is important that the oven is fully heated when the bread is ready in so the bread doesn't slump as it waits to be put in the oven.

Prep the Loaf

Add any seeds or oatmeal you want to the top the loaf with at this time.

Using a sharp, wet knife, slash the top of the loaf a few times right before putting it in the oven.

Rye bread doesn’t have the same kind of dramatic oven rise that white bread often does, so if you forget to slash it– no worries, but doing so does help to encourage even baking.

Bake

Put loaf in the preheated oven, on a baking stone if you are using one.

Use a clean mister filled with water to mist the loaf and the inside of the oven. Misting prevents the outer layer of the dough from drying out, allowing the bread to rise more freely and keeping it from browning too quickly.

Bake for 30-35 minutes. When the loaf is fully baked, the bread should sound hollow when thumped, and an instant-read digital thermometer should register 190°F (88°C).

Remove the bread from the oven, and place it on a rack to cool. If you bake the bread in a loaf pan, turn the loaf out after 10 minutes.

Bread continues to bake internally for a few minutes after it comes out of the oven, so it is important to let it cool naturally before slicing.

Want a real treat? Cut a couple of slices of fresh dark rye, and make yourself an awesome Rueben sandwich!

Is this authentic German Dark Rye Bread?

It depends on which side of the Atlantic you stand.

Old World German Rye Bread, known as Roggenbrot, contains only rye flour. It is almost always made with rye sourdough, and has a rough, notably rustic texture. Schwarzbrot (German black bread) and traditional pumpernickel rye bread fall into this category.

This dark rye bread recipe contains both wheat and rye flours and is leavened using baker's yeast. This softer, hybrid-style dark rye is what you are likely most familiar with if you live the in the US. It is known in Germany as Roggenmischbrot (mixed rye bread).

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