Danish Rye Bread (Rugbrød) is dense, hearty, and packed with rye flour, whole grains, and a variety of nutritious seeds. A true staple of Nordic cuisine, this richly flavored, slightly tangy bread is the foundation of smørrebrød (Danish open-faced sandwiches) and a key part of the Scandinavian diet.
If you've ever tried to find authentic rugbrød in the U.S., you know it can be a challenge. Most store-bought rye bread here is closer to deli rye or pumpernickel, lacking the depth and texture of traditional Danish rye. But the good news? You can make it at home-easily!
If you keep a sourdough starter around, you might also want to consider trying my recipe for Sourdough Danish Rye Bread (Rugbrød) which is also really delicious!
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Ingredients
For the Soaker:
- 7 grain cereal - provides the hearty backdrop of the bread. Traditional rugbrød recipes call for rye chops which are just coarsely chopped pieces of rye grains. Because rye chops can be hard to find in the U.S., this recipe calls for a 7 grain cereal mix instead (feel free to use rye chops if you have access to them! They work just as well here). 7 grain cereal mix is simply a combination of several different coarsely chopped grains including wheat, rye, triticale, oats, oat bran, barley and/or brown rice. I often use the Bob's Red Mill brand, but have also had good luck with this mix from Nuts.com.
- Sunflower, pumpkin and flax seeds - bring texture, flavor and nutrients to this hearty, substantial loaf.
For the Dough:
- A combination of bread flour and rye flour - is key to providing the gluten structure this bread needs to keep its shape.
- Instant yeast - serves as the leavener. Please note that instant or rapid rise yeast and active dry yeast are two different things. The essential difference between the two is that instant yeast can be mixed right in with the dry ingredients whereas active dry yeast is designed to be proofed in warm liquid prior to adding it to the recipe. Instant yeast is also more reliable, effective and fast-acting.
- Molasses - not only sweetens and flavors the dough, it also helps deepen the dark brown color of the final loaf.
- Water
- Salt
- Butter - for greasing the pan.
The Equipment
- a sturdy stand mixer
- a 13 x 4 inch pullman pan with lid
How To Make Danish Rye Bread (Rugbrød)
The Night Before:
- 8-12 hours before you plan to make the bread, combine the rye flour, bread flour, instant yeast and cold water together in a large bowl (I just use the bowl that goes with my stand mixer since that is where it will eventually go....one less bowl to wash). Hold back on the molasses and salt for now. Stir to combine as best you can (mixture will be thick), and then knead briefly with your hands until you have a cohesive mixture. The dough will be very thick and clay-like in texture. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside at room temperature.
- At the same time, mix the soaker together: Combine all the ingredients for the soaker together in a medium bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside at room temperature.
The Morning of Baking:
- 8-12 hours later, finish mixing the dough: Grease a 13 x 4 inch pullman loaf pan with butter and dust with rye flour, including the lid. Set aside. Combine the dough, molasses, salt and the soaker (do not drain the soaker. Go ahead and put in the water and the soaked seeds) in the work bowl of a stand mixer. Using the paddle attachment, mix on low for 2-3 minutes, scraping down the sides occasionally. Increase the speed to medium and continue to mix for another 2-3 minutes. The dough will be very sticky at this point.
- Scrape or spoon the dough into the prepared pan and smooth out the top. Damp fingers or a moistened spatula can help with this if you are having a hard time getting the top smooth.
- Dust the top of the loaf with a thin, even layer of rye flour and place the pullman lid cover on top of the pan. Let the dough rise for 1½ -3 hours at room temperature or until it is about ½ inch from the top of the pan. The time that it takes for your dough to rise will largely depend on the temperature of the dough and your kitchen.
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 500 degrees. Bake the loaf with the lid on for 15 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 400 degrees and continue to bake, covered, for an additional 15 minutes. Remove the pan from oven and carefully slide the lid off. Reduce the temperature to 325 degrees and bake, uncovered, for an additional 45 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and immediately turn the loaf out onto a metal cooling rack set inside a rimmed baking sheet. Return the bread to the oven for an additional 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow the bread to cool completely before slicing, at least 3 hours or overnight if you can wait! Rye bread is even better a day after baking.
- Remove from the oven and allow the bread to cool completely before slicing, at least 3 hours or overnight if you can wait! Rye bread is even better a day after baking.
Expert Tip
- Wait a day before enjoying your bread! Unlike wheat breads which are best eaten shortly after cooling, both the texture and flavor of rye bread improves after a rest of 12-24 hours. Once the bread has cooled completely, wrap it loosely in foil and cut into it the following day.
Recipe FAQs
Rugbrød simply means "rye bread" in Danish. It is a sturdy, dense loaf that is comprised of rye flour, chopped rye grains and is often studded with sunflower, pumpkin and/or flax seeds. It is often baked in a 13 x 4 inch pullman pan with a lid. This helps the rye bread bake properly and gives it its characteristic square shape.
It can be stored loosely wrapped in foil at room temperature for about 5 days.
Yes! Rugbrød freezes very well. Tightly wrap the bread (either a whole or partial loaf or slices) in plastic wrap and then either tightly wrap it in foil or place it inside of a freezer bag. It will keep for a couple of months.
I have had many readers tell me they have split the dough into two 9 x 5 loaf pans instead of using the pullman pan with excellent results. Use a heavy baking sheet as a "lid" for the covered portion of the baking and keep the baking times and temperatures the same.
If you have a smaller mixer, it may be difficult to get all of the dough in the bowl at one time. If that is the case, simply mix half of the overnight dough, molasses, salt and the soaker and then mix the second half. Combine all of the dough together in the loaf pan for baking.
Rye breads, particularly those baked here in America, often have a variety of ingredients added to them to enhance their color (making them darker in appearance) and flavor. Common additions include caramel coloring (no thank you), stout beer, cocoa powder, espresso powder and molasses. Rugbrød, in contrast, has very little additional flavoring, perhaps just a little molasses for sweetening. It is meant to be a very straightforward bread so that it can serve as a neutral base for a variety of different sandwich toppings.
Sometimes I will come across a rugbrød recipe that calls for flavor enhancers such as caraway, fennel or anise seed in the dough, but this seems to be more of an exception than the rule.
How and What to serve with Rugbrød
When it is served, Rugbrød is typically sliced thin (a little less than a quarter of an inch) and buttered liberally with salted butter. There is actually a word in Danish, tandsmør, which means "tooth butter". It refers to buttering your bread generously enough so that when you bite into it you can see your teeth marks in it.
It may be enjoyed as is, simply slathered with butter, or it can be piled with additional ingredients to form the base of smørrebrød , the famous Danish open-faced sandwiches. Check out this post about How to Make Smørrebrød at Home for everything you need to know about making these deliciously beautiful open-faced sandwiches with your rugbrød!
Related Recipes
Looking for more Scandinavian rye bread recipes? Give these a try:
If you tried this Danish Rye Bread (Rugbrød) recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it goes in the comments below. I love hearing from you!
Recipe
Easy Overnight Danish Rye Bread (Rugbrød)
Ingredients
For the Soaker:
- 2 ½ cups 7 grain hot cereal mix such as Bob's Red Mill brand or rye chops see note below
- 1 cup raw sunflower seeds
- 1 cup raw pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
- ½ cup flax seeds
- 2 ⅔ cups cold water
For the Dough:
- 2 cups dark rye flour I use the Bob's Red Mill brand, plus more for dusting the pan and loaf
- 2 cups bread flour
- 1 teaspoon instant dried yeast
- 1 ½ cups cold water
- 4 teaspoons salt
- ¼ cup molasses
- Butter for greasing the pan
Special Equipment Needed:
- Stand mixer
- Pullman pan with lid (13 x 4 inches in size)
Instructions
- For the Soaker: Combine all the ingredients for the soaker in a medium bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature overnight, approximately 8-12 hours.
- For the Dough: Combine both flours, yeast and water in a separate bowl. Stir to combine as best you can (mixture will be thick), and then knead briefly with your hands until you have a cohesive mixture. Dough will be very thick and clay-like in texture. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature overnight, about 8-12 hours.
- Grease a 13 x 4 inch pullman pan with lid with butter and dust with rye flour, including the lid. Set aside. Combine the soaker, flour mixture, salt and molasses in the bowl of a stand mixer. Fit mixer with paddle attachment and mix on low speed for 2-3 minutes until everything is thoroughly combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl from time to time. Increase speed to medium and mix for an additional 2-3 minutes, stopping to occasionally scrape down the sides of the bowl. Mixture will be quite sticky.
- Transfer the dough to the prepared pan. Smooth out the top and sift a thin layer of rye flour over the surface of the dough. Place lid on pan and let the dough rise for 1½ -3 hours at room temperature or until it is about ½ inch from the top of the pan. The time that it takes for your dough to rise will largely depend on the temperature of the dough and your kitchen.
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 500 degrees. Bake the loaf with the lid on for 15 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 400 degrees and continue to bake, covered, for an additional 15 minutes. Remove the pan from oven and carefully slide the lid off. Reduce the temperature to 325 degrees and bake, uncovered, for an additional 45 minutes. (The loaf should have an internal temperature of 205-210 degrees F on an instant read thermometer at this point). Remove from the oven and immediately turn the loaf out onto a metal cooling rack set inside a rimmed baking sheet. Return the bread to the oven for an additional 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow the bread to cool completely before slicing, at least 3 hours. Rye bread is even better a day after baking. If you can wait until the following day, let the completely cooled bread sit at room temperature loosely wrapped in foil overnight before slicing. The bread will keep at room temperature for 3-5 days loosely wrapped in foil. Freeze for longer storage.
Lucy says
Hi!
I imagine this is a silly question but it's my first time making rye bread. Would it still work by just using completely rye flour instead of the mix with bread flour? Or would it completely change the texture?
Thank you!
Kristi says
Hi Lucy!
Thanks for your question! It's nice to have the help of bread flour here because it brings a little gluten structure to the loaf (rye is very low in gluten) and prevents it from getting gummy on the inside (a common problem with 100% rye flour breads). I definitely recommend using a combination of the two. Happy baking and please report back and let me know what you think!
Kristi
Lydia says
Delicious! I mixed by hand so I wondered if next time I could reserve two cups of flour to add the next day? It would make mixing easier but not sure if it would interfere with the rise?
Kristi says
Hi Lydia,
Thank you for your comment. I'm so glad you enjoyed the bread! I am also impressed that you were able to mix the dough by hand. It's really thick and sticky! I'm not sure what would happen if you held back on some of the flour until the next day. I agree with you...it might affect the rise but I think only by slowing it down some. The recipe originally called for a small amount of instant yeast (1/2 teaspoon) to be added in the final mix. You could try that too just to give it a little extra help. Please report back if you give it a try!
Kristi
Lorrie says
This recipe looks lovely and very authentic! I do have a rye sourdough starter and would appreciate getting the recipe that uses one! Really looking forward to trying it!
Kristi says
Hi Lorrie,
Thank you for your nice note! If you want to use your sourdough starter, give this recipe a try. It gets a lot of good feedback from readers. Let me know if you have any questions. Happy baking!
Kristi
Patricia Swanson says
My husband is 50% Norwegian and Danish. We have visited those countries many times and have always,loved the bread. I was so excited to,find your recipe. Luckily, ai was able to get a Pullman Pan the exact size. Last night and today I made the first loaf. Tomorrow, I will taste it. I got a bit worried when at 1hour of raising in the pan that it hadn’t moved much. So, I set the time for another 45 minutes. This time, it had changed. I decided to preheat the oven, which took 15 minutes. By then, it was 1/2” from the top of the pan. So, in she went. I did all the steps exactly. I am thrilled with my Pullman pan. The loaf released immediately with hardly a crumb left behind. It is beautiful. I cannot wait to taste it tomorrow. Thank you for a splendid recipe.
Kristi says
Hi Patricia! I'm so glad you enjoyed the bread and that it reminds you of your travels to Scandinavia! Thank you for taking the time to let me know how it turned out. I really appreciate it. I hope you have a bunch of yummy open sandwiches planned!
Kristi
Patricia Swanson says
Hello again. I have now baked this recipe four times, I end up sharing a lot of each loaf with friends. I even made a waxed cotton bag in which to keep it. One question, the very center of the loaf seems unbaked as compared to the top, sides, and bottom. I am doing everything exactly as directed. Should I bake it longer? At which stage? Thinking at the stage of the uncovered pan??j Because we usually toast each slice, that center spot goes away. But, just need your thoughts. Thank you so much.
Kristi says
Hi Patricia,
I'm so glad you are enjoying the bread! I would tack on an extra 10 minutes of baking time at the very end after you have turned the loaf out onto the baking sheet. That should help it to continue to dry out in the low heat of the oven. Oven temps can vary so much from oven to oven, especially with this recipe where we are changing the oven temperature twice in the middle of the bake. And then just make sure to give it ample time at room temperature uncovered to cool before wrapping. I hope that helps. Let me know how it turns out!
Thanks,
Kristi
ryAn says
Is there a variation on this recipe that uses a rye starter rather than commercial yeast?
Kristi says
Hi!
I do have a recipe for sourdough rugbrød on the site here. It's not entirely the same but it is really delicious! I use a wheat starter in mine, but other readers have used a rye starter and reported excellent results. Happy baking!
Kristi
Nikolai says
Hey Kristi,
I am thinking of trying this recipe. I do have some maltmel (malt flour) do you know how much I should use of this instead of the molasses?
Thank you
Kristi says
Hi Nikolai,
Thanks for your question! I've never tried this recipe with malt powder in place of the molasses so I'm not sure how it would work. You would definitely lose some sweetness as molasses is sweeter than malt.
Kristi
Kristi says
Hi Gigi! Yes, it's so delicious. How lucky that you live near a bakery that can make it for you! Thank you for your comment!
Kristi
Gigi says
I love this bread! The Norwegian bakery in Seattle makes it and I usually get my weekly loaf. In my old age I am lucky enough to have someone else make it for me.
Alessandra says
Hi Gigi! I just stumbled across your comment and I’ve actually been looking for a place in Seattle that sells this type of bread! Would you mind sharing the bakery? Thanks 🙂
Doug Weller says
Fantastic! I was really afraid it would be too wet when I did the dough bit last night, it didn't seem clayey (how do you spell that?) enough, but it looked beautiful when I saw it at 6am! It was a beast to mix though, my Kenwood mixer is great but not super-sized. My Pullman pan is only 11 inches, and as I had 2kg of dough I put 1.5 kg in it and the rest in a fairly small loaf pan. That worked a treat, and the bread is a treat. I did wait 3 hours and then dove into the small loaf. I'll leave the big one out until tomorrow, then cut it up and freeze some. I struggle with my rye sourdough starter and am not sure if this bread could be improved with sourdough starter, but I'll try.
Kristi says
So glad to hear you enjoyed it! It is such a delicious loaf. I can't wait for you to try the sourdough version! It's up on the blog now. It's a little different than this one....more flour and less of the cereal mix/rye chops. A bit more refined I would say. For the record, I use a plain old bread flour sourdough starter for all my breads. So if you keep a rye starter and a wheat starter, feel free to use either in the rugbrød recipe.
cheryl graber says
hi Kristi - i would love to try this recipe but at this time am unable to purchase the pan with lid that you recommend. can I use a traditional loaf pan or something else??
thanks!
Kristi says
Hi Cheryl! I think you could try splitting the bread dough between 2 regular size loaf pans OR making a half recipe and use one regular loaf pan. For the lid, I have covered my loaf pan with a heavy cookie sheet before and that worked fine. Just make sure you grease and flour the part of the cookie sheet that will come into contact with the bread. I would leave the baking time the same. I hope this helps! Please report back if you give it a try! I made a loaf yesterday and am about to dive into it for breakfast!
Cheryl says
Hi Kristi - I finally got around to making the bread and it was amazing! My husband spent lots of time in Copenhagen and has been looking for something like this. It was perfect and I will certainly make it again. Thanks so much!
Kristi says
Hi Cheryl! Thank you for taking the time to get back to me. I'm so glad you loved the bread and that it worked out to bake it in two pans. I will have to try that myself....it might be nice to bake one and freeze one. I'm curious....do you use yours for open sandwiches and do you have a favorite?
cheryl says
we like to add a New York twist - favorite is one slice toasted up crisp with cream cheese and lox topped with dill! I did freeze one loaf and it was just as delicious out of the freezer.Really enjoying your recipes, thanks again
Kristi says
Oh yum! That sounds amazing. I will have to give it a try! I'm always looking for new sandwich ideas.
Ann says
Hey Kristi, Can you share I have your sourdough recipe with me? I am trying to figure out the best way to create some good Rugbrod in the bread machine.....lots of fails but I am getting closer! If you have any ideas please share! Thank you!
Kristi says
Hi Ann! I would be happy to! If you want to e-mail me directly at kristi@true-north-kitchen.com I'll send it over.
Kristi
Holly says
Hi there, this looks like a great recipe for rugbrød. I am also wondering if you have a similar recipe that uses a rye sourdough starter instead of yeast? And also is manual mixing okay as I don’t have a stand mixer? Thanks in advance.
Kristi says
Hi Holly! I do have a rugbrød sourdough recipe that is really good. I can e-mail it to you if you are interested. You certainly can mix the dough manually, it is just really sticky and difficult to work with. But I would definitely give it a try!
Stephen says
I would love your sourdough rugbrød recipe as well. My mom has fond memories of the time she spent in Denmark after college.
Kristi says
Hi Stephen!
Here is the link to the sourdough version. Hope you enjoy it! https://true-north-kitchen.com/sourdough-danish-rye-bread-rugbrod/
Kristi
George Sevelle says
Yes I'd like to try the recipe using a sourdough starter instead of comercial yeast.
Thank you for sharing.
Kristi says
George,
I just sent the recipe to your e-mail address. Let me know if you have any questions!
Thanks,
Kristi
Leanne says
Kristi,
I, too, would love the sourdough rugbrod recipe! Thank you!
Leanne
Kristi says
Hi Leanne!
Thanks for your request! Here is the link to the sourdough rugbrød recipe. Happy baking!
Kristi
George Sevelle says
Have you tried this recipe using a Rye Sourdough Starter. If so what amount did you use and how much water did you remove from the yeast based recipe.
Kristi says
Hi George,
I have not tried this particular recipe with a sourdough starter. I do have another recipe for sourdough rugbrød that is very good. I'm happy to share it with you if you are interested (it's not on the blog yet).
Thanks,
Kristi
Judy says
I was looking for that brown bread found everywhere in Scandinavia at breakfast and the base for open-face sandwiches. This is it! The loaf needs to sit for a couple of days, and it tastes exactly right. So happy to have a fun recipe to keep my pantry stocked with this bread. Thank you.
Kristi says
Thanks for the feedback, Judy! I'm so glad you enjoyed it!
Bente Goyer says
Hello. Have been trying so many recipes and this one is the best. I just love how moist the bread was. Thank you so much. It is now my go to recipe.
Kristi says
Thank you for your feedback! I'm so glad it worked out well for you. It's definitely my go-to recipe, too!
Juliette Grey says
Hello
Thank you so much for your recipe.
We are in Australia & it's not easy to find bread like this. I was lucky to experience similar bread in Germany & we are so happy to be able to make it at home. The hardest part is leaving it to rest!
Kristi says
Hi Juliette,
So glad to hear that! Thanks for your comment!
Kristi