Danish Rye Bread

[Lagirl]

For those that don't know, Danes tend to really love their Danish Rye Bread. For Americans, I can tell you right now that images of soft rye bread filled with the smell of caraway is not the same thing. (I don't know if Brits are any more familiar with the bread than Americans are though.)

This is the recipe from the Danish Embassy in Washington DC:



The secret behind the dark rye bread is the leaven (also called sourdough). The leaven can be kept in the refrigerator for weeks and weeks and all it needs is to be refreshed every once in a while. Here is the recipe for

Dark rye bread with leaven
To bake with leaven, save a little bit of the dough before it is set aside to rise. Then you have the starter for your next loaf. Actually, you only have to make the leaven once.

Many Danes consider it something of a sport to be able to make bread for years from the same leaven. It is kept in a glass in the refrigerator and can stay fresh for about 3 weeks. It can be frozen for up to 3 months, taken out 1-2 days before use, and thawed in the refrigerator.

It is easy to bake rye bread once you have learned how, but you must invest a little time in arriving at your own combination of flours, the time needed for the bread to rise, and how long it should be baked.

Leaven:
125 g (3/4 cup) coarsely ground rye flour
1 dl (2/3 cup) plain yoghurt
1 tbsp. coarse salt

Basic dough:
1 portion leaven
1 liter (1 qt. 2 oz.) lukewarm water
1 tbsp. salt
500 g (3 ¾ cups) whole-wheat flour
500 g (3 ¾ cups) plain wheat flour

Rye-bread dough:
3 1/3 dl (1 1/3 cups) lukewarm water
650 g (5 cups) coarsely ground rye flour

Brush with:
A little oil

Mix together the flour, yoghurt, and salt in a bowl. Cower with plastic wrap and set in a warm place for 2-3 days until the dough bubbles. To make the basic dough, dilute the leaven with the water. Add salt, whole-wheat flour, and plain wheat flour. Cover and let the dough rise about 12 hours.

Add the lukewarm water and rye flour to the basic dough. The dough should be so soft that it cannot be kneaded with the hands.(You can take c. 2 dl (1 cup) of the dough as a starter for your next bread). Pour the dough into a greased 3-liter (3-quart) loaf pan, cover, and let rise for 10-12 hours. Brush the bread with oil and prick with a fork. Put the loaf pan in a cold oven. Set the temperature at 180°C (350°F) and bake for 1 ½ to 2 hours.

Wrap the bread in a clean dishtowel and cool on a backing rack. It is easiest to slice the bread if you wait until the next day. It freezes well.

-- If you know a Dane.. surprize them with a loaf of this bread! They'll love ya for it.

[mykfin]

Dont know much about making bread but the best rye bread (in my opinion ) in the uk is the Ukrainian and polish rye bread.Ive tried them all and non are as good as these.

Made from a mixture of rye and wheat flours,a sour dough ferment,which develops into a natural preservative then blended together to give it that unique flavour.Huuummmmmm.

[Lagirl]

Polish Rye and Ukranian Rye are yeast breads.. entirely different types of bread.. It's the caraway rye I mentioned. Danish rye is a very heavy bread with no yeast and is very dark brown..Both are rye and both are sour dough breads.. but they are different types of bread that you can't really compare the two, but you could compare Danish rye to German pumpernickle.

This is Polish Rye.. Probably yummy as heck too.


Here's the Danish Rye and even if you think Polish rye is better.. you'd be hardpressed to find a Dane to agree.

[mykfin]

I cant really compare the Polish rye with the Danish rye as ive not tried the Danish.They must sell it somewhere here in the NW of England,so im going to try and get some and i will let you know.

cheers LaGirl.

[Lagirl]

I like the Danish Rye now.. but I and most people I know that have had it wasn't too crazy about it at first.

It's has a strong taste and a very dense texture so I think it takes a little getting used to.

Just remember not to compare it to Polish rye.. but to pumpernickel.. We used to have lots of that soft carroway rye back in the States and I loved it.. yummy.. but I haven't seen any at all over here in Sweden. *pouts*

Awe.. now I am drooling thinking about a soft yummy turkey on rye.

*changes the subject and walks away*

[mykfin]

Still cant get hold if any Danish rye it looks like i will have to go to the the big smoke and try there.

LaGirl have you tried Anna`s traditional Swedish cookies?
Just bought some cappuccino thins------ absolutely scrummy.

[Lagirl]

I hadn't seen any brand of cookies called Anna's so I looked around for them while Xesc and I were out shopping, but no luck.

Anna's does however have a web-site and apparantly the crisps you bought aren't available in Sweden.

http://www.annas.se/index_eng.asp

http://www.annasthins.ca/default.html

These the ones?

[mykfin]

Yep! those are they. Cant understand you not being able to get them in Sweden----strange---- they are made in Tyreso, Sweden. Not sure where that is, cant find it on my map?

I think i will dunk a couple with my tea.

ciao LaGirl.