Danish Rye Bread

I’ve been baking a lot of bread lately as you may have noticed, but I’ve been putting this little project off for far too long. It involves a few steps over a couple of days, so it’s not something you just throw together. But the reward in the end… so delicious! It’s heavenly with just a spread of vegan butter, and next level if you start adding hummus and veggies, or lettuce, vegan “seafood” dip, seaweed caviar, lemon and dill. I have a few Danish friends here, and I hope this recipe is fairly authentic. This one is from the Swedish cookbook “Vår kokbok Hälsa” and makes three loaves of bread.

Day 1
5 dl rye kernels (whole or crushed)
5 dl sunflower seeds
1 dl flax seeds
1 dl pumpkin seeds
2 tbsp salt
5 dl water

Put all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Bring the water to boil and pour in over the mix. Give it a stir, cover with a lid and refrigerate until the next day.

Day 2
25 g fresh yeast
5 dl water
25 g rye sourdough (can be excluded, add 10 g extra yeast instead)
3 dl dark syrup (Google tells me this is similar to American molasses)
7 dl coarse rye flour (365 g)
7 dl plain flour (420 g)

Disolve the yeast in water, no warmer than 37 C. Add syrup, the mix from Day 1, and both types of flour. Work the dough in a kitchen aid for about 30 min on low speed. Cover three loaf trays with parchment paper and split the dough evenly between them. Leave to rise until the dough has doubled in size, approx. 3-4 hours.
Bake at 250 C for 10 min. Lower the temperature to 200 C and bake for another hour.
Take the loaves out of the trays and leave to cool on a rack. Wrap the loaves in kitchen towels and leave until the next day before slicing. Freeze any bread that you won’t eat in the next 2-3 days.