Homemade rye breads: Simple recipes for flavorful loaves
At bakeries, a good rye bread loaf with seeds can cost up to $7. Meanwhile, making homemade bread is surprisingly easy. Plus, from 1 kilogram of flour, you can bake up to 6 small loaves. Recently, I found that one loaf lasts me a week and stays fresh throughout.
You can make homemade bread with seeds using either wheat or rye flour. Bread made with wheat flour is lighter, but rye flour offers more flavour and fibre. You can create endless variations from a basic recipe. My current favourite is bread with nigella seeds and flaxseeds.
How to prepare seed bread at home without sourdough?
At home, you can make bread with wheat or rye sourdough, but it requires time. The sourdough matures for about 7 days, and then the bread rises overnight.
An easier method is to use dry yeast for the dough. Simply mix it with the other ingredients, and after 2 hours, you can bake the loaves.
What additions make homemade bread best?
It depends on personal taste. According to my mom’s advice, if you add dried fruits, choose one kind. Mixing cranberries, plums, and raisins may result in a mushy texture.
Use seeds moderately. Pick 2-3 types that complement each other. If using large seeds like pumpkin seeds, ensure they are well integrated into the dough to be evenly distributed. If clumped, they can make slicing difficult.
Rye bread with nigella and flaxseeds
This recipe uses 1 kilogram of flour, yielding 3 large rectangular baking pans or 6 smaller pâté molds.
Dry Ingredients:
- 1.5 cups light flaxseeds,
- 2 cups sunflower seeds,
- 1 cup oatmeal,
- 2 packets of nigella seeds,
- 2 tablespoons salt,
- 1 kilogram rye bread flour,
- 2 packets dry yeast (1 packet per 500 grams of flour).
Wet Ingredients:
- 3 tablespoons honey,
- 1.5 litres warm water.
Preparation Method:
- Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
- Add the wet ingredients and knead the dough by hand or with a mixer using dough hooks.
- Pour the dough into pans greased with olive oil, filling up to 2/3 full since the dough will rise.
- Cover with a clean cloth and let rest in a warm place for 2 hours.
- Place the pans in an oven preheated to 350°F for 70 minutes.
- Open the oven, brush the loaves with olive oil. Lower the temperature to 320°F and bake for another 15 minutes.
