By using a bread machine, it is simple to make classic Danish rye bread like this. (Traditional techniques may be used to make it, of course.) The bread, which is typically served on a Christmas holiday table, is quite spiced and goes perfectly with Danish open faced sandwiches (smorebrod). Perfect for those who enjoy their everyday bread with a spicy touch.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 35 mins |
| Additional Time: | 2 hrs 30 mins |
| Total Time: | 3 hrs 25 mins |
| Servings: | 16 |
| Yield: | 2 loaves |
Ingredients
- 1 cup milk
- 1 cup water
- 3 tablespoons butter
- ½ cup light molasses
- ⅓ cup white sugar
- 1 tablespoon grated orange zest
- 1 tablespoon fennel seed
- 1 tablespoon anise seed
- 1 tablespoon caraway seed
- 1 tablespoon cardamom
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast
- ¼ cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
- 2 cups rye flour
- 5 cups all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons butter, melted
Instructions
- Heat milk in a medium saucepan until scalding and small bubbles are forming around the edges, but just before the milk reaches a boil. Remove pan from heat and stir in the water, butter, molasses, sugar, orange zest, anise seed, caraway seed, cardamom and salt; allow to step and cool 30 minutes at room temperature.
- In a bread maker, stir the yeast into the warm water and let sit for 5 minutes. Pour the cooled milk and spice mixture into the bread machine with the yeast mixture. Add the flour to the bread machine. Run the bread machine on the dough cycle.
- Grease two 9×5 inch loaf pans. When the dough cycle is complete, remove the dough from the machine, divide in half, form into 2 loaves, and place in the prepared loaf pans. Cover and allow to rise for 30 minutes, or until your finger leaves a small dent when you poke the loaves.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
- Bake the loaves until they sound hollow when tapped on the bottom, 35 to 40 minutes. Brush the hot loaves with melted butter; cool before serving.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 287 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 54 g |
| Cholesterol | 13 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 4 g |
| Protein | 6 g |
| Saturated Fat | 3 g |
| Sodium | 189 mg |
| Sugars | 11 g |
| Fat | 6 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Perfect first try delishous
I made this last week and had to use a different spice selection due to my love of cardamom but not so much love for fennel and caraway seeds …. also I wanted to use up the rye flour I’ve had kicking around. I used 1 tsp ground ginger, 1 Tblsp rosemary, and 1 Tblsp cardamom. And I didn’t have an orange to zest so I used about 1/4 of orange juice. It was so good! Making it again … today! Oh and I didn’t use a bread machine!
I’m pretty new to bread making. This is the best bread I have ever made. I made the Breadtopia rye sourdough and, while it tasted okay, it was much more work and less flavorful. This has much more spice and a lighter but still substantial texture. The spice flavor is just wonderful. I did not dissolve the yeast before putting it in my bread machine because it isn’t advised for my model. I added the water used for the yeast to the milk mixture, and put the yeast in the regular way. My bread machine did have a bit of a hard time mixing the dough, which I have never experienced before (which isn’t that many times). I had to stop the kneading process and manually mix it a bit.
I have made this twice now, exactly as the recipe states, although I cannot get 5 cups of white flour in. I use about 4 cups max. This is a delicious bread. My original recipe I have used in the past is almost identical with the exception of some of the spices.
4 cups organic rye flour 3 cups GF Baking 1-1 Flour [Bob’s] Coconut Palm Sugar instead of Molasses and white sugar Ground all spices Added Old Fashioned bitters [1/2 tsp] Clementine Peel in bite sizes, poked in so they don’t burn Brushed with Coconut Oil and Ghee To die for. Clementine Peel in bite sizes worked well inside.
This turned out great! I made only 1 loaf (not 2) by halving all the ingredients. I did not use a bread machine but just did the usual 2 kneadings and 2 risings. It has a wonderful aroma and texture….served it with beef stew.
This bread is delicious
This recipe was outstanding. I needed to make some modifications that I was skeptical about, so I could bake this in my bread machine as well. I cut the recipe in half to make one loaf. My bread machine calls for the dry yeast added last on top of the dry ingredients, rather than proofed. To make that work, I made sure that the spiced liquid was “warm to the touch” instead of room temperature. As one reviewer noted, their molasses was years past its date, but still worked. Mine, too. I also followed one reviewer’s advice to double the caraway seed to replace the fennel seed, which I didn’t have. This is definitely going to become a holiday favorite. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
I loved this–I loved the flavor, the consistency, everything. Hubs was much less impressed with this recipe. He’s not the biggest fan of rye bread though so we’ll forgive him. Very distinct flavor in this bread from all the seeds, so if you aren’t a fan of them, you may prefer a different bread, or you may prefer to leave out what you don’t like. This results in a lovely, somewhat dense and moist loaf. Thanks for the recipe!
I absolutely LOVE this recipe! I’ve made it about 4-5 times already and am just getting on allrecipes now to make sure I have all the ingredients to make it again today! I love the spiciness of it and I leave the seeds whole in my bread. I cannot rave enough about this bread!
Amazing, tastes just like the rye bread my Grandma used to make. LOVE IT
Pretty good, but awfully spicy as written. Nice dessert-type bread.
An excellent Christmas bread;I made two loaves today and plan to make two tomorrow! I substituted fennell for anise (just added 2 Tbsp instead of one) and 1 1/2 tsp. nutmeg and 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon for the cardamom. Yummy! The seeds were an odd texture, so next time I may put them in my food processor to chop them.
Wonderful alongside vegetable soup. Moist, sturdy, & rises well. After beginning to mix, I realized I did not have caraway OR anise, but the bread still turned out VERY flavorful with the other spices. My two loaves were ready at about 30 minutes.
Even though my molasses expired 4 years ago, the bread was still excellent!
This bread is unbelievably good! The flavor is off the charts. I couldn’t believe I made something this good–it seriously tastes like something you’d order at a bakery. The texture is perfect, and not at all dried out the way whole grain homemade bread sometimes turns out. I don’t have a bread machine, so I let it rise 2 hours, separated it into two loaf pans and let it rise another hour. I didn’t have the anise or fennel, and I doubled the caraway. I will make this again and again. This is possibly my favorite bread of all time, and I wasn’t a fan of rye until now.
This is a keeper! I’ve made this recipe twice and here’s my contribution:I used a spice grinder for half the seeds and mortar and pestled the other half. Instead of proofing the yeast in warm water, I used coffee. I mixed a Tablespoon of plain yogurt into the milk.
Just took a picture of the bread I made using this recipes. I don’t use bread mashines, so I mixed every thing up by hand, the bread turned out great. Thank you for the great recipes Mange tak (thanks in danish)
I made this lower sodium and lower carb by salt and sugar substitutes and ground the seeds due to problems with whole seeds.Other than that followed recipe exactly as written. We enjoyed this bread very very much.A must try recipe!!!
I’ve been baking bread for 40 years, and when I tried this yesterday, Hubby said it was the best bread I ever baked – and that’s saying something if I do say so myself! I made a few changes because of Hubby’s diabetes – no white flour allowed. Doubled the rye flour, and made up the rest with whole wheat and whole wheat “pastry” flour. Had to add about 1 more cup of flour total, and substituted Splenda for the 1/3 C sugar. But it came out great and didn’t taste like “health food” at all! The aroma while it was baking was HEAVENLY.
Dense compact loaf loaded with flavor! I’ll be making this often during the holidays!