Bread Machine Swedish Rye Bread Recipe

My dad's favorite homemade bread is a traditional Swedish Rye, a yeast bread that's slightly sweet and bright with orange zest, anise (or fennel) and caraway. So I adapted our old family recipe for Swedish Rye Bread for the bread machine, that means he can make it too! He's a popular guy at potlucks, walking in with a warm loaf of just-baked bread. All the widows swoon! But me? I knead the bread by hand and shape my own loaves. Whether made in a bread machine or by hand, either way, Swedish Rye Bread is a welcome treat, plain, spread with a little butter or toasted.

On cool Saturday mornings, the oven seems to plead to this long-time bread maker, “Make bread! Please! Make bread!” Most loaves emerge plump and fragrant, demanding to be sliced and buttered on the spot.

In my home state of Minnesota, home to generations of Swedes, Finns and Norwegians, there are many accomplished bread bakers. Every time my dad bites into a slice of rye bread, I know he's silently comparing it to Barbara Robinson's (a family friend, sadly long gone) who made the best Swedish rye in town. No wonder I've worked so hard to really perfect Swedish Rye Bread!

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What trouble! Only three of the first fourteen loaves were perfect. I made one silly mistake after another, like forgetting to insert the kneading blade or to press the Start button.

More than that, I've become a real fan of using a stand mixer for mixing bread dough, see Is a Stand Mixer Better for Kneading Bread Dough? for lots on that thinking.

Before we move into how to make Swedish Rye Bread, either in a bread maker or by hand, let's go back to basics and remember what Swedish Rye is.

Danish Rye Bread (rugbrød)

Swedish Rye Bread is some times called Swedish Limpa and is a yeast bread traditional in Sweden. It's slightly sweet and has a tight crumb.

In part, its distinctive flavor comes from one of two flours in Swedish Rye, the rye flour itself. Rye is a grass grown as a grain, it's closely related to wheat and barley.

But rye flour is only one source of Swedish Rye's flavor. It has a delicate scent and taste of orange; it's seasoned with both anise and caraway.

Bread Machine Rye Bread Recipes

Swedish Rye makes great sandwich bread, great toast and will send you over the top when butter is slathered onto a warm heel ... or orange marmalade ... oops, sorry, I'm getting ahead of us, in anticipation!

Swedish Rye Bread has a short list of signature ingredients. Without these, you can make bread but you're not making Swedish Rye Bread.

Rye is relatively low in the all-important gluten that gives bread its structure. That's why Swedish Rye includes two flours, rye flour and bread flour. Without the bread flour, Swedish Rye wouldn't rise well. My recipe uses a 1:1 mix of rye flour:bread flour. Once, I was short on bread flour and just threw in some extra rye, thinking all would be well. It wasn't!

How To Make Rye Bread In A Bread Machine [best Recipes]

We may think of flour as just that commonplace dusty stuff that comes from a bag and is used for baking cookies and cakes and bread. All flour is the same, right? No, all flours are definitely not all the same!

Wheat has been cultivated by humankind for 10, 000 years. We've gotten pretty specialized! In today's world, there are so many types of flour on the shelf, it can get confusing.

The grain can vary (wheat vs rye, say) but there's also the milling process (whole-grain vs refined, say) to say nothing of the different varieties of wheat (spring wheat vs winter wheat, say) and different flour traditions (American vs Italian vs Indian, say) and the manufacturer (King Arthur vs Pillsbury, say).

Easy + Delicious Bread Machine Rye Bread

But let's focus! For bread, the one factor we're most concerned with is the percentage of gluten (aka protein) in a flour. And for our purposes, we're going to hone in on just a couple of everyday flours.

If you give your flour a sniff and it smells dusty or a little bit off? Buy fresh flour before making bread.

Good bread is worth special effort and investment. Your time is worth special effort and investment. Why go to the trouble of making good homemade bread but then use old ingredients?

Swedish Limpa (rye) Bread

Fennel and anise are indeed related but not the same spice. But fennel and anise taste so much the same, I use either one to make Swedish Rye. I promise, your bread will be so good, nobody's going to complain either way!

This Swedish Rye Bread is excellent ... slightly hearty, but at the same time ...very light, fluffy, moist and smooth. ... incredible and original flavor originates from the caraway/fennel seeds as well as the orange rind ... The crust is gorgeously crunchy and tasty ... not too dark, yet not plain at all, this loaf will [please those who like] white and brown breads [and] brioche type breads. A must-try for all of you bread addicts and homebakers!

I love using a digital thermometer [My Disclosure Promise] for meat but did you know, you can use the exact same technique for baking bread. I just baked two round free-form loaves until the interior reached 190F/90C. The bread was perfectly done, no more guesswork!

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If you make the same bread over and over again, you'll soon learn how long it takes to get to the proper internal temperature and can switch back to a timer.

Have you seen a butter bell? It keeps butter just the right temperature for easy spreading. It’s a must if you love bread ‘n’ butter! [My Disclosure Promise]

Add the ingredients in order listed, not letting the yeast touch liquid. Set for white bread and light crust. When baked, transfer to a cooling rack, brush top with butter.

Swedish Rye Bread (limpa) Recipe

ALANNA's TIPS Both anise and fennel work, so does all caraway. I like a combination of whole seeds and ground. But my favorite is a mix of fennel seed and fennel powder plus a touch of caraway.

(2012) I no longer have a bread machine so always mix this bread by hand, even a mixer is unnecessary. But I'm puzzled that the much-tested bread-machine version can use so much less flour than what's needed to make a hand-workable dough. Is it possible that a bread machine is a calorie-saver?

For just-buy-the-box convenience, Bob’s Red Mill also sells a stone ground rye bread mix for bread machines. It includes some caraway but I add fennel and orange zest to the mix. It’s not the same but good!

Swedish Rye Bread Recipe

NUTRITION INFORMATION Twelve slices, per slice: 164 Calories; 2g Tot Fat; 1g Sat Fat; 32g Carb; 9g Sugar; 5g Fiber; 302mg Sodium; 3mg Cholesterol; 9g Sugar; 5g Protein.

WEIGHT WATCHERS POINTS Old Points 2.5 & PointsPlus 4 & SmartPoints 6 & Freestyle 6 & myWW green 6 & blue 6 & purple 6

PROOF THE YEAST In small bowl, proof yeast with sugar and 1 tablespoon warm water. (If it doesn’t bubble up, the yeast is dead and you’ll need to repeat this step with new yeast.)

Bread Machine Swedish Limpa Rye Bread Recipe

MIX & KNEAD In large mixing bowl, mix water, 1 tablespoon butter, salt, honey, brown sugar, anise, caraway and orange zest with a wooden spoon. Gently stir in 1 cup bread flour and proofed yeast. Add remaining bread flour and rye flour until combined, then knead for 5 minutes, adding bread flour as needed.

FIRST RISE Transfer to a greased bowl, cover and let rise in a warm place until roughly doubled in size. With a fist, gently deflate the dough.

SHAPE & SECOND RISE Form into a loaf, transfer to a greased loaf pan. Alternatively, shape into two round loaves and arrange apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Either way, cover the loaves and let rise in a warm place until double.

Easy Overnight Dark Rye Bread

BAKE Heat oven to 375F/190C. Bake loaf until the center of the bread reaches an internal temperature of 190F/90C, about 35 – 45 minutes for a single loaf in a bread pan, about 30 minutes for two rond loaves on an open baking sheet. Let cool for 5 minutes, remove from pan, brush top with butter, finish cooling.

ALANNA's TIPS Both anise and fennel work, so does all caraway. My favorite is a mix of fennel seed and fennel powder plus a touch of caraway.

For years, I baked Swedish Rye Bread in traditional loaf pans. Now I usually form two or some times three round loaves, they hold up beautifully and look so pretty in a basket, a nice hostess gift.

Biga Based, 30 Min Autolysed, 7 Hour Bulk Retarded, ...

NUTRITION INFORMATION Twelve slices, per slice: 203 Calories; 2g Tot Fat; 1g Sat Fat; 40g Carb; 9g Sugar; 5g Fiber; 302mg Sodium; 3mg Cholesterol; 6g Protein.

WEIGHT WATCHERS POINTS Old Points 4 & PointsPlus 5 & SmartPoints 7 & Freestyle 7 & myWW green 7 & blue 7 & purple 7

Kitchen Parade is written by second-generation food columnist Alanna Kellogg and features fresh, seasonal dishes for every-day healthful eating and occasional indulgences.

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