Why a Dense Rye Loaf Belongs in a Woodland Kitchen

There is a particular kind of quiet that settles over a woodland kitchen in late autumn, and it smells of rye. Rugbrød — the Danish everyday bread — is not the sort of loaf that rewards impatience. It is heavy, dark, faintly sour and almost absurdly long-lasting, and once you have a routine for it you will find yourself baking two a week without thinking. A single slice, cut thin and buttered, will hold a pile of pickled herring, a wedge of hard cheese or a heap of roasted root vegetables without buckling. Better still, it improves for two or three days after baking, which makes it the ideal thing to wrap in greaseproof paper and tuck into a rucksack before a coastal walk.

Get Your Equipment and Starter in Order

You do not need much, but the few things you do need matter. Rugbrød is baked in a long, narrow tin, and a standard 2lb loaf tin will do at a push, though a proper 25cm pullman-style tin gives you those neat, square slices that stack so well.

• A rye sourdough starter. If you keep a wheat starter, convert it over a week by refreshing it with dark rye flour instead. It will smell sharply of vinegar and apples — that is exactly right.
• Dark rye flour and, ideally, cracked rye for texture.
• Buttermilk, yoghurt or stout for the liquid. Each brings a different edge: buttermilk for tang, stout for bitterness and colour.
• Black treacle or dark malt syrup — a tablespoon only. It feeds the crust colour without making the crumb sweet.
• Salt, and a set of scales. Rye doughs are unforgiving of guesswork.

The Formula

This makes one 25cm loaf. Weigh everything; volumes are useless here.

• 400g dark rye flour
• 100g cracked rye, soaked in 150g boiling water for an hour
• 200g active rye starter
• 350g buttermilk, yoghurt or stout
• 150g water
• 12g fine sea salt
• 25g black treacle
• 100g sunflower or pumpkin seeds, optional but good

Note the hydration: roughly 85 per cent, which sounds wet but is normal for rye. The soaked cracked rye will continue to drink overnight, so the dough stiffens as it proves.

Mixing, Proving and Baking

Rye has almost no gluten worth developing, so forget kneading. Tip the flours, soaked cracked rye and seeds into a large bowl, add the starter, liquid, treacle and salt, and mix with a sturdy spoon or a dough scraper for three or four minutes until you have a thick, sticky, uniform paste. Scrape down the sides, cover, and leave at room temperature for an hour.

Now the important part: bulk ferment for 12 to 24 hours. Cooler rooms take longer. The dough is ready when it has risen by about half, smells distinctly sour, and shows a few bubbles on the surface. Long and slow is where the flavour comes from — rushing this stage gives you a flat, chalky loaf.

Grease your tin thoroughly, including the corners, and scrape the dough in. Smooth the top with a wet hand or an oiled spatula. Prove again for two to four hours, until the dough has crowned just slightly above the rim. If it domes dramatically, it is over-proved and will collapse in the oven; bake it anyway, it will still taste good.

Bake at 200°C for 15 minutes, then drop to 180°C for a further 75 to 90 minutes. The loaf is done when it sounds hollow and reads 96–98°C on a probe thermometer. Turn it out of the tin and return it to the oven, upside down and unwrapped, for 10 minutes to firm the base. Then — and this is the hard bit — cool it completely and leave it wrapped in a tea towel until the next day. Warm rye is gummy. A day's rest transforms it.

Slicing Thin and Building Smørrebrød

Use a long, serrated knife and cut slices no thicker than a pound coin. Butter each one — this is not optional; the fat stops wet toppings soaking in — then build upwards. Good combinations to carry in a tin:

• Pickled herring with thin slices of red onion and dill, or with a spoonful of mustard crème fraîche.
• Aged hard cheese with a smear of quince or damson jam.
• Roasted beetroot, celeriac or squash with toasted hazelnuts and a sharp dressing.
• Foraged additions: sorrel leaves for acidity, wild garlic butter in spring, sea beet or samphire from a coastal walk, blackberries or elderberries cooked down into a tart relish.
• Mashed potato with crisp fried onion, for the hungriest walks.

Keeping the Loaf and Making It Your Own

Wrapped in paper and kept in a tin, rugbrød keeps a fortnight, and it freezes beautifully in half-loaves. Once you have the formula in your head, vary it freely: swap 100g of the rye flour for wholemeal wheat for a slightly lighter crumb, use a dark beer instead of buttermilk, or add linseed, chopped walnuts or a handful of soaked rye berries. Bake one on a Friday, and by Sunday it will have become the best thing in your kitchen — sturdy enough for a cliff path, generous enough for guests, and quietly, unfussily yours.