Bread Machine Rye Bread

Whip up a batch of rich and aromatic rye bread within hardly any time with your bread maker! This easy-to-make rye bread is perfect for grilled cheese or toasted with an over-easy egg on top.

Are you like me? Have one thing that you always order at a restaurant that you could make at home, but just don't?

For me, it's rye bread. I love the depth of flavor and density of a good slice of rye, but for some reason, I'd never attempted it. Until recently.

Our restaurants have been closed on and off for months due to the thing that shall not be named, so I had to take matters into my own hands.

This bread machine rye bread recipe is dedicated to taking matters into your own hands.

Jump to:

• Tips + Tricks
• Key Ingredients
• How to make bread machine rye bread:
• Bake in the oven?
• Love bread machine recipes? Try these!
• Batch + storage information
• Substitutions + variations
• 📖 Printable Recipe

Tips + Tricks

No. 1 --> Use the scoop and level method for your flour: stir the flour well in the bag, then scoop the flour into your measuring cup and level the cup by scraping a knife across the top. This will result in more consistent scooping!

No. 2 --> Measure the cooking oil, then the molasses. The light coating of oil will help to release the molasses from the spoon easily!

No. 3 --> Having trouble with your bread machine? Check my bread machine troubleshooting guide!

No. 4 --> You can use all purpose flour, IF, the protein content is high enough. Look for flour with a protein content of at least 13%. Check out my whole wheat bread machine recipe to learn how to calculate protein content.

Key Ingredients

Flour: This recipe has 3 different kinds of flour. I know, but hear me out. The rye flour is there for obvious reasons! Rye has a nutty, earthy flavor, but low gluten content. Bread flour and whole wheat flour, with their high gluten content, help to turn this rye loaf into a beautiful airy bread.

Sweetener: We're using both brown sugar and unsulfured molasses in this recipe. Both of these ingredients have a deeper, more caramelized flavor than regular sugar. They also both serve to color the bread!

Caraway seeds: Caraway seeds give rye bread that licorice (anise) and pepper flavor that rye bread is so well known for. They are aromatic and absolutely delish!

How to make bread machine rye bread:

1. Combine warm water, salt, brown sugar, oil, and molasses in the baking pan of your bread machine. To test your water, use my extremely scientific method: dab some on the inside of your wrist like you would with a baby bottle. If it feels too warm, use cooler water.
2. Sprinkle the flour on top of the water mixture, and the seeds on top of the flour, then sprinkle the yeast over top of the flour. At this point, I like to shake my flour out and cover the entire surface of this water, this helps to keep the yeast out of the water and away from proofing before my bread machine is done its warm-up cycle.
3. Place the baking pan into the bread machine and select your whole wheat, dark crust cycle, and 2 lb loaf. If your machine does not have all these settings, simply pick the closest one - which is likely to be whole wheat.
4. Allow the bread machine to bake. This is the hard part! Walk away! You'll be tempted to check on your bread and then start panicking cause the texture looks weird and the dough looks too wet. Take it from me, a fritterer, just walk away!
5. Remove the bread pan from the bread machine and brush the top of your loaf with softened butter or margarine. This step is optional, but it makes for a softer more visually appealing crust. I prefer to brush my loaves.
6. Overturn the cooked loaf onto a wire mesh cooling rack. It's important to get to your machine as soon as possible once it beeps complete to avoid it kicking into keep warm mode, this will dry out your bread and make it less than pleasant.
7. Allow the bread to cool completely (if possible, I know it's hard!) before cutting.

Bake in the oven?

You can certainly bake this light rye bread in the oven! Follow these steps:

1. Follow steps 1-2 as you would if baking in the bread machine.
2. Place the baking pan into the bread machine and choose the "Dough" cycle.
3. Once the dough cycle is complete, turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface, and shape it into a boule or loaves, then transfer it to a greased baking dish.
4. Cover baking dishes with a clean kitchen towel and allow to rise for 45- 60 minutes, or until doubled in size.
5. At the end of the rising, preheat the oven to 350f.
6. Bake your loaves at 350f for approximately 30 minutes or until golden brown on top.
7. If desired, brush the top of your loaf with softened butter or margarine.

Love bread machine recipes? Try these!

Batch + storage information

Batch:

This recipe makes 1 2lb loaf.

Storage:

Once the rye bread is completely cooled, store it in a sealed plastic bag at room temperature for 2-3 days.

To freeze your rye loaf, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and then a layer of tin foil. Keep it in the freezer for up to 3 months. To thaw, simply remove it from the freezer and allow to thaw at room temperature for a couple of hours.

Substitutions + variations

• Vegetable oil in this recipe can be substituted for butter, olive oil, margarine, or even BACON GREASE!
• Brown sugar can be substituted for granulated sugar, maple syrup or honey. Though I prefer brown sugar in this recipe.
• Caraway seeds can be omitted completely if you're not a fan of the licorice-y flavor.
• Whole wheat flour can be omitted in part or in whole for bread flour, but this may change the outcome of the final loaf.

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