Whilst I absolutely love baking yeasted bread and love all the relaxing kneading that goes with it, sometimes it’s good to know a bread recipe, that you can just throw together and it’s done without a lot of hard work or waiting around.
Well, this rye bread recipe is exactly that!
There is no need to use yeast with this recipe as it’s no-knead, no-proof needed kind of bread. This is mainly because rye flour, like for example lupin flour is very low in gluten, which means you either need to work it extra hard (e.g kneading) or not bother at all!
With this recipe I prefer the lazy approach to the bread baking!
There are other bread recipes that don’t require kneading, such as wholemeal soda bread, buckwheat bread with seeds or traditional soda bread without buttermilk.
A few notes on ingredients
Rye Flour
Wholemeal flour is more common than white rye flour, so if you see just one type of rye flour in your shop, don’t worry. If you had any leftovers of white or wholemeal rye flour, you can mix it together. The more white rye flour you have the lighter the bread is going to be, but the wholemeal version is more traditional.
Caraway Seeds
I really like the combination of rye bread and caraway seeds – they go so well together! But if you are not sure about the taste or you don’t have any caraway seeds, don’t worry, leave them out. You can throw in a handful of seeds instead.
Liquid
Each time I bake this bread, I use a slightly different liquid to bake it. Water, water mixed with milk or yoghurt or even buttermilk all go really well with the flavour of this bread. The flavour of the bread might change a little with the different type of liquid you use. For example, using full-fat yoghurt will give the bread a wonderfully sour taste.
A few notes on the baking method
Mixing
The only advice I want to give you here is mix it well, but don’t over mix it. There is no need to knead this bread and no need to prove it either. You literally just mix everything together, shape it and stick it in the oven! Job done!
Baking Tins
I usually use a 2 pound loaf tin, either cake tin or bread baking tin. You can bake this bread on it’s own (e.g just on the baking tray), but I find that the bread tin holds the bread nicely together and then it’s easier to cut for sandwiches.
Baking
When checking that your bread is done, see first if the bread will sound hollow when you knock at the bottom of the bread. You can also use a wooden skewer to check. If it comes out clean and not wet, your bread is done.
How to store your rye bread
Once your bread has cooled down it’s ready to be served & tasted. If you want to keep the bread for longer period of time (up to 3 months), you can freeze the bread, once it has cooled down.
I normally store my bread in a loose paper bag inside a bread tin. This way the bread is fine for 3-4 days and often for a whole week. But, if I’m honest, it never lasts that long!
There are plenty of other ways you can keep your bread from going mouldy, but I usually keep 1/2 of the bread for immediate use and freeze 1/2 for later.
No-knead rye bread (without yeast)
Ingredients
- 500 g wholemeal Rye flour
- ½ – 1,5 tsp salt adjust to your preference
- 1/2 tsp caraway seeds optional
- 4 level tsp baking powder
- 300 ml warm water or milk or old yoghurt about 40°C
Instructions
- Put all the ingredients into a bowl and mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon.
- Keep scraping the dough off the spoon and mix it with the back of the spoon as it becomes more and more glue like. There is no need this bread, but you want to make sure that the dough is properly mixed.
- Form roughly into a loaf shape and tip onto a greased baking sheet and keep warm until you are ready to bake. If you prefer to have a sandwich loaf, shape the dough into a roll and place in 2 pound bread (or cake) loaf tin. It's best to line it with a greeaseproof baking paper to help you to take our the bread easily.
- Bake in a hot oven for about 35 mins (about 220C), probably moving down to a cooler part for an additional few minutes extra depending on your oven and how quickly your bread is browning.
- Tap the crust with your knuckle to get a hollow sound when it is done. If the bread doesn't sound hollow, place it in the oven for further 5 minutes.
- Cool on a wire cooling rack.
Learn how to bake bread at home with my practical bread making e-book. Step by step techniques, photos and tips on how to bake artisan bread, sourdough and enriched dough treats. Find out more and 
This is a super cool recipe! I don’t have the patience (or the time…) to bake yeasted bread, but this bread was so quick! My husband thought I bought at a local artisan market (he nearly didn’t belive me that I baked it)
Loved making this bread recipe! It was so easy and tasted delicious too. The family loved it and they can be sometimes picky about their bread! Thank you!
I couldn’t believe how easy this bread was! I’m a great fan of rye flour, but making yeasted bread is not always convenient, so having another option for bread that’s done so quickly is amazing! My grown up daughters loved the taste.