Tartine's Danish Rye

This heroic loaf, which I started regularly baking about a year ago, has gained a minor cult following. The recipe is based on Tartine bakery's, and so far just about everyone who has tasted it agrees that it's outstanding. One neighbour of mine trades her backyard chickens’ eggs for a half-loaf, adding exquisitely baked cakes to sweeten the deal. Once, a Dane, whom I had never met before, knocked on my door early one foggy spring morning, asking to buy some from my "microbakery" (I gladly sold her some, more chuffed by the idea of a microbakery than anything else). One Christmas I baked dozens of loaves and handed them to family and friends. I swear, never before have people been so glad to receive the gift of bread. This may be the best Danish-style rye bread recipe I've ever encountered, and I'll share it with you here. Skip straight to the recipe here or read more below.

As followers of my blog might know, I’m a huge fan of the thick, rich, nutrient dense, stoic loaf that is Danish rye bread, or rugbrod. I even posted my own recipe several years ago.  Today, though, I want to add a new recipe to the repertoire: Tartine's Danish Rye, because it is a standout in both its simplicity and its exceptional flavour. The recipe is almost a word-for-word copy from the famous Tartine bakery of San Francisco, making it rather unoriginal. Where I do add some value, though, is in numerous tips on managing the sourdough starter and the leaven in the days before baking - crucial details I've learned over 50+ bakes of this bread which are sparsely covered in the bakery's flagship book, Tartine no. 3. Still, my hat’s off to you, Chad Robertson: this might be the rye to end all ryes. 

Hats off to Chad Robertson

Maybe it’s in his roots; or, more accurately, not in his roots. A mid-western Texan farmer turned California surfer and baker, Robertson explores the periphery of worldly breads and casts off from tradition. For instance, this loaf contains very little actual rye flour, with the majority made up of spelt. The lower amount of rye gives it better structure while the spelt ensures no loss in flavour (pure rye loaves risk crumbling into oblivion when you slice them thinly due to very low gluten content). Make no mistake, though: this is rye bread.  Each loaf contains about a pound of whole sprouted rye kernels.

Make it at home, easily

I've followed the method I've posted at least 50 times so far. I get my beer from my friend Mike Mosher's exceptional home brewery. My version differs from the original because it omits buttermilk for more beer. My reasoning for this omission is because I find it freezes better without buttermilk. If you can find some good quality buttermilk, though, it is worth substituting 180 g of beer for buttermilk to get a taste of the original loaf.

A great advantage of this bread is that it can be made with the humblest of equipment: all you need are some bowls and your own two hands. You should also need to get your hands on a kitchen scale if you don’t have some already. Weighing out ingredients is quicker and more accurate than eyeballing volumes and is well worth the investment. In the recipe I've listed all ingredients in grams, like I usually do.

The beer in this recipe comes from Mike Mosher's home brews.

Click on the link here to bring you to the full recipe. Or, visit the Recipe page for a list of all recipes.

I once lugged a loaf of Tartine's Danish Rye all the way to Bugaboo Provincial Park, high up up in the British Columbia Rocky Mountains. And I'd do it again!