Rye rolls with caraway: dark, dense, with a crisp, cracked crust
Yeast rolls with a large share of rye flour, sour cream to soften the crumb, and caraway, without which rye tastes only half itself. Rye dough is sticky and rises less than wheat: that is normal, don't add more flour. The reward is a roll that tastes like real bread, stays fresh for up to three days and suits herring, cold cuts and curd cheese.
Your own work in that: 30 min.
- Kneading 15 min
- Rising 50 min
- Shaping 15 min
- Rising 35 min
- Baking 18 min
Step by step
0 / 6 doneMix the flours and dissolve the yeast
Mix both flours with the salt and a teaspoon of caraway. Dissolve the yeast in the lukewarm water with the honey and leave 5 minutes until it starts to work.
Ingredients: 200 g rye flour · 300 g strong bread flour · 300 ml water · 15 g fresh yeast · 2 tbsp sour cream, 18 % · 1 tsp honey · 1½ tsp salt · 2 tsp caraway seeds
Rye with wheat, yeast in honey waterKnead a sticky dough
Pour the yeast water and sour cream into the flour, mix with a spoon, then knead 8 minutes with dough hooks or by hand on a lightly floured counter, helping with a bench scraper. The dough stays sticky and less elastic than wheat dough: rye doesn't build the same gluten network. Add no more than 2 tbsp extra flour; the stickiness is a feature, not a fault.
TipA little sour cream is a simple way to a more tender crumb: the fat and gentle acidity make the rolls stale more slowly.
Sticky, with a scraper, no extra flourFirst rise
Shape into a ball with wet hands, put in a bowl, cover and leave 50 minutes. It grows by half, not double: rye dough rises less and that is fine.
Half again as big, slightly crackedShape with wet hands
Divide the dough into 10 pieces of about 85 g. Round each into a ball, wetting your hands with water instead of flouring them: wet hands don't stick to rye. Set on a lined tray 5 cm apart and dust generously with rye flour.
Wet hands, then rye flour on topSlash, top and second rise
Slash each roll once with a razor, 5 mm deep, mist lightly with water and sprinkle with the rest of the caraway. Cover and leave 35 minutes. Meanwhile heat the oven to 220 °C with an empty tray on the bottom.
TipThe flour on top and the slash make that characteristic cracked, rustic crust. Without a slash the roll splits wherever it likes.
One slash, caraway, 35 minutesBake with steam
Put the rolls in, pour a cup of boiling water onto the bottom tray, close the door. Bake 16–18 minutes, until the crust is deep golden and the base sounds hollow when tapped. Cool on a rack 20 minutes; warm rye bread is slightly gummy inside.
Steam, 220 °C, deep golden in 18 minutes
Before you start
Without caraway
Nigella seeds on top instead, or nothing: milder rolls, for butter and jam.
More rye
Half and half, 250 g rye and 250 g wheat, plus 20 ml water. Darker, denser, keeping even longer. Beyond half rye the dough has to be treated like a rye loaf, ideally with a sourdough starter.
For the freezer
Freeze the baked, cooled rolls in a bag; reheat 10 minutes at 180 °C straight from frozen and the crust comes back crisp.
