M: Transform this for a standard bread machine, please. Also, I apologize if the ingredient list ends up, looking slightly weird I am sending you the version I directly imported to my recipe application; I haven’t actually edited it yet: Nordic Whole-Grain Rye Bread from NYT Cooking
SERVINGS: 3 medium loaves servings
INGREDIENTS • ⅓ cup/85 grams buttermilk, skyr or yogurt, at room temperature • 2 cups/250 grams medium rye flour • ½ teaspoon/2 grams active dry yeast • 2 cups/340 grams cracked rye berries or coarse rye meal • 1 cup/170 grams sunflower seeds • 4 cups/400 grams medium rye flour • 4 teaspoons/20 grams kosher or coarse sea salt • 3 tablespoons/40 grams malt syrup or molasses (not blackstrap) • ½ teaspoon/2 grams active dry yeast
PREPARATION STEPS
On Day 1, make the starter: In a medium-size bowl, mix ¾ cup warm water with the buttermilk or yogurt. Whisk flour and yeast together, add to the buttermilk mixture and use your hands to mix together until sticky and moist; add more warm water as needed. Cover tightly and set aside at cool room temperature overnight, or up to 24 hours.
Also on Day 1, soak the grains: Mix 4 cups cold water with the rye berries (or meal) and sunflower seeds. Cover and set aside at cool room temperature overnight, or up to 24 hours.
On Day 2, make the bread: Drain the soaked grains in a colander. Measure 35 ounces/1,000 grams of the grains and place in a deep bowl. Add 14 ounces/400 grams of the starter and mix well. (Any remaining starter can be saved to use with other bread recipes.) Add the flour, salt, malt (or molasses), yeast and 2 cups water. Mix dough firmly by hand to combine. The dough should be grainy, but quite runny and wet, almost like a thick batter. To achieve that texture, add cold water, ¼ cup at a time, mixing after each addition. To test: When a walnut-size piece of dough smeared on the rim of the bowl slides slowly and smoothly down the inside, like a snail leaving a trail, the dough it is wet enough.
Thickly butter 3 medium or 2 standard-size loaf pans. Divide the dough evenly among the pans, filling them about half full. Cover and let rise at room temperature until dough almost fills pans, about 2 hours. (Dough will not rise more during baking.)
Heat oven to 450 degrees. Bake loaves for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 360 and bake until firm and glossy brown, 80 minutes to 2 hours more depending on size and moisture content of loaves. Let cool completely in the pans before turning out. Bread freezes well, and lasts for at least a week at room temperature, wrapped in paper.
NOTE Scandinavian rye breads look nothing like the slices that clamp together the sandwiches at your neighborhood deli in New York. Made from whole grains and naturally risen, they are chewy, fragrant and deliciously dark. With butter and cheese, or as the base for avocado toast, they are amazingly satisfying. The taste and texture are addictive, and many enthusiasts also appreciate that rye bread contains more fiber and less gluten than wheat. This recipe, with a small amount of yeast, is quicker than the truly ancient version, which takes at least three days. Don't worry if the dough seems runny and sticky: That is typical of rye bread, which needs lots of water to soften the grain. Julia Moskin
NUTRITION Calories: 1814.7 kcals Fat: 49.9 grams Saturated Fat: 4.7 grams Unsaturated Fat: 22.2 grams Cholesterol: 1.7 milligrams Sodium: 1498.8 milligrams Carbohydrates: 303.8 grams Fiber: 50.3 grams Sugar: 39.3 grams Protein: 57.8 grams
G: This recipe is going to need more than a straight conversion. A standard bread machine is designed for kneading a cohesive dough and then baking it in one cycle. This Scandinavian rye is closer to a fermented grain batter than to a conventional dough. The original depends on:
A bread machine can't really reproduce that process automatically. However, you can get surprisingly close if you're willing to sacrifice a little authenticity in exchange for convenience.
*If using whole cracked rye berries, soak them in hot water for at least 4 hours (or overnight), then drain well. Rye meal can go in dry.
Follow your bread machine manufacturer's recommendation, but for most machines:
Use:
If your machine has a European Rye or Dense Bread cycle, use that instead.
Unlike wheat dough, rye should never form a smooth ball.
After about 5–10 minutes:
Don't chase a wheat-style dough ball—you'll end up with a dry brick.
To recover some of the original overnight fermentation:
The night before:
Mix and leave covered overnight.
The next day, put this mixture into the bread machine first, then add the remaining ingredients.
This adds much of the original tang and complexity without requiring the full two-day process.
Like many Scandinavian rye breads, it actually slices better the following day.
Many bread machines have trouble kneading doughs that are over about 70% rye. If the paddle barely moves or the motor sounds strained, reduce the rye slightly and add some bread flour:
This isn't as traditional, but it gives the machine enough gluten structure to work with while still producing a loaf that's unmistakably Nordic in character.
One final note: if your goal is to recreate the dense Danish-style rugbrød found in Scandinavia, I'd actually recommend adapting the recipe specifically for a bread machine rather than converting this one. There are bread-machine rugbrød formulas that preserve nearly all of the flavor and texture while being designed from the outset for the machine's kneading and baking cycles. They tend to produce a more reliable result than trying to force a traditional two-day bakery recipe into a one-cycle appliance.