We all became obsessed with sourdough bread last spring, and it’s no wonder. What better way to channel anxiety than by pummeling bread dough and then slathering the delicious, fresh-baked results with butter?
Of course, there’s more than sourdough in the bread-baking world, and a scrolling stroll through the King Arthur Baking Company’s recipe files yields all sorts of inspiration. We may not be opening a boulangerie anytime soon — our baguette technique definitely needs work — but the site’s homemade burger buns are a game changer. And we are besotted with King Arthur’s recipe for Icelandic Rye Bread or Rúgbrauð.
You can banish any thoughts of storebought caraway-studded rye. This is an entirely different thing: a dark, dense, slightly sweet loaf made with rye flour, molasses and honey. Baking powder, baking soda and buttermilk provide the lift. The baking time is long, but the recipe is easy — no kneading required, just stir everything together with a wooden spoon and bake.
Of course, if you really want to be authentic about that, you’ll transfer the dough to an airtight pot, bury it next to a hot mineral spring and let it “bake” there for 12 hours. Fortunately for those of us who do not dwell in the land of glaciers, volcanos and other geothermal activity, a regular oven and a loaf pan will work just fine. (The recipe suggests using a pain de mie pan — a straight-sided, lidded loaf pan — which produces loaves with perfectly square edges. It’s prettier! But a regular loaf pan works, too.)
You’ll find this dense rye bread at cafes and restaurants across Iceland, where it’s served in thin, buttered slices or topped with smoked or cured fish, pickled capers, sliced egg and other tidbits for an explosion of sweet-savory-salty-briny flavor.
Here’s the recipe. Find a video demonstration with King Arthur baker Martin Philip and his son Arlo, including some fun topping ideas, at www.kingarthurbaking.com/videos/
Icelandic Rye Bread (Rúgbrauð)
Makes one 9-inch loaf
Ingredients
4½ cups (477g) medium rye flour
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
¾ teaspoon baking soda
2 cups (454g) buttermilk
½ cup (168g) honey
½ cup (170g) molasses
Directions
Heat the oven to 325 degrees with a rack in the center position.
Weigh your flour or measure it by gently spooning into a cup, then sweeping off any excess.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, honey, and molasses.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, stirring to combine.
Transfer the batter to a lightly greased 9-inch pain de mie or pullman pan and smooth the top. Lightly grease the lid and place the lid on the pan.
Bake the bread for 2 hours. Turn off the oven and remove the lid from the pan. Leave the loaf in the turned-off oven for another 15 minutes, then remove from the oven and turn out of the pan onto a cooling rack.
Cool completely before slicing thinly and serving with butter or your favorite savory toppings. Pickled herring and smoked salmon are traditional, but cheese (anything from salty aged to soft mild) certainly wouldn’t be amiss, either.
Store leftover bread tightly wrapped at room temperature for several days. Freeze for longer storage.
— Courtesy King Arthur Baking Company, www.kingarthurbaking.com
