Can You Use Another Flour in Place of Rye in Brown Bread

Graphic with copy "Why Rye" and icon of a grain stalk

Over the next few weeks, nosotros're celebrating rye flour and all the baking possibilities information technology offers, from complex flavour to surprising versatility. Bring together the states each week as we explore just why you should be blistering with rye.

For most of us, all-purpose flour is the mainstay of our baking. From sandwich bread to lemon cake, sugar cookies to pie chaff, this wheat-based flour is the ane we reach for most oftentimes.

Withal, all-purpose isn't the only flour available out there, and wheat isn't the just grain. Meet our new Organic Medium Rye Flour — with its numerous blistering-friendly attributes, we're sure it'll earn a place in many bakers' pantries going forward.

Our test kitchen has been experimenting with this delightful flour for months now and has come up upwards with some great new recipes formulated specifically for medium rye flour: from Rye Chocolate Chip Cookies and Chocolate-brown Butter Rye Shortbread to — get this — Savory Rye Pancakes!

Appetizer rye pancakes topped with sour cream and smoked salmon on a serving board

Who knew rye could exist so interesting? Not me, initially, merely I was inspired. I wanted to see what other baking possibilities it offered beyond just specific rye recipes. Afterwards doing a wide range of experiments substituting Organic Medium Rye Flour in some of my favorite recipes, I've discovered it can add together warm color, mild nutty flavour, and a impact of toothsome texture to just almost whatever cookie, cake, muffin, quick bread, or breakfast bread you can proper noun.

How does rye differ from all-purpose flour?

Rye and wheat are two very different grains, and each reacts a bit differently in baking. Here are some key differences to understand earlier you begin:

Compared to the all-purpose flour you may usually utilize, which is milled from wheat, rye flour contains very little gluten. Gluten provides structure in baked goods, but if overworked can too make them tough. And then cookies, cake, biscuits, pancakes — anything that should exist tender rather than chewy — will practice well baked with rye. Note to those blistering gluten-free: while its presence is minimal, rye does in fact contain some gluten.
The flavor of all-purpose flour is basically neutral. Simply non only does rye add its own somewhat nutty, almost malty flavor to baked goods, it as well seems to enhance the flavour of many ingredients around information technology, especially "dark" flavors: chocolate, ginger, caramel, brown butter, cinnamon, and the similar.
Rye'due south chemical science is different than that of wheat, well-nigh notably in that it tin can retain much more moisture for a longer amount of time. Baked goods made even partially with rye will stay fresh longer than those fabricated with all-purpose flour, and this moisture memory is specially great for the texture of cakes and quick breads.
Compared to wheat, rye contains different complex sugars and enzymes. The sugars (pentosans) affect rye's absorption: especially when blistering yeast bread, you may observe yourself needing to add more liquid. The enzymes (amylases) affect rye breadstuff'due south crumb, sometimes leading to gummy/gluey texture in the last loaf if the staff of life dough is left to ferment also long earlier baking.

Rye fudge brownies on a plate. — These Quick and Like shooting fish in a barrel Fudge Brownies were baked in an viii" square pan and then cut with a beige cutter. Can you lot tell by looking which brownie is 100% rye? No, I didn't call up so!

How to add rye to your favorite recipes

First, determine where it makes sense to add together rye. Practice you really want to alter the creamy color and hauntingly elusive flavour of your Vanilla Cake Pan Block? Probably not; vanilla is a notoriously hard flavor to acquit off. But are you ready to add rye to plain Baking Powder Biscuits for a impact deeper color and heartier gustation? Certain, why non?

Which isn't to say you should effort rye only in uncomplicated recipes without a lot of competing flavors. As mentioned before, rye is an enhancer for many stiff-flavored ingredients. Your brownies, molasses cookies, and cinnamon snickerdoodles will taste even better with the addition of rye flour.

Picking the right rye

There are several different rye flours to bake with, and when it comes to substituting for all-purpose, which i yous cull matters. Finely milled, relatively light in color, and with mild merely distinct flavor, medium rye flour strikes a happy residue between the neutrality of white rye flour and the heartiness of whole-grain pumpernickel, making it a great selection to swap in for all-purpose flour in recipes.

How much rye flour should yous employ?

The more rye flour you substitute for all-purpose flour, the more than apparent its furnishings will exist. For each baked skillful you consider, determine whether rye's grain-y flavour and hint of bran will be an enhancer — or at higher levels, maybe a touch out of place.

Cross sections of Doughnut Muffins made with three levels of rye flour, plus a control made with al-purpose flour. — Cantankerous department of Doughnut Muffins: the more rye flour, the darker the muffin.

Start by substituting 25% medium rye flour

I discovered that substituting Organic Medium Rye Flour for 25% of the all-purpose flour in my recipes (by weight) yields baked goods with only subtle changes: slightly darker colour apparent in light-colored baked goods; a mere hint of rye season; perchance a little graininess in the mouthfeel.

If you endeavour this minor commutation and savour it, increase the amount of rye you employ next time. The more rye you add together, the more than noticeable its furnishings on color, flavor, and texture.

As y'all work up to 50% or more rye, apply your judgment: are further changes welcome? For instance, the flavor of my 100% rye flour Quick and Easy Fudge Brownies seems more complex than usual, with the rye playing beautifully against the dark chocolate backdrop. But my 100% rye Simply Perfect Pancakes? At that level rye becomes dominant, with the pancakes' signature fried flavor impacted and their balmy butteriness lost.

When y'all're first learning to substitute medium rye flour for all-purpose flour, 25% is a bang-up place to get-go.

Four types of brownie batter made with different levels of rye flour being spread into a pan prior to baking. — The almost fair and accurate way to test four different levels of rye in brownie batter at once is to bake them all side by side in a single pan. You take to exist good at both math and multitasking to be a successful test kitchen baker!

Tips from testing

In club to give our medium rye flour a skillful workout, I tested it in 10 recipes: Chocolate Bit Cookies, Gingersnaps, Doughnut Muffins, Whole-Grain Banana Breadstuff, Simply Perfect Pancakes, Baking Powder Biscuits, Quick and Piece of cake Fudge Brownies, Vanilla Cake Pan Cake, Gold Focaccia, and Sourdough Crackers.

For each recipe I tested substituting 25% rye, fifty% rye, and 100% rye. Remember, this is by weight. To substitute by volume, start with this: ane cup all-purpose flour is approximately equivalent to 1 cup + 2 tablespoons medium rye flour.

For selected recipes, I added one more test: 125% rye (i.e., I used 25% more rye flour than the amount of all-purpose flour called for). More about that later on.

Hither's what I learned.

Gingersnap cookies made with varying amounts of rye flour, showing different amounts of spreading. — Note how these Gingersnaps spread as the level of rye flour rises — until at 125% they revert to their original non-rye, all-purpose flour spread.

Driblet cookies may spread more

The greater percentage of rye flour yous substitute in drib cookies, the darker they'll look and the more than they'll spread compared to the all-purpose version. Why is this? Retrieve, rye is very low in gluten, and information technology too absorbs liquid differently than wheat. And since both gluten and liquid impact cookie structure, these changes translate to cookies that spread.

In most cases, especially when subbing rye at lower levels, this extra spread is very slight and isn't an issue. But if you want rye cookies whose spread is as close as possible to their original version, substitute 125% rye by weight: use 150g rye flour (generous 1 ane/three cups) for every 120g (1 cup) all-purpose flour called for. The sheer actress volume of flour helps command rye cookies' spread.

Muffins made with varying levels of rye flour, baked in a muffin tin.

Rye muffins rise beautifully

I expected the Doughnut Muffins I baked with 100% rye flour to be lower-rising and somewhat more dense than those made with all-purpose. Surprise — all of the iterations, from 25% rye to 100% rye, rose but fine. Apparently the relatively short distance 100% rye muffins rise (compared to yeast bread), and the back up they have in the pan, enables them to do well despite their relative lack of gluten.

Biscuits on a baking sheet, made with varying percentages of rye flour. — Blistering Pulverisation Biscuits made with (Fifty to R) all-purpose flour; 25% rye; 50% rye, and 100% rye flour.

Rye'south flavor shines in biscuits and scones

Blistering powder biscuits tin can tend to be a little flat-tasting. Think about information technology: when you eat a hot buttered biscuit, yous're mostly enjoying the flavor of butter, right? Substitute any amount of rye to yield biscuits with heartier, bolder flavor.

Biscuits made with all-purpose flour ascension l% college than those made with 25% or 50% rye; and rise twice every bit high as biscuits fabricated with 100% rye flour. Simply my audience actually prefers the rye biscuits, claiming their flavor makes upwards for their relative lack of summit.

Oh, by the style: since a scone is basically simply a gussied-up beige, feel free to apply this data to scones as well. Brown Butter Rye Scones? Oh yes.

Chocolate loves rye

How tin can you improve on the flavour of fudge brownies? That deep-dark chocolate deliciousness … Frankly, I wasn't expecting rye to practice anything for brownies, but when substituted 100% it adds a subtle complexity to their flavor.

Rye Chocolate Coffeecake, square cut out and put on a plate — Rye Chocolate Coffeecake: a revelation.

I believe this is why our Rye Chocolate Chip Cookies and Rye Chocolate Coffeecake are both winners as well; rye complements chocolate beautifully.

Rye sourdough crackers on a plate. — A 100% rye version of our popular Sourdough Crackers.

Sourdough loves rye, as well

All sorts of recipes calling for sourdough discard are adept candidates for rye flour. Sourdough is some other one of those believing flavors that rye complements beautifully.

Sourdough Crackers in particular are the perfect blank palette for all kinds of assuming flavors, from sharp cheese to black pepper to smoked paprika. Showtime building flavor by making cracker dough using upwardly to 100% rye flour in place of the all-purpose called for in the recipe. Tangy and grain-y and full-flavored, Sourdough Crackers fabricated with rye flour (and topped with smoked salt) are my new best friend at the titbit tabular array.

Whole Grain Banana Bread made with rye flour, loaf plus one slice o n a cutting board. — Whole-Grain Assistant Breadstuff made with 25% medium rye flour.

Substitute rye flour for half the whole wheat in non-yeast recipes

Got a favorite recipe (beyond yeast staff of life) that calls for some whole wheat flour forth with the white flour? Try substituting medium rye flour for 50% of the whole wheat in the recipe.

I did this in our Whole-Grain Banana Breadstuff, using ane/2 loving cup (53g) medium rye flour and 1/2 cup (57g) white whole wheat flour in place of the 1 loving cup white wheat called for. The result? No difference in flavor that I could discover, merely it's simply another way to enjoy rye flour — and reduce your gluten consumption a bit.

Two focaccias, one made partially with rye flour, topped with vegetables, risen, and ready to go into the oven. — Chewy flatbread is a dandy place to try rye. This summery focaccia — all-purpose flour on the left, 25% rye on the right — has risen beautifully and is ready to hit the oven.

Tweak your yeast bread recipes — but charily

At that place are so many delicious rye bread recipes out there, it's difficult to believe you'd want to cobble together 1 of your own via substitution. With gluten playing such a vital role in yeast staff of life's structure, substituting rye at too loftier a percentage tin can atomic number 82 to lower-rise, dense breads.

All the same, if y'all want to use rye in your favorite yeast bread recipe, start small-scale: replace 25% of the all-purpose or staff of life flour with rye and appraise the results. If you lot're pleased, try a bit higher percentage next time.

Cross section of focaccia made with all-purpose flour and focaccia made with a combination of all-purpose and rye flours, showing their similar rise. — Focaccia fabricated with 25% rye flour on the bottom; and the original version made with all-purpose flour on the superlative. Note the similar rising and nibble; at this level, rye's lack of gluten shouldn't touch on structure.

Since they don't have to rise as high (thus rye's lack of gluten isn't a key factor), your best results will probably come up with flatbreads or pizza crust. I tested 25% rye in our recipe for Golden Focaccia and was very pleased with the results. At this level, rye adds color and a bit of flavor to the bread without affecting its ascent.

Since the bread was going to feel slightly more than rustic, I decided to top it with ruddy onions, homegrown tomatoes, sea salt, fibroid pepper, and a generous splash of olive oil. Good choice.

A final notation

Our test kitchen has adult a whole roster of new recipes designed to take advantage of medium rye's unique characteristics; you'll find them on our recipe site.

But if you lot're eager to tinker with some of your own personal favorite recipes, go for it: you may find your mom'southward special chocolate bit cookies are even improve when rye steps in for some or all of the white flour!

Rye chocolate chip cookies on a baking sheet. — An assortment of Chocolate Chip Cookies baked with flours ranging from 100% all-purpose to 125% medium rye. The more rye flour the darker the cookies and the more they spread, merely trust me: all of them are delicious!

Want to read more about rye flour and how to use information technology? See our blog posts: Sourdough Rye Dessert Focaccia, Types of rye flour, and Explore the flavors and textures of rye.

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Source: https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/blog/2020/10/05/how-to-substitute-rye-for-all-purpose-flour