Growing up, everyone in my family loved a good pastrami on rye bread sandwich. Back then, we simply referred to this Jewish delicacy as pastrami on rye. Of course, we made our own sandwiches at home. We also enjoyed pastrami on rye bread when we traveled to New York City each summer to see my grandparents. We loved going to the Jewish delicatessens on the Lower East Side between our trips to the Bronx, to see my Mom’s mother, and our trips to Long Island, to see my Dad’s parents.
When I was diagnosed with celiac disease in 1998, I began recreating all of my favorite childhood foods, turning them into the gluten-free classics you find here today, and in my three cookbooks.
As soon as I was diagnosed, I knew I’d need to make a gluten-free rye bread. Since this low-carb bread is made with the high protein, grain-free ingredients that I’ve been using for dozens of years, we can call it a paleo rye bread as well.
You don’t have to be Jewish to enjoy this healthy bread recipe. It’s great toasted with leftover turkey the day after Thanksgiving. It’s also great for breakfast, toasted with butter, a side of eggs, and some avocado. That’s actually one of my favorite keto breakfasts, and some days I eat it for lunch instead.
This Dark Rye Bread recipe is based on my Flax Foccacia Bread recipe.
Dark Rye Bread
Ingredients
- 1 cup blanched almond flour (not almond meal)
- ¾ cup brown flaxmeal
- ½ teaspoon celtic sea salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon cream of tartar
- 3 large eggs
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ¼ cup water
- 2 tablespoons caraway seeds
Instructions
- In a large bowl combine almond flour, flax, salt, baking soda, and cream of tartar
- In a small bowl combine eggs, oil, and water
- Stir wet ingredients into dry, then mix in caraway seeds
- Allow batter to sit for 2 minutes to thicken
- Transfer batter into a greased 7.5 x 3.5 inch magic line loaf pan or 7.5 x 3.75 inch fox run pan
- Bake at 350°F for 35-45 minutes
- Cool 1 hour
- Serve
To store this bread, wrap in a paper towel, seal in a plastic bag, and refrigerate for up to 1 week.
As you may notice, the pan for this bread is a bit of an odd size, it’s about 40% smaller than a traditional sized loaf pan. Originally, I baked this bread in a glass luminarc loaf pan. That was discontinued. I switched to a Magic Line loaf pan, that too was discontinued. I’ve now found and tested a new replacement for these loaf pans. I’m recommending the Fox Run loaf pan, which is not as good as the previous two pans, but good enough. The reason I don’t love it, is that the sides are not as high as the other loaf pans, and the loaf is not as tall as the ones I made in the previous pans.
Whatever you do, don’t bake this bread in a regular, traditional sized loaf pan. Because there is only enough batter for the smaller sized loaf pan that is called for in this recipe, it will only partially fill the pan and you will have a very short loaf that is not tall enough to make proper sandwiches.
Here are some of my other easy low-carb bread recipes:
Liz says
I’ve made this bread several times already and it is in my opinion the best tasting grain- free bread. Rye bread has always been my favorite and the hardest part about switching to grain free diet for me was giving it up.
I tried other grain- free recipes but the results were not satisfactory because the breads tasted more like cake than bread.
I didn’t use caraway because I don’t like it. When I used to buy rye bread i always chose the caraway free kind and never understood why it was so hard to find it. Rye bread is delicious, it does not need caraway in my opinion.
I’m wondering why this recipe yields such as small loaf? If I want to double it do I have to double all the ingredients, wet (egg, water, oil) and dry ( almond flour, flaxmeal, salt, cream of tartar and baking soda)?
Elana says
Liz, I’m so happy to hear this is the best tasting grain-free bread! We love it too. This loaf is small to ensure that it bakes through all the way. If you do experiment with the recipe please let us know if it works!
Liz says
Why did you use extra virgin olive oil? I thought that kind of oil should not be heated. Can I use coconut oil or butter instead? That’s what I have in the house.
Elana says
Hi Liz, I haven’t tried that so not sure, if you do please let us know how it goes :-)
ellen says
love this bread! i didn’t have the carraway seeds but i used what i had – sesame seeds and poppy seeds ?… thanks for this wonderdul recipe, elana! i also didn’t have the smaller loaf pan bit i’ve ordered and am excited to make this recipe again using the right loaf pan size.
would you have the nutritional info on this bread please or where can i find it, if i missed it on this site? i’m currently trying the keto diet ?.
thanks again, elana!
Elana says
Ellen, I’m so happy to hear you love this bread! For more on nutrition info please go here:
https://elanaspantry.com/nutrition-information/
Have a wonderful day!
Elana
ellen says
thank you, elana! ?
Brandon says
This bread was amazing! I didn’t have a small loaf pan so I made it in an 8×4 glass pan just as a test, I had never made bread with almond flour before and gluten free breads are notorious for failing or having issues. This one came out perfect, and needless to say it was a small loaf, which means it barely lasted a day once everyone ate some! Making a double batch today so I can have Reuben sandwiches,thank you so much for the recipe!
Elana says
You’re welcome Brandon! Glad to hear this was amazing :-)
Irene says
Really fantastic bread, added pumpkin seeds and fresh rosemary yum.
Did not have the right loaf pan but pushed the loaf to make it shorter – it worked:)
Elana says
Irene, great to hear this bread was fantastic!
Lori says
I just made the rye bread this afternoon, and tasted it now, wow! It is so good! I have trouble with too much flax, so I cut the flax down by 1/4 cup and added 1/2 cup extra almond flour. It is unbelievably moist and I love the caraway seeds. Thanks for coming up with new ideas to help change things up in our lives!
Lori says
Oh, I used a glass pan, Pyrex, that you can get anywhere. It is smaller than a regular bread pan. It worked great.
Elana says
Lori, glad to hear this recipe was a “wow”!!!
Julie says
This bread is absolutely fabulous! Scrumptious! Easy to make. Love it!!! Thanks!!!
Elana says
Julie, so glad to hear this bread was absolutely fantastic!
Pugs says
This bread is definitely worth making, a ‘blast from the past’ taste sensation. Its dense and flavourful. Not eggy at all (or so tricky to make without holes ;-) Great with cheese or even just butter. Thank you.
Elana says
You’re welcome Pugs!
Brenda says
What would happen if the recipe was doubled and baked in a larger loaf pan?
Elana says
Brenda, I haven’t tried that so not sure. If you do please let us know how it goes!
Karen says
Hi Elana, this is the first time I try baking bread and I really don’t know a lot about it. I’m really interested and want to learn. I was wondering if using almond meal would alter the recipe. If so, how does the bread change? Or is it fine to use almond meal?
By the way I’m really enjoying your recipes!!
Elana says
Hi Karen, thanks for your comment. Here’s some information on almond flour vs almond meal:
https://elanaspantry.com/ingredients/almond-flour/
Enjoy!
Elana
Dawn says
I’ve been using the almond meal in this recipe since I started making it. I buy the almond meal from Trader Joes. It comes out delicious!