On Van Dyke Street in Red Hook, Danish rye is quietly having a moment. Frø, a tiny bakehouse run by Danish-American sisters Maya and Eva Ebbesen, has started slipping traditional rugbrød into Brooklyn’s bread rotation. The dense, seed-studded loaves, made from whole rye flour, rye berries and a mix of pumpkin, sunflower and flax seeds, sell for $16 and head out in small weekly batches from the Red Hook space. The sisters move the bread through local shops, scheduled "drops" and direct pickup, positioning Frø as a single-product, small-batch operation. For city bread lovers, it is one of the rare chances to buy an authentic Danish rye without booking a flight to Copenhagen.
The sisters found their Red Hook space on Van Dyke Street and set up beside a neighborhood mainstay while they learned the ropes. As reported by Red Hook Star-Revue, Maya and Eva Ebbesen grew up in Connecticut with Danish roots, and Frø is already selling loaves at spots including Falu House in Greenpoint, Dépanneur in Williamsburg and Greene Grape Provisions in Fort Greene.
What’s in the loaf
Frø’s website lists the bread’s ingredients as whole rye flour, rye berries, pumpkin seeds, flax and sunflower seeds, salt and water, and notes that the loaves freeze well for longer storage. According to Frø, a loaf sells for $16, and the team announces drop locations on their Instagram and the site.
Baking and small-batch production
The founders have been building a production bakehouse in Red Hook and have advertised for experienced bakers as they scale, per a Good Food Jobs listing that described the operation and its plans. Frø is operating like a CPG start-up: methodical, low-volume, and intent on preserving the craft of the loaf while they test wholesale relationships across Brooklyn.
Old-school fermentation
The team feeds the levain and lets it rest roughly 16 to 18 hours, molds loaves in rectangular pans imported from Denmark, bakes and then leaves the rye to cure overnight to deepen flavor. Those production details, including that Frø turns out about 140 loaves a week and sources rye flour from a Massachusetts miller and pumpkin seeds from Stony Brook, were described in Red Hook Star-Revue, which also captured the sisters’ father cheerfully predicting “it's going to go ballistic!”
Where to find a loaf
For now the loaves are trickling into neighborhood shops and markets while the sisters refine their rhythm. Customers can check Frø’s store locator and drop announcements or order online for pickup at the bakehouse via Frø, and neighborhood vendors such as Dépanneur offer the kind of storefront presence that suits a seeded rugbrød.
Red Hook’s Scandinavian thread
The arrival of Frø feels like the latest stitch in Red Hook’s Scandinavian history. The neighborhood still bears traces of that past, from immigrant-era institutions to more recent Scandinavian shops and cafés. Local histories, including accounts of Norwegian seamen’s missions, help explain why a Danish rye bakery now feels like a comfortable fit for the waterfront neighborhood; see Red Hook WaterStories for historical context.
