Software Defined Networking (SDN) architecture enables centralized control of the forwarding behavior of individual network elements. While SDN brings many well-known benefits, such as manageability and adaptability, it also poses some challenges. Scalability becomes an issue in highly dynamic, large scale networks, where the forwarding rules of single elements must be updated at a high pace by a central controller. This work proposes a novel type of flow rule to tackle this issue, the Dynamic Flow Rule (DFR). DFR enables the network elements to change their forwarding behavior locally, according to predefined instructions set up by the central controller. This paper introduces the DFR concept, discusses several plementation options and examines its performance in different use cases. The performance analysis shows that DFR effectively increases the programmability and adaptability of SDN network. It reduces the control plane signaling, reduces the network reaction time to changes, and alleviates the computing requirements at the controller, while retaining the central control of the network. And most importantly, since DFR leverages on the current processing capability of SDN switches, it provides a general and scalable control solution without additional performance penalty.