You can see the most popular posts on the right sidebar.
The list looks good, but we all have different taste preferences, so my list looks a little bit different.
You can see the most popular posts on the right sidebar.
You can see the most popular posts on the right sidebar.
Bread recipes on this blog are usually my own. But, the exception confirms the rule. I simply must publish this classic recipe which almost every baker here in Finland knows, because Islander Bread is The Christmas Bread here in Turku and all over Finland. Everyone must have a loaf or two waiting for the dinner on Christmas Eve.
Islander Bread is a perfect match with smoked ham, fish, home-made fresh cheese or gouda. Or, why not to try it with blueberry jam and goat cheese?
Islander Bread is a perfect match with smoked ham, fish, home-made fresh cheese or gouda. Or, why not to try it with blueberry jam and goat cheese?
2 breads
1 l (1030 g) buttermilk
75 g fresh yeast
1 tbsp salt
3 dl (420 g) Scandinavian dark syrup (or light molasses)
3 dl (60 g) wheat bran
3 dl crushed rye malt
3 dl (165 g) rye flour
10 dl (650 g) wheat flour
For the drizzle: 1 dl (0,5 cup US) syrup water (half and half)
Stir the yeast, salt, syrup, wheat bran, crushed rye malt and flours into the lukewarm buttermilk. Pour the mixture into two greased 2-liter tins.
Cover and leave to rise at room temperature for 1,5 hours.
Preheat the oven to 175°C. Bake for 1 hour. Cover with foil if necessary. Bake for a further 30 minutes. Drizzle the loaves with syrup water. Bake for a further 30 minutes without the foil. The loaves might be fully baked at this point. If not, take them out of the tins, drizzle with syrup water and bake for a further 10 minutes.
Cover and let cool on a wire rack. When cooled, wrap the breads tightly and store in a cool place for 2-3 days. If you are in a hurry, you can serve the breads the next day. The taste is irresistible!
Store in a cool place where Islander Bread will keep up to 8-9 days. Storing Islander Bread in the freezer is a great solution too.
I always have home-made granola in my kitchen. I simply cannot start a day without some crunchy granola on creamy yoghurt in a beautiful bowl. Ingredients and amounts vary depending on my mood, but often my starting point is an old granola recipe by Anna Bergenström.
Why this breakfast food came to my mind now? I'm writing a bread blog, aren't I? Well, it's not nearly as strange as you might think. Granola is part of my weekly baking day. It goes into the oven just after breads. And, the recipe has been a huge success among my friends. I cannot remember how many of them has asked (and got) the recipe. Everybody loves it! Granola is also a great last-minute Christmas gift and a perfect beginning for those lazy Christmas mornings. There are lots of good reasons why I got sidetracked and decided to share this coveted granola recipe instead of a new bread recipe this week. Enjoy!
This mango-raisin granola is one of my favorites, linseed-almond-cranberry granola is another.
3 dl (100 g) large oat flakes
2 dl (100 g) oat flakes
1 dl (40 g) rice flakes
4 dl (250 g) cashew nuts
1 dl (50 g) hazelnuts
2 dl (200 g) sunflower seeds
2 dl (100 g) pumpkin seeds
1 dl (35 g) shredded coconut
2 dl (170 g) cane sugar
2 dl (200 g) water
0,5 dl (45 g) canola oil (or other vegetable oil, not olive oil)
raisins
dried mango
Combine the flakes, roughly chopped nuts, seeds, shredded coconut and cane sugar in a large bowl. Mix the water and oil and pour it into the flake mix. Stir well. Line a large baking tray with a baking paper sheet and spread the granola on top.
Preheat the oven to 200°C. Place the baking tray on the center rack of the heated oven. Bake for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally until the granola is a light and golden brown.
Allow the granola cool for 30 minutes. Sprinkle raisins and dried mango (cut in raisin-size pieces) on top. Stir well. Cool the granola completely.
Store in an airtight jar. Enjoy with yoghurt.
Is this a Christmas gnome? Little hands can never resist the cooling granola on the oven.
Is this a Christmas gnome? Little hands can never resist the cooling granola on the oven.
I always have whey and mash in my freezer, because I make cheese and home-made beer.
If you don't have them, you can replace whey with water and mash with malt and hot water.
2 breads
5 dl (500 g) whey
1 dl (0,4 cup US) mash
25 g fresh yeast
1 tsp salt
25 g fresh yeast
1 tsp salt
1 dl (140 g) Scandinavian dark syrup (or light molasses)
1 dl (60 g) graham flour
1 dl (55 g) coarse rye flour
1 dl (60 g) graham flour
1 dl (55 g) coarse rye flour
2 dl (110 g) bolted rye flour
5 dl (325 g) wheat flour
8 pcs. dried, soft dates
Cut the dates into raisin-size pieces. Put them into a bowl and sprinkle some wheat flour on them. Shake until the pieces are covered with flour. This way the chopped dates won't stick to each other and you can easily use them in the recipe.
Stir the yeast, salt and syrup into the lukewarm whey and mash mix. Gradually mix in the flours. Add the dates. Knead the dough for 6–8 minutes.
Cover and leave to rise at room temperature until doubled in size.
Put the dough into two greased tins. Cover and leave to rise at room temperature for 40 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 200°C. Bake for 50–60 minutes. The bread is ready if it sounds hollow, when you knock on its base.
Cover and let cool on a wire rack.
- the breads of Metsämäki Farm in the 1930's
My grandmother's sister, Tyyne Metsämäki, recalled baking bread for the first time at the age of ten in the 1930's. She was born in Huittinen, a small agrarian village in Satakunta, the oldest historical province in Finland, located on the southwest coast of Finland. 'Kakko' (basic white sourdough bread) and 'ruisleipä' (rye bread) were typical breads of the region.
Rye bread was eaten at mealtimes. Kakko was part of breakfast or coffee break. Fresh buns were the delicacy of Sundays. Good housewives were always prepared for unexpected visitors too. They had rusks (twice-baked buns known as 'vieraskorppu') for the neighbors and strangers who stopped by the farm.
Home-baked bread was the rule. Crispbread, which was a commercial bread, was a rarity. Tyyne was in her teens when she bite crispbread for the first time.
Sunday treat
If the work load at the farm allowed, the weekly baking day was Friday or Saturday. This meant fresh bread for Sunday.
But, it all started in the middle of the week, when someone carried flour sacks from the cold granary to the warm kitchen. All flours were homegrown. Every two weeks one of the men took a horse and drove to the Korkiakoski Mill, which grinded the grains of the farm to bread flours and animal feed.
In the evening women took out a large, poorly scraped wooden baking bowl and mixed some flour and water in it. The dried dough from the previous baking day on the sides of the bowl worked as a sourdough starter, when the bowl was covered with a cloth and let stand in a warm place. The starter dough was ready in two days. If the weather was cold, as it often was, it was difficult to start the process. It was time to put some commercial yeast into the starter dough. If it was late, the grocery was closed. Fortunately, the local shop owner let bakers come to his home and led them through his kitchen to the grocery and sold them the much-needed yeast.
Couple of days later, early in the morning, 2 – 3 women started to bake by pouring two buckets of water (20 liters) into the baking bowl. Then, no measures, just the rule of thumb when they were measuring flour and salt. Sometimes they added some anise seeds into the dough, but spices were valuable rarities because they were something they had to buy. Honey, syrup or other sweeteners were never used.
The dough was huge, but one vigorous baker tackled the task all by herself. It wasn't customary to take turns.
Tyyne always shaped some pieces of the dough into loaves "because they tasted better, or so we all thought", but most of the dough were shaped into round, more or less flat breads with holes in the middle to facilitate storage on long poles hanging near the ceiling. This was understandable because they baked four bread boards in a day and one board took 30 breads, total 120 breads per day. An inconvenient place to store the breads? Not really, some breads were always stored in the plaited root basket in the red kitchen cabinet, where they were easily available.
Baking oven baked 30 breads in one go
The wood-fired brick oven was heated with two chambers of wood. If the oven was "lazily heated" they threw bunch of birch leaf fodders into the chamber, after which the kitchen smelled great.
When the coals were swept out and the chamber was cleaned with a birch twig broom, it was time to bake the first test breads. An experienced baker was usually capable of estimating the heat of the oven and the first batch of breads went into the oven right after the test breads. If the oven was too hot, it was swept with a wet broom before the breads on the first board were loaded into the oven.
In the Autumn fish dealers were driving around countryside from one farm to the next selling salted Baltic herring in barrels. It was a valued delicacy, which explains the fact that almost every baking day the last bread they took out of the oven was the Baltic herring bread. In the falling heat of the bread oven they cooked rosolli casseroles, potato casseroles with Baltic herring, Karelian hot pots and pearl barley porridges. Two weeks before Christmas men slaughtered a pig during the baking day and women made sausages stuffed with pork and pearl barley.
There were no such thing as food waste
There were lots of workers on the farm, the regular maids and farmhands as well as occasional hired workers in harvesting and other labour-intensive agricultural production phases. It was quite common that there were 20, often more, eaters around the table.
Bread was an integral part of every meal and 120 breads were quickly dwindling away.It was common to put butter and fried pork on the bread. "Lettuce was for sheep". Cucumbers and tomatoes were not eaten until the 1950's, when they started to grow these vegetables on the farm. Fresh cheese was placed on the plate, not on the bread.
There were no such thing as food waste. If there sometimes were a bread or two left on the next baking day, they were treats for horses and cows.
Bread and hospitality
Freshly baked bread was an essential part of hospitality. Workers often got a warm bread for their families. Two neighbors got three breads each and "father always took a bread for the shoemaker, who lived at a distance from us". If somebody unexpectedly dropped in on the baking day, they got a bread too.
Not a day went by without guests and visitors when harvesting and other autumn tasks were done. The weeks before Christmas were particularly buzy, because it was important to spin all the linen before the New Year. But, they went to see neighbors and received guests all the time anyway. Guests were welcome delays. It was time to put a coffeepot on the stove, serve kakko and rusks and talk through the latest news from the village.
Nobody was left without freshly baked bread. Old and sick people who lived alone and others who were unable to bake got bread from their neighbors. If someone didn't want to depend on neighbors, Iita Paunu, a well-know village banquet caterer, came over to their house to bake bread for them.
Bread was the Facebook of the 1930's, a social networking service, which brought family, friends, acquaintances and strangers together and provided them with a possibility to communicate and tell the latest news.
Not a day went by without guests and visitors when harvesting and other autumn tasks were done. The weeks before Christmas were particularly buzy, because it was important to spin all the linen before the New Year. But, they went to see neighbors and received guests all the time anyway. Guests were welcome delays. It was time to put a coffeepot on the stove, serve kakko and rusks and talk through the latest news from the village.
Nobody was left without freshly baked bread. Old and sick people who lived alone and others who were unable to bake got bread from their neighbors. If someone didn't want to depend on neighbors, Iita Paunu, a well-know village banquet caterer, came over to their house to bake bread for them.
Bread was the Facebook of the 1930's, a social networking service, which brought family, friends, acquaintances and strangers together and provided them with a possibility to communicate and tell the latest news.
Chain of bakers
When I'm baking I have this lovely feeling of being part of the long chain of bakers in my family. I started to bake with my granny at the age of five and now I'm baking with my 6-year-old son, who loves to bake.
Baking bread doesn't get any easier than this!
1 bread, 6 pcs.
3 dl (300 g) lukewarm water
25 g fresh yeast
0,5 tsp salt
1 dl (0,5 cup US) peas
1 dl (0,5 cup US) pumpkin seeds
1 dl (0,5 cup US) pea flour
4 dl (250 g) wheat flour
On top:
butter
pumpkin seeds
(sea salt)
Stir the yeast, salt, peas, pumpkin seeds and pea flour into the lukewarm water. Mix in the wheat flour. Line a 20 x 30 cm baking tray with parchment paper and pour the mixture into a tray.
Cover and leave to rise at room temperature for 20–30 minutes.
Put small lumps of butter and some extra pumpkin seeds (and sea salt) on top. Preheat the oven to 225°C. Bake for 15–20 minutes.
Cover and let cool on a wire rack.
This festive rye bread combines all the best parts of Christmas, almonds, dates and dark chocolate. How could you resist it?
What's more, you can bake this bread with sourdough starter or with yeast.
Home-brewed beer are part of our Christmas as well as Easter and I never throw away any leftover mash. Instead, I recycle it into my breads. Mash gives a lovely, deep flavour to all kinds of breads. No wonder I have added some mash into this dough too.
2 breads
First day (morning) with sourdough
1 dl (100 g) sourdough starter
1 dl (100 g) lukewarm water
2 dl (110 g) dark wheat flour (yeast bread wheat flour)
Mix together lukewarm water and flour. Cover with a tea towel and leave to sit at room temperature (22–24° Celsius) until the next day.
First day (morning) with fresh yeast
2 dl (200 g) lukewarm water
2 dl (110 g) dark wheat flour (yeast bread wheat flour)
Mix together lukewarm water and flour. Cover with a tea towel and leave to sit at room temperature (22–24° Celsius) until the next day.
Second day
3 dl (300 g) lukewarm water
2 tsp salt
1,75 dl (0,75 cup US) mash
1,5 dl (210 g) Scandinavian dark syrup (or light molasses)
(25 g fresh yeast)
5 dl (325 g) wheat flour
1 dl (0,4 cup US) dates, raisin-size pieces
1,5 dl whole almonds with skins75 g chunky bits of dark chocolate
about 7 dl (400 g) rye flour
Decoration: whole almonds with skins
Blend lukewarm water, salt, mash, syrup (and fresh yeast) with the starter dough. Usually you don't have to use commercial yeast if you are baking with the sourdough starter, but if your starter seems to be a bit lazy, you can add 10 g yeast into the dough. It doesn't spoil the bread.
Add the wheat flour and whip vigorously couple of minutes. Mix in dates, almonds, chocolate and gradually more rye flour and knead until the dough feels smooth, but still a little sticky. This time the dough is ready even if it's still sticking to the sides of your mixing bowl.
Cover and leave to rise at room temperature for 8 hours or until the dough has almost doubled in size. (The dough is ready for baking, if it slowly springs back, when you gently push a finger against the dough.)
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead it gently. Divide the dough into two equal pieces. Shape the pieces into two long loaves and put them on a parchment paper. Attach the almonds on the top of the breads by slightly pushing them down.
Cover and leave to rise at room temperature for 2 hours.
Put a baking tray into the oven and preheat it to 275°C. Using the parchment paper slide the breads into the hot baking tray and put them into the oven. Reduce the temperature to 200°C and bake for 50–60 minutes.
Cover and let cool on a wire rack. Wrap the breads into tea tovels and wait until the next day to cut them.
It's nice to bake with children. My boy has been a keen baker from the age of two. We started in the traditional way by baking Christmas cookies - and of course, eating the raw dough. Now, at the age of six, he likes to bake rolls. So, he is the baker of the week on the blog. He baked and named these rolls, which are full of seeds, because he loves the way they crunch in his mouth.
16 pcs.
1 dl (100 g) spelt grains
3 dl (300 g) water
50 g fresh yeast
1 tbsp honey
1,5 tsp salt
5 dl (500 g) lukewarm water
0,5 dl (45 g) cooking oil
3 dl (1,5 cup, US) salad seed mix*
about 13 dl (700 g) dark wheat flour (yeast bread wheat flour)
*There is a wide range of salad seed mixes available in supermarkets and groceries, but most of them contain sunflower and pumpkin seeds as well as pine nuts. There might be some nuts or dried berries in the blend too. In any case, the bigger bits the better, is a good rule for this recipe.
Boil up 3 dl water and 1 dl spelt grains. Set aside to cool. Pour out the water.
You can do this beforehand because hot water and a child is never a good combination.
In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast, salt and honey in lukewarm water. Stir in spelt grains, cooking oil and salad seed mix. Gradually mix in the flour and knead the dough until it's smooth and elastic.
The child can easily knead the dough if you use a mixer together. In addition, all electrical kitchen appliances are super interesting! The future baker is equally inspired if he/she is allowed to decide what happens. Let the child touch the dough couple of times and tell you when it's ready. The child usually hits it right if you lightly steer the conversation.
Cover with a tea towel and let rise for about 30 minutes.
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead about 3–5 minutes. Divide the dough in half. Roll each half into a rope. Cut each rope into 8 pieces. Shape each piece into a ball. Line two baking trays with parchment papers, place the rolls on them, cover and leave to rise at room temperature for 30 minutes.
*There is a wide range of salad seed mixes available in supermarkets and groceries, but most of them contain sunflower and pumpkin seeds as well as pine nuts. There might be some nuts or dried berries in the blend too. In any case, the bigger bits the better, is a good rule for this recipe.
Boil up 3 dl water and 1 dl spelt grains. Set aside to cool. Pour out the water.
You can do this beforehand because hot water and a child is never a good combination.
In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast, salt and honey in lukewarm water. Stir in spelt grains, cooking oil and salad seed mix. Gradually mix in the flour and knead the dough until it's smooth and elastic.
The child can easily knead the dough if you use a mixer together. In addition, all electrical kitchen appliances are super interesting! The future baker is equally inspired if he/she is allowed to decide what happens. Let the child touch the dough couple of times and tell you when it's ready. The child usually hits it right if you lightly steer the conversation.
Cover with a tea towel and let rise for about 30 minutes.
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead about 3–5 minutes. Divide the dough in half. Roll each half into a rope. Cut each rope into 8 pieces. Shape each piece into a ball. Line two baking trays with parchment papers, place the rolls on them, cover and leave to rise at room temperature for 30 minutes.
A plastic dough scraper makes it easier for the child to handle the dough and it's also safer than a knife, when the child starts cutting out the pieces.
Preheat the oven to 225°C. With a plastic dough scraper, make a cross into each roll. Bake for 15 minutes.
Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack.
This spelt bread brings me to tears. I just love it - truly, madly deeply! And hey, I'm a Finn, we don't use this kind of words lightly. I really mean every single word. The taste is incredible.
1 large loaf
5 dl (500 g) cold water
25 g fresh yeast
1,5 tsp salt
1 dl (50 g) oat bran
1 dl (35 g) rolled spelt flakes
about 1 L (500 g) spelt flour
Stir the yeast and salt into the cold water. Mix in the oat bran and spelt flakes. Gradually add more spelt flour as you knead, but be careful to not add too much. Use the minimum amount of flour and leave the dough as wet as possible. Keep kneading until the dough is smooth and bouncy, this takes about 10 minutes.
Cover and leave to rise at room temperature for 2 hours.
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead it gently. Shape the dough into a large loaf. Put the bread on a parchment paper. Sprinkle some flour on top.
Cover and leave to rise at room temperature for 2 hours.
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead it gently. Shape the dough into a large loaf. Put the bread on a parchment paper. Sprinkle some flour on top.
Cover and leave to rise at room temperature for 1 hour.
Put a baking tray into the oven and preheat it to 275°C. Using the parchment paper slide the bread into the hot baking tray and put the bread into the oven. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 200°C and bake for a further 20 minutes.
Let cool on a wire rack.
Don't let the sourdough starter trick you! This is a yeast leavened bread. The sourdough starter only enhances the sour flavor of the bread.
2 breads
First day
1 dl (110 g) sourdough starter
5 dl (500 g) lukewarm buttermilk
5 dl (275 g) rye flour
Mix together the sourdough starter, lukewarm buttermilk and the flour. Cover with a tea towel and leave to rise at room temperature overnight.
Second day
5 dl (500 g) lukewarm water
Second day
5 dl (500 g) lukewarm water
50 g fresh yeast
1 tbsp salt
2 tbsp caraway seeds
1,5 dl (210 g) Scandinavian dark syrup (or American light molasses)
13 dl (700 g) rye flour
about 10 dl (650 g) wheat flour
Blend the lukewarm water, yeast, salt, caraway seeds and syrup with the starter dough. Mix the rye and wheat flour into the dough and knead for 8–10 minutes.
Cover and leave to rise for 4–5 hours.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead it gently. Divide the dough into two equal pieces. Shape the pieces into two loaves and put them into oiled tins.
Cover and leave to rise for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 200°C and bake for 55 to 65 minutes. The bread is ready if it sounds hollow, when you knock on its base.
Cover and let cool on a wire rack.
Blend the lukewarm water, yeast, salt, caraway seeds and syrup with the starter dough. Mix the rye and wheat flour into the dough and knead for 8–10 minutes.
Cover and leave to rise for 4–5 hours.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead it gently. Divide the dough into two equal pieces. Shape the pieces into two loaves and put them into oiled tins.
Cover and leave to rise for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 200°C and bake for 55 to 65 minutes. The bread is ready if it sounds hollow, when you knock on its base.
Cover and let cool on a wire rack.
There are many this kind of spice loaf recipes, but I developed this recipe a long time, adapting it until I was totally satisfied with the end result.
This recipe will give you one small bread, because Spice Loaf doesn't last very long. Fortunately you can always toast the slices if the bread is a little stale.
1 small loaf
2,5 dl (1 cup) buttermilk
25 g fresh yeast
0,75 tsp salt
0,5 dl (70 g) Scandinavian dark syrup or American light molasses
2 tsp Seville orange peel, powdered
1 tsp anise seed
2 tbsp caraway
3 dl (165 g) rye flour
about 4 dl (220 g) dark wheat flour
Stir the yeast, salt and syrup into the lukewarm buttermilk. Add spices and rye flour. Gradually mix in the wheat flour and knead the dough for 6–8 minutes.
Cover and leave to rise at room temperature for an hour or so.
Stir the yeast, salt and syrup into the lukewarm buttermilk. Add spices and rye flour. Gradually mix in the wheat flour and knead the dough for 6–8 minutes.
Cover and leave to rise at room temperature for an hour or so.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead it gently. Shape the dough into a long loaf and put it into an oiled tin.
Cover and leave to rise at room temperature for 45 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 175°C. Bake for 60–70 minutes. The bread is ready if it sounds hollow, when you knock on its base.
Take the loaf out of the tin, cover and let cool on a wire rack.
On Mother's Day I got tiny basil seedlings, which my boy has planted into a tiny pot in daycare. The beginning was humble, but as the weeks went by the plant grew and grew until it was a huge bush.
It's no wonder I have found ways to add basil to everything from soups to ice cream. Now it's time to harvest the last leaves. Most of the herb I'll chop, place in ice cube tray compartments, cover with cooking oil and freeze. As fresh basil leaves go well in breads, it's time to invite herbs to this week's bread dough.
These rolls are full of basil, parsley and chive, but my hand is light when adding salt. I can cut back on salt because the great taste comes from the herbs.
I replace 1 dl (65 g) wheat flour with the same amount of pea flour. It strengthens the "green" taste of the rolls, but you can use only wheat flour if you wish to do so.
These rolls are full of basil, parsley and chive, but my hand is light when adding salt. I can cut back on salt because the great taste comes from the herbs.
I replace 1 dl (65 g) wheat flour with the same amount of pea flour. It strengthens the "green" taste of the rolls, but you can use only wheat flour if you wish to do so.
10 pcs.
5 dl (500 g) lukewarm water
50 g fresh yeast
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp honey
0,5 dl (45 g) cooking oil
1 dl (0,5 US cup) chive
1 dl (0,5 US cup) basil
1 dl (0,5 US cup) parsley
1 dl (40 g) rolled oats
11–12 dl (750 g) wheat flour
In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast, salt and honey in water. Stir in cooking oil, chopped herbs and rolled oats. Gradually mix in the flour and knead the dough until it's smooth and elastic.
In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast, salt and honey in water. Stir in cooking oil, chopped herbs and rolled oats. Gradually mix in the flour and knead the dough until it's smooth and elastic.
Cover with a tea towel and let rise for about 30 minutes.
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead about 3–5 minutes. Roll the dough into a rope. Cut the rope into 10 pieces. Shape each piece into an oval roll. Line two baking trays with parchment papers, place the rolls on them, cover and let rise at room temperature for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 225°C. With a sharp knife, make three cuts into each roll. Bake for 12–15 minutes.
Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack.
There is magic in sourdough. I just can't stop admiring the power of wild yeast and the rich flavors and chewy textures of true sourdough breads.
Do you already have a sourdough starter? If not, here's a no-fuss sourdough starter recipe for you.
7 pcs.
1 dl (110 g) sourdough starter
2 dl (200 g) lukewarm water
2 dl (120 g) graham flour
2 dl (130 g) wheat flour
Mix together the sourdough starter, water and the flour. Cover with a tea towel and leave at room temperature for 7–8 hours.
1 tsp salt
2 dl (200 g) water
about 7,5 dl (500 g) wheat flour
Stir the salt into the lukewarm milk. Gradually mix in the wheat flour. Knead the dough until it's smooth and elastic.
Cover with a tea towel and leave at room temperature for 5 hours.
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead it lightly. Roll the dough into a rope. Cut the rope into 7 pieces. Shape each piece into a ball. Line two baking trays with parchment papers, place the rolls on them.
Cover and leave to rise in a cold place for 9 hours.
Preheat the oven to 250°C. Bake for 10–12 minutes.
Remove from the oven, transfer to a wire rack, cover and let cool a bit before eating them.
Malt Crispbread is a thin Scandinavian-style crispbread, delicious yet healthy and perfect companion for your favorite cheese.
It's also a lovely gift. The dough is super-easy to handle. So, it isn't difficult at all to make perfectly round shapes and professional looking crispbreads.
If you don't have a sourdough starter in the fridge, you can easily make one with this recipe.
12 pcs.
If you don't have a sourdough starter in the fridge, you can easily make one with this recipe.
12 pcs.
1dl (110 g) sourdough starter
1 dl (55 g) rye flour
1 dl (100 g) lukewarm water
Mix together the sourdough starter, water and the flour. Cover with a tea towel and leave at room temperature for 8–9 hours.
2 dl (200 g) lukewarm water
15 g fresh yeast
0,75 tsp salt
0,5 dl (70 g) honey
0,5 dl rye malts for bread (flour)
2 dl (130 g) wheat flour
5 dl (275 g) rye flour
Mix together the sourdough starter, water, yeast, salt, honey and rye malts. Stir until the yeast is dissolved completely. Add the flour and knead about 2 minutes. The dough appears to be too sticky, but don't add flour.
Cover and leave to rise for 2 hours.
Turn the dough out onto a generously floured surface and divide it into 6 pieces. Roll out each piece to a thin, round sheet. Use a patterned rolling pin or poke the surface randomly with a fork before baking. With the help of a lid cut out a circle of dough with a diameter of 20 cm. It isn't difficult at all, because at this point the dough is easy to handle. Place on a parchment lined tray (2 crispbreads / tray). Continue rolling and cutting until all the dough is used up.
Preheat the oven to 225°C. Bake for 7–9 minutes / tray. Malt Crispbread is very thin. Don't leave it unattended as it burns very easily.
Let cool on a wire rack.
I'm passionate about reducing food waste. Bread is a good way to use up leftover ingredients, including mashed potatoes, which are one of the most common kitchen leftovers.
5 dl (500 g) lukewarm water
2,5 dl (1 cup) mashed potatoes
1,5 tsp salt
50 g fresh yeast
1 dl (90 g) cooking oil
3 dl (160 g) barley flour
9 dl (590 g) fine, dark wheat flour (yeast bread wheat flour)
cooking oil
finger salt
Stir the mashed potatoes, salt, yeast and cooking oil into the lukewarm water. Gradually mix in the flour. Knead the dough for about 8 minutes until smooth.
Cover and leave to rise.
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead it gently. Line a baking tray with a parchment paper and place the dough onto it. Flatten the dough with your hands.
Cover and leave to rise.
Poke the surface randomly with your fingers. Drizzle the top with cooking oil and pat some finger salt on it.
Preheat the oven to 200°C. Bake for 20 minutes.
Beetroot and caraway are a match made in heaven! They are the core of our favorite hash and ingredients into a versatile dough, which is the basis for many autumn breads in my kitchen.
2 breads
1 dl (110 g) sourdough starter
2 dl (200 g) lukewarm water
2 dl (110 g) rye flour
Mix together the sourdough starter, water and the flour. Cover with a tea towel and leave at room temperature until bubbly, it takes 7–9 hours.
2 small (300 g) raw beetroots, grated
2 small (300 g) raw beetroots, grated
3 dl (300 g) lukewarm water
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp caraway seeds
3 tbsp Scandinavian dark syrup (or light molasses)
3 tbsp Scandinavian dark syrup (or light molasses)
2 dl (100 g) crushed rye grains
7 dl (380 g) rye flour
5 dl (250 g) spelt flour
rolled rye or spelt
Blend the grated beetroot, lukewarm water, salt, caraway seeds, syrup and crushed rye grains with the starter dough. Mix the rye and spelt flour into the dough and knead for 10 minutes.
Cover and leave to rise at room temperature for 4 hours.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead it gently. The dough is sticky, but don't spoil it by adding tons of flour. Add the smallest amount of flour possible. Just so much you think you can handle it. Divide the dough into two equal pieces. Shape the pieces into two long loaves and put them into oiled tins. Pat with oiled hands and sprinkle with rolled rye or spelt.
Cover and leave to rise for 2 hours.
Preheat the oven to 250°C. Bake for 15 minutes, then turn the temperature down to 200°C and cook for a further 30 minutes.
Cover and let cool on a wire rack.
Blend the grated beetroot, lukewarm water, salt, caraway seeds, syrup and crushed rye grains with the starter dough. Mix the rye and spelt flour into the dough and knead for 10 minutes.
Cover and leave to rise at room temperature for 4 hours.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead it gently. The dough is sticky, but don't spoil it by adding tons of flour. Add the smallest amount of flour possible. Just so much you think you can handle it. Divide the dough into two equal pieces. Shape the pieces into two long loaves and put them into oiled tins. Pat with oiled hands and sprinkle with rolled rye or spelt.
Cover and leave to rise for 2 hours.
Preheat the oven to 250°C. Bake for 15 minutes, then turn the temperature down to 200°C and cook for a further 30 minutes.
Cover and let cool on a wire rack.
Nobody in my family has ever asked me to bake these buttermilk rusks. Nobody seems to like them, but whenever I put them on the table, they disappear in no time!
40 pcs.
3 dl (300 g) fat-free buttermilk
25 g fresh yeast
0,75 tsp salt
0,5 dl (45 g) Scandinavian dark syrup or American light molasses
1,5 tsp Seville orange peel, powdered
1,5 tsp fennel seeds
3 tsp caraway seeds
10 dried apricot
3 dl (300 g) fat-free buttermilk
25 g fresh yeast
0,75 tsp salt
0,5 dl (45 g) Scandinavian dark syrup or American light molasses
1,5 tsp Seville orange peel, powdered
1,5 tsp fennel seeds
3 tsp caraway seeds
10 dried apricot
2 dl (110 g) fine, light rye flour (bolted rye flour)
4 dl (270 g) fine, dark wheat flour (yeast bread wheat flour)
Blend the yeast, salt, syrup, Seville orange peel, seeds and small bits of dried apricots with the lukewarm buttermilk. Add the flour and knead about 7 minutes.
Cover and leave to rise at room temperature.
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and gently, with a spatula, lift the edges of the dough in toward the center. Shape into a loaf and put it into an oiled, 20 cm x 20 cm square cake tin. The dough is very moist and sticky, shape the loaf again in the tin with oiled hands if necessary.
Cover and leave to rise at room temperature for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 175°C. Bake for 50–60 minutes. Take the bread out of the tin and let it cool down for a while. Slice the bread into 40 slices. Put the slices on a baking tray and place them in the oven heated to 75°C to dry for about 2 hours, turning them about every 30 minutes.
4 dl (270 g) fine, dark wheat flour (yeast bread wheat flour)
Blend the yeast, salt, syrup, Seville orange peel, seeds and small bits of dried apricots with the lukewarm buttermilk. Add the flour and knead about 7 minutes.
Cover and leave to rise at room temperature.
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and gently, with a spatula, lift the edges of the dough in toward the center. Shape into a loaf and put it into an oiled, 20 cm x 20 cm square cake tin. The dough is very moist and sticky, shape the loaf again in the tin with oiled hands if necessary.
Cover and leave to rise at room temperature for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 175°C. Bake for 50–60 minutes. Take the bread out of the tin and let it cool down for a while. Slice the bread into 40 slices. Put the slices on a baking tray and place them in the oven heated to 75°C to dry for about 2 hours, turning them about every 30 minutes.
My granny loved all kinds of good housewife's recipes. She would have liked this Barley Water Bread too because it helps me to use up two leftover ingredients. Nothing gets wasted in this house!
Barley water is one of our most loved summer drinks. Usually it's served with ice cubes and lemon slices to beat the summer heat. But, a batch of Barley water means some leftover barley. And, if you've ever made cheese, no doubt you know how much whey there is afterwards. No wonder I often have some leftover whey too. This bread comes to my rescue.
If you don't want to make Barley water, just boil 4 tbsp pearl barley and 5 dl water. Place the pearl barley and water in a pan. Bring the water to the boil and then simmer for 30 minutes. Pour mixture through a sieve to separate the barley grains from the water. (You can do this the day before.)
If you don't have whey, replace it with water.
Barley water
2 L
4 tbsp pearl barley
1,5 L water
juice of 3 lemons
3 tbsp honey
7 dl mineral water
ice cubes
lemon slices
Place the pearl barley and water in a pan. Bring the water to the boil and then simmer for 30 minutes. Pour mixture through a sieve to separate the barley grains from the Barley water.
Add the lemon juice and honey. Stir and leave to cool.
Add the mineral water.
Garnish with lemon slices and ice cubes, and serve.
Barley Water Bread
2 breads
5 dl (500 g) whey (or water)
25 g fresh yeast
the leftover pearl barley
1,5 tsp salt
2 dl (100 g) fine, light rye flour (bolted rye flour)
about (850 g) 13 dl fine, dark wheat flour (yeast bread wheat flour)
2 tbsp cooking oil
Stir the yeast, leftover barley, salt and rye flour into the cold whey. Mix in the wheat flour. Knead the dough for 5 minutes. Add the cooking oil (and flour if necessary) and keep kneading another 5 minutes or until the dough is smooth and feels bouncy and elastic.
Cover and leave to rise at room temperature for 2 hours.
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead it gently. Divide it in half. Shape each half into a long loaf and twist. Put the breads on a parchment paper. Cover and leave to rise at room temperature for 30 minutes.
Preheat it the oven to 250°C. Bake for 10 minutes. Turn the temperature down to 200°C and bake for a further 20 minutes.
Let cool on a wire rack.
These breads will keep well at room temperature, but you can also freeze them.
