Breads

Norwegian Vanilla Custard Buns (Skoleboller or Skolebrød)

June 4, 2020 by Kristi Leave a Comment

What are Norwegian Vanilla Custard Buns?

These Norwegian Vanilla Custard Buns are known as “School Buns” or “School Bread” in Norway. A favorite with children, they are often tucked into a lunchbox as a treat or even served in the cafeteria as part of school lunch. The sweet simplicity of this vanilla bun most certainly has a child-like quality to it, but make no mistake, they are a delicious treat for people of all ages. Soft cardamom dough surrounds a rich, vanilla cream center, and to top it off…a bit of sweet vanilla icing. These comforting Norwegian Vanilla Custard Buns are sure to become a favorite with your people, young and old alike.

Sweet, Soft Bun Dough

Sweet bun dough forms the base of many Scandinavian baked goods. Fortunately, this means that if you have a good, reliable recipe for sweet bun dough, it can be used interchangeably in a a variety of different treats. The dough recipe I’m using here is one that I created for my Swedish Cinnamon Buns (if you haven’t tried these yet, you must! They are consistently a reader favorite). It’s a little unique in that it uses the tangzhong method….a technique used in making Japanese milk bread. It sounds fancy and intimidating, but I promise it’s not. It involves one teeny, tiny extra step that GREATLY enhances the texture of the final bun.

What is the Tangzhong Method?

This extra step known as the tangzhong method is deceptively simple, but the results are downright magical. A small amount of the flour and liquid (water, milk or a combination of the two) is cooked on the stove for a very short period of time creating a roux-like mixture. This process gelatinizes the starches in the flour allowing them to absorb more liquid. This roux-like substance is then cooled to room temperature and added to the rest of the ingredients when mixing the dough. This results in a higher rise and a more tender, moist bun that stays that way for a longer period of time. As I said, this 5-minute extra step is WELL worth it for the soft, billowy buns that are the result! Interested in learning more about the tangzhong method? This post over at the the King Arthur Flour blog does a very nice job of explaining it.

What is the Difference Between Instant and Active Dry Yeast?

The other thing to know about this dough recipe is that it uses instant yeast rather than active dry. What is the difference between the two? Instant yeast has more active cells than active dry. This means it works more quickly, efficiently and reliably. It also doesn’t need to be activated in warm water prior to use as active dry yeast does. You can simply mix it right in with the dry ingredients and go about your business. It is my preferred form of commercial yeast for all of these reasons, and I use it in all of my yeast-based recipes.

If you are planning to use active dry yeast in place of the instant here, know that you will have to activate it in a bit of warm liquid prior to use or your buns will not rise properly.

Luxurious Vanilla Custard

vanilla custard in a bowl with a spatula

I have a go-to custard recipe that is really easy and works well as a filling in these Norwegian Vanilla Custard Buns. All of the ingredients (minus the vanilla) are simply whisked together in a saucepan over medium-low heat until the mixture thickens into a pudding-like texture. The hot custard is then transferred to a fine mesh strainer and pressed through it using a rubber spatula. This helps ensure a smooth, silky filling. Sometimes bits of egg yolk coagulate during the cooking process and can leave your custard a bit lumpy if they are not strained out. The vanilla is then stirred in at the very end.

The vanilla custard can be prepared up to two days in advance and stored in the refrigerator until you are ready to use it. Like pudding, custard will develop a skin unless you place something directly on the surface when storing it. I like to put a bit or parchment or wax paper directly on the top of the custard and then cover the bowl with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming.

No Puffing Up in the Center, Please!

Most of the recipes for Norwegian Vanilla Custard Buns that I have found instruct you to roll each bun into a ball and then make an indentation in the center for the pastry cream. Sounds easy enough, but the first two times I made these buns, the center puffed right back up and out, pushing the filling up and out with it. Not exactly what I was going for. I tried several different methods for creating a well in the center that stayed put, but nothing really did the trick. I did a little research and came across a method used in making kolaches, the Eastern European filled sweet buns. Instead of starting with the dough in a bun shape, this recipe suggested rolling the dough to 1/2 inch thickness and cutting it into rounds. Intriguing! After a short rise, an indentation is made and filled with the desired filling. I crossed my fingers and gave it a try.

Success! This method definitely helped keep the custard in the middle of the bun where it belongs. The filling does appear to be puffed up when the buns first come out of the oven, but it will settle back down as the buns cool.

Baking the Buns

Because of the filling, these buns do better at a lower temperature and a little longer time in the oven (350 degrees for about 18 minutes). This helps ensure that they bake all the way through and there is no soggy, doughy spot in between the bun and the filling. Just be sure to switch and rotate your baking sheets halfway through the baking time to ensure an even bake for all of the buns.

Drizzle the Buns with Icing

Once the buns have cooled, it’s time to drizzle them with a simple powdered sugar icing. The traditional way to serve these Norwegian Cream Buns is with a sprinkle of coconut. As I live with several people who are coconut adverse, I skip this step. But you do what makes you happy.

I hope you give these Norwegian Vanilla Custard Buns a try! They are soft, creamy and easy to love.

Norwegian Vanilla Custard Buns (Skoleboller or Skolebrød)

A delicious vanilla custard-filled cardamom bun drizzled with powdered sugar icing. A Norwegian classic!

Author: Kristi
Prep Time: 30 minutes + 1 1/2 hours rising time
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 2 hours, 20 minutes
Yield: 16-18 buns
Category: fika, breads
Method: baking
Cuisine: Norwegian, Scandinavian, Nordic

Ingredients

For the Tangzhong:

5 tablespoons water

5 tablespoons whole milk

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

For the Dough:

5 tablespoons melted unsalted butter, cooled

½ cup whole milk, slightly warm

2 teaspoons instant yeast

½ teaspoon ground whole cardamom seeds or ½ teaspoon ground cardamom (optional)

1 teaspoon fine salt

¼ cup granulated sugar

3 cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 large egg

All of the Tangzhong, cooled

For the Vanilla Custard Filling:

2 large egg yolks

1 ½ tablespoons unsalted butter

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1 cup half and half

2 tablespoons sugar

Pinch of fine salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Egg Wash:

1 large egg

1 tablespoon water

For the Icing:

¾ cup powdered sugar

1 ½ tablespoons milk or water

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Pinch of fine salt

Shredded coconut for sprinkling (optional)

Instructions

Make the Tangzhong: Combine water, milk and flour in a medium saucepan. Whisk until combined and no lumps remain. Place saucepan over medium heat and cook mixture, whisking constantly, until it thickens, about 1-2 minutes. Set aside to cool.
Make the Dough: While the tangzhong is cooling, begin preparing the rest of the ingredients for the dough. Combine yeast, cardamom (if using), salt, sugar and flour in the bowl of a stand mixer. Whisk briefly by hand to combine.
Attach the dough hook to the mixer. Add melted and cooled butter, milk, egg and the cooled tangzhong (it can be slightly warm to the touch) to the dry ingredients. Mix on medium low until fully combined.
Increase mixer speed to medium and knead mixture for 3-4 minutes or until dough is slightly tacky but not sticky and clears the side of the bowl. It’s okay if it’s sticking to the bottom of the bowl slightly. Add an extra tablespoon of flour as necessary if your dough seems too sticky. You can also mix and knead the dough by hand but it will take longer, more like 8-10 minutes.
Cover bowl with plastic wrap and allow the dough to rise for an hour to an hour and a half or until 1 ½ or 2 times its original size. The time will largely depend on the temperature of your kitchen.
Meanwhile, make the Vanilla Custard Filling. Whisk egg yolks, butter, cornstarch, half and half, sugar and salt together in a medium saucepan. Place pan over medium low heat and whisk constantly until mixture is smooth and thick, about 3-5 minutes. Strain mixture through a fine mesh strainer into a clean bowl. Stir in vanilla. Place a piece of parchment paper directly on top of the pastry cream, followed by a layer of plastic wrap (this prevents the custard from forming a skin). Refrigerate until you are ready to use. (The Vanilla Custard Filling can be made 1-2 days in advance.)
Once the dough has risen, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Remove the dough from the bowl and place it onto a clean, unfloured countertop. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough until it is about half an inch thick. Cut circles out of the dough using a 3 inch biscuit cutter. Place the buns on the prepared baking sheets leaving 2 inches of space between each bun. Cover and let the buns rise for 30 minutes at room temperature. (Feel free to gather the scraps and roll them a second time to cut out more buns).
Using your thumb and fingers, create a defined well in the center of each bun. Fill each well with a heaping teaspoon of Vanilla Custard Filling.
Whisk the egg and water together for the egg wash. Brush the outside of each bun with the egg wash, taking care to avoid the custard center. Transfer buns to the oven and bake until golden brown, rotating the pans halfway through, about 18 minutes. Remove the buns from the oven and allow them to cool to room temperature.
Meanwhile, make the Icing. Whisk all ingredients together in a medium bowl until smooth. Drizzle the icing on each bun and sprinkle with coconut if desired. Serve.

Keywords: Norwegian, vanilla, custard, cream, buns, cardamom, fika, Scandinavian, Nordic, coconut

Sourdough Danish Rye Bread (Rugbrød)

April 21, 2020 by Kristi 12 Comments

So…do you have a sourdough starter bubbling away on your countertop yet? Many of you must because I’ve had several recent requests for a sourdough version of rugbrød, the dense Danish rye bread that is often used as the base for smørrebrød. So I figured it was probably time to get this recipe up on the blog!

I’ve been making this sourdough rugbrød for several years now, long before I created this easy overnight version that I posted on the blog last fall. At the time, I figured that a lot of people don’t keep sourdough starters at home, and they might appreciate a version that relies on commercial yeast for leavening. But, there is something to be said for making the real thing with your very own sourdough starter. Not only is it satisfying to use wild yeast for leavening, it also creates a delicious bread with a subtle tang that you will only get through the sourdough process. Sourdough bread also lasts longer than bread leavened with commercial yeast thanks to its acidic nature. So let’s get started with the basics, shall we?

WHAT IS RUGBRØD?

Rugbrød simply means “rye bread” in Danish. It is a sturdy, dense loaf that is comprised of rye flour, chopped rye grains and is often studded with sunflower, pumpkin and/or flax seeds. It is almost always baked in a 13 x 4 inch pullman pan with a lid. This helps the rye bread bake properly and gives it its characteristic square shape.

Rye breads, particularly those baked here in America, often have a variety of ingredients added to them to enhance their color (making them darker in appearance) and flavor. Common additions include caramel coloring (no thank you), stout beer, cocoa powder, espresso powder and molasses. Rugbrød, in contrast, has very little additional flavoring, perhaps just a little molasses for sweetening. It is meant to be a very straightforward bread so that it can serve as a neutral base for a variety of different sandwich toppings. Sometimes I will come across a rugbrød recipe that calls for flavor enhancers such as caraway, fennel or anise seed in the dough, but this seems to be more of an exception than the rule. Again, simple is the name of the game here.

When it is served, Rugbrød is typically sliced thin (a little less than a quarter of an inch) and buttered liberally with salted butter. There is actually a word in Danish, tandsmør, which means “tooth butter”. It refers to buttering your bread generously enough so that when you bite into it you can see your teeth marks in it. You butter lovers know what I’m talking about. It may be enjoyed as is, simply slathered with butter, or it can be piled with additional ingredients to form the base of smørrebrød, the famous Danish open sandwich.

New Potato Smørrebrød with Garlic Aïoli and Crispy Shallots

WHAT MAKES RYE SO SPECIAL?

Rye has many unique qualities that make it quite different from wheat, both as a whole grain and in flour form:

Rye has historically been important for the Nordic region as it is a hearty plant that can tolerate poor soil and weathers cold and wet conditions better than most grains. It was the primary grain relied upon for bread-baking in the north for centuries and is still popular today.
Rye flour has less gluten than wheat flour. Gluten strands form the structure of bread and trap gases produced by the yeast so that your bread leavens properly. Because gluten doesn’t form well when rye flour is mixed with water, rye breads are always more dense in structure and have a closer crumb that wheat breads.
Rye flour holds more water than wheat flour and contains certain enzymes that convert starch to sugar. This can cause rye breads to be overly moist and have a gummy texture if not handled and baked properly.
Your sourdough starter will help your loaf of rye bread succeed. While rye’s unique qualities can make it challenging to use in a bread recipe, your sourdough starter can help counteract some of those challenges. Using a sourdough starter contributes certain acids to the dough which help neutralize some of the negative effects of the enzymes that can cause the bread to have a gummy texture.
Rye breads get better with a little age. Unlike wheat breads which are best eaten shortly after cooling, both the texture and flavor of rye bread improves after a rest of 24-36 hours.
An interesting fact: There is a fungus called ergot that can attack rye plants causing the grains to become highly toxic to humans and trigger hallucinations if ingested. Some historians believe that ergot-infested rye was the cause of the hallucinations that led to the Salem witch trials in Massachusetts in 1692. Fortunately, modern industrialization has all but eliminated any risk of ergot-infected rye as any diseased grains are removed prior to processing.

The Sourdough Process

Making sourdough rugbrød is really quite simple. Here is a quick overview of the process from start to finish:

Weighing Your Ingredients in Grams

The first thing you might notice about the recipe is that it is written in grams. Don’t let that intimidate you. Most sourdough recipes are written by weight in grams and it is actually a really easy and accurate way to bake. Simply zero out your kitchen scale with the bowl you plan to use sitting on top. Set the scale to grams and start weighing! Seriously….easier than cups and spoons. Just remember to zero out your scale every time you add a new ingredient.

The Day Before You Bake: Refresh Your Starter

It’s best to a use refreshed and ripe sourdough starter when you begin to build your dough. What does “refreshed and ripe” mean? Simply that you fed your starter about 8 hour prior to when you plan to use it. It should be bubbly, active and puffy throughout.

The Night Before You Bake: Create a Levain

This recipe calls for a levain, which is a term for a portion of the dough that will ferment overnight before we mix the final dough. A levain consists of water, flour and a bit of ripe sourdough starter.

The Night Before You Bake: Create a Soaker

This recipe also calls for a soaker. This is a mixture of rye chops (or Bob’s Red Mill 7 Grain Hot Cereal Mix) and seeds that will sit overnight in water prior to adding it to the final dough. Soaking these ingredients overnight in water helps soften them so that they will have a pleasant texture in the final loaf.

The Next Morning: Build Your Final Dough

Your levain and soaker have been sitting overnight and it’s time to put the final dough together. This couldn’t be easier. Simply add all the ingredients for the dough to the bowl of a heavy duty stand mixer. Mix on low for a few minutes and then increase the speed to medium for a few minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl occasionally. That’s it! There is no kneading of this dough by hand as it is far too sticky to do so.

The Rise

From here we scrape the dough into a greased and floured 13 x 4 pullman loaf pan with a lid. And then we wait. We let the dough rise and do its thing while we attend to whatever it is that we need to do. The dough should come within 1/2 inch of the top of the pan before we pop it in the oven. This will take anywhere from 1 1/2 hours to 4 hours depending on the temperature of the dough and the temperature of your kitchen. Be patient and move your dough to a warmer spot if you want to speed things up a little. I will often turn the oven on and then let the pan sit on top of the stove while the oven preheats.

The Bake

So what’s up with the different baking temperatures in this recipe? They really do have a purpose, I promise. This method of baking helps prevent the enzymes that produce a gummy texture in rye breads from developing by keeping the loaf from spending too much time in the temperature zone where enzyme formation is the most favorable. The texture of your your bread will be moist and cooked evenly all the way through….just like you want it to be!

If you make your own smørrebrød at home or would like to, please give this sourdough rugbrød a try. It is one of the most delicious and nutritious breads out there and a great way to dip your toe into the world of sourdough. And using it as a base for a Nordic open sandwich will give you a true taste of authenticity. If you are new to smørrebrød, there are several open sandwich recipes on the blog to get you started:

Sourdough Danish Rye Bread (Rugbrød)

★★★★★

5 from 1 reviews

An easy and straightforward recipe for authentic sourdough Danish Rye Bread (Rugbrød). Perfect for creating delicious Nordic open sandwiches known as smørrebrød!

Author: Kristi
Prep Time: 30 minutes+fermenting and rising time
Cook Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes
Total Time: 16 hours (largely unattended)
Yield: 1 13 inch loaf 1x
Category: breads, rye, smørrebrød
Method: baking, sourdough
Cuisine: Nordic, Scandinavian, Danish

Scale

Ingredients

Special Equipment Needed:

Kitchen scale

Heavy duty stand mixer

13 x 4 inch pullman loaf pan with lid

Ingredients for the Night Before:

For the Levain:

300 grams dark rye flour

100 grams bread flour

350 grams water

70 grams ripe sourdough starter

For the Soaker:

75 grams rye chops or 7 grain hot cereal such as Bob’s Red Mill

1 cup raw sunflower seeds

1 cup raw pumpkin seeds

½ cup flax seeds

285 grams water

Ingredients for the Day of Baking:

All of the Levain

All of the Soaker

200 grams dark rye flour

130 grams bread flour

180 grams water

18 grams salt

2 tablespoons molasses

Instructions

The night before, make the Levain and the Soaker: Combine the ingredients for the Levain in a medium bowl. Stir with a spoon to combine (mixture will be thick and the texture of wet cement). Cover with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature overnight, approximately 12 hours. Combine the ingredients for the Soaker in a small bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature overnight, approximately 12 hours.
The next morning, grease a 13 x 4 inch pullman loaf pan (with a lid) and dust it with rye flour. Set aside.
Combine the Levain and the Soaker in the bowl of a heavy duty stand mixer. Add remaining dough ingredients. Using the paddle attachment, mix on low speed for 3-4 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl occasionally. Increase speed to medium and continue to mix and periodically scrape down the sides of the bowl for another 4 minutes.
Using a sturdy spoon or spatula, transfer the dough to the prepared loaf pan, distributing it evenly across the length of the pan and smoothing out the top with a rubber spatula (if you are having trouble smoothing out the top, dampen the spatula slightly with water). Dust the surface of the loaf generously with rye flour. Put the cover on the loaf pan and let it rise until it comes to within a ½ inch of the top of the pan. This may take anywhere from 1 ½-4 hours depending on the temperature of your kitchen and the dough.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 500 degrees. Place the covered loaf pan in the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Reduce the temperature of the oven to 400 degrees. Bake, covered, for an additional 15 minutes. Pull the loaf pan from the oven and remove the lid. Reduce the temperature of the oven to 325 degrees and continue to bake, uncovered, for an additional 45 minutes. Remove loaf from the oven and tip out onto a wire cooling rack. Let cool completely before slicing. Rye breads improve after a bit of resting time. If you can wait until the following day to slice into it, wrap the completely cooled loaf loosely in foil and let it cure until the next day. The bread will keep for about 4 or 5 days at room temperature wrapped loosely in plastic wrap and a layer of foil. For longer storage, wrap tightly and freeze.

Notes

This recipe is adapted from From the Wood Fired Oven by Richard Miscovich

Keywords: Danish, rye, sourdough, rugbrød

Creating Your Own Sourdough Starter

March 23, 2020 by Kristi Leave a Comment

I’ve been baking sourdough bread in my home kitchen for nearly five years now and teaching sourdough workshops to small groups of people for three years. It’s something I’ve wanted to share here on the blog for some time now, but I’ve been hesitant to to do so. Why? Because there is so much I want to tell you, and I want to do it right. I want you to see the beauty in the process. I want you to see how simple the whole seemingly complicated world of sourdough baking can be. Most of all, I want you to succeed. I want you to experience the feeling of pulling your own beautiful sourdough loaves from the oven with a deep sense of pride. So I’m setting my fears aside, taking a deep breath and starting at the very beginning. The Sourdough Starter. Without the starter, there can be no sourdough. Let’s begin by covering some of the basics and learning how to create your own starter.

What is a Sourdough Starter?

It’s a self-contained culture of yeast and bacteria that is used to leaven bread. We create a starter by leaving a combination of water and flour in a bowl on our kitchen countertop to essentially “invite” the right combination of yeast and bacteria to come and live (and most importantly eat) there. So a starter really is a living thing! Or technically speaking, it’s many microorganisms living together as a community that we help create and sustain by regularly feeding it a mixture of fresh flour and water. You might think of your starter as a pet. A really useful pet that doesn’t shed or need walks AND helps you bake bread.

What Does a Sourdough Starter Do?

A sourdough starter does essentially three things:

It leavens bread;
It causes the bread to develop complex flavor; and
It breaks down the natural barriers present in whole grains making the nutrients found in those grains more available to the human body and making the bread easier to digest.

By way of comparison, commercial yeast will leaven your bread, but that’s about it. The other two functions of the starter are made possible by a beneficial strain of bacteria that is present in the starter culture called lactobacilli. These bacteria convert starches and sugars into lactic acid. This process is called lacto-fermentation, and it creates flavor, acts as a natural preservative, and makes our bread more nutritious and easier to digest.

How Long Will It Take to Create My Sourdough Starter?

The entire process of creating a sourdough starter takes 7 days. So in one short week you will have a culture that is ready to use for baking bread in your own kitchen!

Once I’ve Created My Starter, How Do I Keep It Alive?

Good question. I’m not going to lie to you, the ownership and care of sourdough starter is a commitment. It will need regular feedings, as discussed in the instructions below, especially when it is left out at room temperature. The good news is that we can store our starter in the fridge for a week or so and not have to feed it at all during that time. So if you bake once a week, you can leave your starter in the fridge until a day or two before you plan to bake with it. Give it a couple of feedings at 12 hour intervals and it is ready to use in your next batch of bread. Once you are done using it, you can feed it and return it to the fridge for storage. I try not to let my starter go for more than 2 weeks at a time without being fed. Even if I’m not planning on baking, I might take it out of the fridge and give it a feeding just to keep it happy and healthy.

What Equipment Will I Need?

To create your sourdough starter you will need:

A Kitchen Scale: We will be using weight measurements to create our starter. Remember when I said that what I wanted most of all was for you to succeed in the bread baking process? Using a scale will ensure that success. And it’s important to have one a going forward basis as most sourdough recipes are measured by weight rather than by volume. Weighing your ingredients is a really easy process and far more accurate than measuring by volume. I really like this one from the good people at Oxo but it’s a bit expensive. There are plenty of affordable kitchen scales on the market for $20 or less.
Two Bowls: While we are creating our sourdough starter, we will be feeding it at 12 hour intervals. You will need two medium size bowls for this process: One for the current starter and one to transfer a portion of that starter to for the next feeding. Be sure your bowls are at least medium size to allow for growth. Once your starter gets active, it can bubble over in a container that is too small for it.
A Spoon: For stirring the starter mixture. I just use a regular metal spoon.
Plastic Wrap: While we are creating our starter we are going to keep it loosely covered in plastic wrap on the kitchen counter. Why loosely covered? Because if we cover it too tightly, the yeast and bacteria that we are hoping to attract with our “food” (a.k.a. flour and water) may not be able to get to it. It would be like you throwing a party and making a bunch of awesome food but then locking all the doors and refusing to let your guests inside. We want to be hospitable to our yeast and bacteria friends and make them feel welcome. We do not, however, want flies or other household pests finding their way into our starter. So loosely covered it is.

What Ingredients Will I Need?

Pretty basic stuff, really, with one notable exception:

Bread flour: Go ahead and stock up on this one because you are going to go through a lot of it while you create your starter. A little pro tip: I buy my bread flour at a local bakery supply store in 50 pound bags. It is CONSIDERABLY more cost effective to do so. You may not bake as often as I do so you might want to find a friend who wants to be your sourdough buddy and split a giant bag of flour with you. If you do buy your flour in bulk, make sure you store it properly. I use two airtight plastic containers that I purchased from King Arthur Flour that hold 25 pounds of flour each.
Whole Wheat Flour: Just a small bag will do. We will be using some in the very first build of our starter.
Water: Naturally. I use the filtered water straight from the refrigerator door dispenser.
Diastatic Malted Barley Flour: This is the notable exception I mentioned above. You can make a starter with just regular flour and water, but a little pinch of diastatic malted barley flour is a fantastic jump-starter for getting everything going. This particular flour increases the enzymatic activity of your starter environment and provide more “food” for the yeast and bacteria that you are trying to attract, thus contributing to the success of your starter. I highly recommend using it, but just a pinch! A little goes a long way. Again, this would be a great ingredient to share with a friend or two as you literally just need a pinch. And remember to plan ahead on this one…it’s probably something you will need to order (I get mine from Breadtopia.

That’s Sourdough Starter 101! Now it’s your turn. Order that diastatic malted barley flour and kitchen scale and stock up on bread flour. It’s time to create your starter!

Creating Your Own Sourdough Starter

A step-by-step guide to creating your own sourdough starter.

Author: Kristi
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: One week of twice a day 5 minute feedings
Yield: One sourdough starter
Category: baking
Method: sourdough

Ingredients

4 ounces bread flour

4 ounces whole wheat flour

8 ounces water

Pinch of diastatic malted barley flour (optional)

Instructions

Day One:

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix thoroughly. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let the mixture sit at room temperature (ideally around 70-75 degrees) overnight. Remember, it is important to leave the mixture loosely covered at this point.

Day Two:

Stir the mixture once or twice (do not feed), cover loosely and continue to let sit at room temperature.

Day Three:

By this time you should be starting to see some evidence of yeast and bacteria activity in the form of bubbles. If so, combine:

5 ounces of starter

4 ounces of water

5 ounces of bread flour

in a clean bowl. Stir until smooth. Cover loosely and let sit at room temperature. Discard the remainder of the original starter.

Days Three Through Seven:

Repeat the above feeding process every 12 hours. Feeding at regular intervals will help with the success of your starter. Consider setting an alarm on your phone to help remind you, and choose a feeding time that consistently works with your schedule. Continue these twice a day feedings through Day Seven. At this point your starter should smell sweet and faintly of alcohol and be ready to use. Be aware that in the middle of the week there may come a time when your starter does not smell very good. Don’t worry and don’t throw it out! It will all come together by Day Seven.

Day Eight and Beyond:

If your starter is bubbly and happy (doubling or tripling in volume between feedings) feel free to start feeding it as follows:

5 ounces of starter

5 ounces of water

5 ounces of bread flour

If you are leaving our starter at room temperature, I would continue feeding it every 12 hours for a few weeks. Once the culture is well-established, you can stretch your feeding schedule out to once every 24 hours. But while you are still building and strengthening your starter it is helpful to do more frequent feedings.

If you do not plan on baking for a few days and want to move your starter to the refrigerator so that you do not need to feed it so often, go ahead and feed your starter as you normally would, let it sit at room temperature for 30 minutes and then refrigerate. Cover tightly for refrigeration to prevent your starter from drying out.

Once your sourdough starter is well-established, it can be left in the refrigerator for up to a week between feedings. I like to take it out at least a day or so before I plan to bake and feed it a couple of times at 12 hour intervals before using it in a recipe.

Keywords: sourdough, starter, bread

Danish Oat Bread

March 11, 2020 by Kristi 2 Comments

I love a good, hearty rugbrød or a craggy, rustic sourdough bread. But sometimes you just want a soft, simple loaf. Something tender with just a touch of sweetness. This Danish Oat Bread is just that kind of homemade loaf…..comforting and soft and easy to make in the course of an afternoon.

The idea for this bread came from Beatrice Ojakangas’s The Great Scandinavian Baking Book. She has a recipe for a Danish Oat Loaf which she describes as perfect alongside a bowl of pea soup. Indeed, this delightfully versatile bread would be lovely toasted, buttered and served with a hearty bowl of soup. Or perhaps simply sliced and slathered with peanut butter and jelly or, my personal favorite…toasted, buttered and sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar. Suddenly I’m 7 years old again and back in my parents’ kitchen.

Yes, it’s that kind of bread. Nostalgic and comforting in the best of ways. Kid-friendly and yet wholesome with the addition of both old-fashioned oats and whole wheat flour, this Danish Oat Bread is also as nourishing as it is delicious.

Ready to give it a try? I’ve got just a few tips to make sure your Danish Oat Loaf is perfectly tender and delicious every time:

Make sure allow the milk and oat mixture to cool to room temperature before adding it to the dry ingredients. Mixing yeast with wet ingredients that are over 120 degrees Farenheit will cause the yeast to begin dying off (and your bread not to rise). If the mixture is just warm the touch, you should be fine.
When you are ready to serve the bread, make sure any butter or other chosen spreads are nice and soft. This is very tender loaf. If you try to spread something cold on top of it, you risk a ripping and tearing situation.

I think this Danish Oat Bread would be very nice alongside a bowl of Herbed White Bean and Sausage Soup with Swiss Chard. Or perhaps Creamy Asparagus Soup would be a perfect seasonal accompaniment…I’ve seen lots of asparagus at the market lately. And this bread would be perfect for making Toasted Goat Cheese Sandwiches with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Olives! I feel a delicious springtime soup supper coming together already.

Please give this tender and delicious Danish Oat Bread a try and let me know how it goes in the comments below! I’d love to hear from you!

Danish Oat Bread

★★★★★

5 from 1 reviews

A soft, tender and comforting yeast bread made with old-fashioned oats and whole wheat flour. A real crowd pleaser, this oat bread is as nourishing as it is delicious.

Author: Kristi
Prep Time: 2 1/2 hours (largely unattended)
Cook Time: 45-50 minutes
Total Time: 3 hours, 15 minutes
Yield: 1 loaf
Category: breads
Method: baking
Cuisine: Danish, Nordic, Scandinavian

Ingredients

½ cup water

1 cup whole milk, room temperature

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 tablespoons packed brown sugar

¾ cup old-fashioned rolled oats

2 cups bread flour

½ cup whole wheat flour

1 ½ teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons instant yeast

For the Topping:

1 egg, lightly beaten

2 tablespoons milk

Old-fashioned rolled oats

Instructions

Heat water, milk, butter and brown sugar over medium heat until simmering. Remove from heat and add oats. Stir to combine and set aside to cool to room temperature.
Whisk bread flour, whole wheat flour, salt and yeast together in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add cooled oatmeal and milk mixture. Using the dough hook, mix on medium low speed until ingredients are fully combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.
Increase speed to medium and knead until bread is smooth and clears the bottom and sides of the bowl, about 5-6 minutes.
Cover bowl and let rise at room temperature until dough has doubled in size, about 1 ½ to 2 hours.
Turn dough out onto a clean work surface. Deflate and shape into a round disk about 2 inches high and place in a greased 9 inch round cake pan. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until the loaf is puffy and slowly springs back when you press it with your finger, about 45 minutes.
Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375 degrees. Whisk egg and milk together. Brush the top of the loaf with egg and milk and sprinkle with oats. Bake 40-50 minutes or until the loaf is golden brown and the internal temperature of the reaches 205-210 degrees. Cool completely before serving.

Notes

Inspired and adapted from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book by Beatrice Ojakangas and Bread Illustrated by America’s Test Kitchen.

Keywords: Danish, oat, bread, yeast, baking, Nordic, Scandinavian, whole wheat

St. Lucia Buns (Lussekatter)

December 9, 2019 by Kristi Leave a Comment

The Story of Saint Lucia

Before the adoption of the Gregorian calendar we use today, Scandinavians recognized December 13th as the longest night of the year. When Christianity found its way to northern shores, monks brought with them the story of Saint Lucia, a young Italian girl who worked to help persecuted Christians who were hiding in the catacombs of Rome under the reign of Diocletian in 285 AD. In order to keep her hands free so that she could carry as many supplies as possible, Saint Lucia attached candles to a wreath on her head to provide her with much-needed light in the dark catacombs.

Celebrating St. Lucia Day

In modern Scandinavia, December 13th or St. Lucia Day is a celebration of light in the midst of the darkest time of the year and serves as a kickoff to the Christmas season in Sweden. Festivals of light are held in towns and schools all over the country on December 13th, with one girl chosen to portray Saint Lucia wearing a white dress, red sash and a crown of candles on her head.

St. Lucia Buns

It is customary to serve these bright, sunny saffron buns on St. Lucia Day in Sweden, either for breakfast with coffee or for an afternoon fika treat paired with a steaming cup of glögg. Soft, slightly sweet and studded with golden raisins, cheerful St. Lucia Buns are a reminder that longer days and sunlight are just around the corner.

Use the Tangzhong Method

For this St. Lucia Bun recipe, I revisited the sweet bun dough I developed for my beloved Swedish Cinnamon Buns. I used the same simple bread-making technique called tangzhong which helps yeasted baked goods stay soft and tender. Basically, a small amount of the flour and liquid (water, milk or a combination of the two) is cooked on the stove for a very short period of time creating a roux-like mixture. This process gelatinizes the starches in the flour allowing them to absorb more liquid and results in a higher rise and a more tender, moist bun that stays that way for a longer period of time. It’s a quick and easy step that makes a big difference in texture.

A Little Saffron Goes a Long Way

St. Lucia Buns customarily contain saffron which adds an exotic flavor and a bright yellow hue to the final product. In my testing, however, I discovered that too much saffron could be overpowering to these delicate buns. I found a recipe for St. Lucia Buns in the book Bread Illustrated by America’s Test Kitchen that called for a mere 1/4 teaspoon of saffron threads AND a bit of turmeric to bring additional yellow color without more saffron flavor. This was my favorite combination by far….a beautiful yellow dough and just a hint of saffron flavor.

Give these delicious St. Lucia Buns a try, either on December 13th in celebration of St. Lucia Day or anytime during the holiday season. They are a bright and cheerful reminder that these dark days won’t last forever.

St. Lucia Buns (Lussekatter)

A soft, slightly sweet Scandinavian saffron bun that is traditionally served on St. Lucia Day (December 13th).

Author: Kristi
Prep Time: 50 minutes + 1 1/2 hours rising time
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 2 hours and 45 mintues
Yield: 16 buns
Category: baking
Cuisine: Nordic, Scandinavian, Swedish

Ingredients

For the Tangzhong:

5 tablespoons water

⅛-¼ teaspoon saffron threads, crumbled

⅛ teaspoon ground turmeric

5 tablespoons whole milk

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

For the dough:

5 tablespoons melted unsalted butter, cooled

½ cup whole milk, slightly warm

2 teaspoons instant yeast

1 teaspoon fine salt

¼ cup granulated sugar

3 cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 large egg

All of the Tangzhong, cooled

⅓ cup golden raisins, chopped

For the Egg Wash and Topping:

1 large egg

1 tablespoon water

Pinch of salt

Pearl sugar for topping

Instructions

Make the tangzhong: Bring water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Remove from heat and add saffrom and turmeric. Steep for 15 minutes. Add milk and flour. Whisk until combined and no lumps remain. Place saucepan over medium heat and cook mixture, whisking constantly, until it thickens, about 1-2 minutes. Set aside to cool.
Make the dough: While the tangzhong is cooling, begin preparing the rest of the ingredients for the dough. Combine yeast, salt, sugar and flour in the bowl of a stand mixer. Whisk briefly by hand to combine.
Attach the dough hook to the mixer. Add melted and cooled butter, slightly warm milk, egg and the cooled Tangzhong (it can be slightly warm to the touch) to the dry ingredients. Mix on medium low until fully combined.
Increase mixer speed to medium and knead mixture for 3-4 minutes or until dough is slightly tacky but not sticky and clears the side of the bowl. Add raisins and continue to knead until they are evenly distributed throughout the dough. You can also mix and knead the dough by hand but it will take longer, more like 8-10 minutes.
Cover bowl with plastic wrap and allow the dough to rise for an hour or until 1 ½ or 2 times its original size. The time will largely depend on the temperature of your kitchen.
Once the dough has risen, preheat oven to 350 degrees and adjust oven racks so that they are in the upper and lower middle positions. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Remove the dough from the bowl and place it onto a clean countertop. Roll out with a rolling pin until it is in the shape of a rectangle that is about 16 by 6 inches in size. The dough should be smooth enough that you do not need to add flour during the rolling process. If yours is sticking the rolling pin, however, sprinkle a little flour over the dough as necessary to prevent this from happening.
Using a pizza wheel, cut the folded dough lengthwise into 16 one inch strips. Cover with plastic wrap.
Working with one piece of dough at a time and keeping the rest of the dough covered, roll and stretch the strip of dough between the palms of your hands and the countertop into a 16 inch rope. Coil the ends of the rope in opposite directions creating an “S” shape. Place bun onto prepared baking pan. Repeat with remaining dough, spacing buns about 2 ½ inches apart with 8 buns on each baking pan. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 30-45 minutes.
Meanwhile, make the egg wash. Whisk egg, water and salt together in a small bowl. Once the buns have risen and are ready to go into the oven, remove plastic wrap and gently brush the surface of each bun with the egg wash Sprinkle pearl sugar over the top of each bun.
Bake buns for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown, switching and rotating the pans halfway through the baking time. Cool slightly on a wire rack and serve warm. Buns are best when eaten the day they are made.

Keywords: saffron, buns, St. Lucia, raisins, Christmas, Advent, holiday, yeast bread

Rye and Oat Crispbread

November 21, 2019 by Kristi Leave a Comment

Crispbread in Scandinavia

Scandinavians eat a lot of crispbread, Swedes boasting the highest consumption, closely followed by Norway. Crispbread is Sweden’s second largest export (just behind vodka), and on average, Swedes consume over 450 slices of crispbread per year! While crispbread might seem like just a cracker, Scandinavians see it as another form of bread and serve it for breakfast, lunch and dinner and as a snack in between meals.

Crispbread was traditionally made only twice a year and stored on a long pole hanging near the ceiling, hence the hole in the center of each piece. When you were ready for another crispbread, you could simply climb up, slide one off the pole and give it a little dust off. While this storage method is very charming, modern day Scandinavians are more likely to opt for an airtight container to keep their crispbread fresh AND dust-free.

What to Serve on Crispbread

Crispbread makes an excellent base for just about anything and everything. For breakfast, think butter and sliced hard-boiled egg, or maybe cream cheese and homemade pear compote. For lunch, how about a piece of crispbread piled high with creamy chickpea salad? And as an easy and delicious accompaniment to your Nordic supper, serve it buttered along side a cozy soup or stew. It’s perfect for dipping.

While there are many obvious ways to use crispbread, there a few not so obvious but popular ways to eat this crunchy bread in Scandinavia:

Crushed up and sprinkled on yogurt with fruit for breakfast;
Covered with cheese and broiled to make crispy little toasts;
And crispbread pizza! Top your crispbread with a few favorite ingredients and a sprinkling of cheese and pop it into the oven to heat. Ingenious!

You are probably familiar with several of the more popular brands of crispbread available in the grocery store (Finn Crisp, Wasa, Leksands). But Scandinavians are bakers at heart, and many people make their own cripsbread at home. This is an incredibly easy and enjoyable thing to do once you get the hang of it. And homemade crispbread lasts for a couple of weeks so you can make a good supply of it to have on hand for snacking and to accompany meals at any time of day.

Rye and Oat Crispbread

This easy recipe for Rye and Oat Crispbread is just the thing to get you started on your exploration into the world of Scandinavian crispbread. Simple, delicious and full of good things like dark rye flour and oats, this homemade crispbread is a serious step up from store bought crackers. Making crispbread is relatively straightforward, but there are a few tips and tricks I’d like to share with you to help your homemade crispbread be the very best that it can be.

Roll your crispbread thin. PAPER thin. When you think it’s thin enough, keep rolling. You will get a much more crisp final product when you take the time to roll it out as thin as you possibly can. You can also expect your crispbread to expand slightly when baked so it will not be quite as thin as when it went into the oven.
Use a pizza cutter to even out the edges if necessary. Don’t worry if your crispbread is more amoeba-shaped than round. Simply use a pizza cutter to even out the edges. Or leave your crispbread amoeba-shaped! That’s rustic and charming, too. The more you make your own crispbread at home, the better you will become at rolling out the dough.
Roll a kruskavel (a notched rolling pin) over the dough round a few times or poke it all over with a fork. This helps keep it flat and ensures maximum crispiness. If you enjoy Scandinavian baking and want to start making more of your own crispbread and flatbread, I highly recommend investing in a kruskavel of your own. It’s an invaluable tool for the Nordic baker.
Roll your dough directly on a piece of parchment paper. This eliminates the need to add any additional flour or transfer the dough round from the counter to a baking pan. It also makes it easier to roll the crispbread really, really thin. If you are not already doing so, it’s worth checking out your local bakery supply store for a large box of baking parchment paper. It is so much more affordable that buying a small box of it at the grocery store.
Cut a hole in the center of your crispbread using a round biscuit cutter. Not just because it’s charming and traditional, but also because the center is the last part of the crispbread to crisp up. Creating that hole in the center creates extra edges and helps prevent the dreaded soggy crispbread. Go ahead and bake up the little rounds along side the larger piece of crispbread, just like you might make donut holes out of dough cut from the center of a donut.
Brush the crispbread with butter and sprinkle on some sea salt flakes before baking. This helps with browning and adds incredible flavor.
Bake until golden brown and crisp. DO NOT remove your crispbread from the oven too soon. This leads to soggy crispbread. You want to make sure your crispbread is crispy all the way through.
Allow the crispbread to cool completely on a wire rack prior to storing. Moisture is the enemy of good crispbread. Make sure that it is thoroughly cooled before placing in an airtight container.

Ready to try this Rye and Oat Crispbread for yourself? Please do and let me know how it goes in the comments below. Honestly, there is something very meditative and satisfying about making crispbread at home. I hope you enjoy the process of baking it (and eating it) as much as I do.

Rye and Oat Crispbread

An easy recipe for Scandinavian crispbread featuring dark rye flour and oats. A delicious and nutritious accompaniment to snacks and meals at any time of day!

Author: Kristi
Prep Time: 10 minutes + 1 hour rising time
Cook Time: 12 minutes per crispbread
Total Time: 3 hours
Yield: 8 crispbreads
Category: Bread
Method: Baking
Cuisine: Nordic, Scandinavian

Ingredients

1 cup dark rye flour

1 cup all purpose flour

½ cup rolled oats

½ teaspoon fine salt

1 teaspoon sugar

2 teaspoons instant dry yeast

¾ cup milk

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled, plus more melted butter for brushing

Large sea salt crystals for sprinkling, such as Maldon

Instructions

Whisk flours, oats, salt, sugar and yeast together in a large bowl. Stir in milk and butter. Knead briefly in the bowl with your hands until the dough comes together (dough will be quite stiff and a bit sticky). Cover and let rise at room temperature for 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Divide dough into 8 pieces and cover with plastic wrap. Working with one piece of dough at a time, roll into a thin round on a sheet of parchment paper using a traditional rolling pin.
Roll with a kruskavel a few times or poke all over with a skewer or fork. Cut a 1 inch hole out of the center using a biscuit cutter. Brush with butter and sprinkle with sea salt crystals.
Transfer parchment paper to a baking sheet. Bake until golden brown and crispy, about 12-15 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Repeat with remaining pieces of dough.

Keywords: rye, oat, crispbread, cracker, homemade, knäckebröd, Scandinavian

Swedish Limpa

October 24, 2019 by Kristi Leave a Comment

As the weather begins to turn cold, my baking thoughts turn to the spicy, citrusy rye bread known as Swedish Limpa. A tender crumb thanks to the addition of buttermilk and a hint of orange and anise make this an exceptionally warm and comforting bread, perfect for fall and winter.

What is Swedish Limpa?

The word “limpa” simply means loaf in Swedish. Unlike some Scandinavian rye breads which can be dense and seedy, Limpa is slightly sweet with a fine crumb. In the United States there are many recipes for Swedish Limpa, most of which contain orange zest and spices such as anise, fennel and/or caraway. If you are of Swedish decent, chances are there is a recipe for Limpa in a family recipe box somewhere.

An Easy Rye Bread for Beginners

As I’ve discussed before, rye has a reputation for being a tricky flour to work with. But this simple loaf contains just enough bread flour in addition to rye to avoid any of the pitfalls associated with rye bread baking. If you are new to baking rye bread at home, this Swedish Limpa is the perfect place to start.

My Limpa Recipe

This recipe comes from my great-grandmother, Emma. She grew up on the southern tip of Sweden within sight of the sea. Her father owned the local flour and saw mill and also tended to fruit orchards on their land. As a child Emma travelled all over Sweden by train with her father selling fruit harvested from the family’s orchards.

In the early 1900’s, Emma immigrated to America, bringing this Limpa recipe with her. I’ve updated it slightly and added more detailed instructions, but it is very much in its original form. The combination of rye, orange and anise is as addictive as it is unusual. I often find myself craving a slice, slightly warm from the oven, spread with a generous layer of salted butter. And a good, strong cup of coffee, of course.

Food can be such a powerful link between past, present and future. Making this simple Swedish Limpa is a very tangible way for me to connect with my great-grandmother, revisit her stories and honor her legacy. And I am so delighted to carry this recipe forward and share it with you! As the leaves fly and the temperatures drop, give this warm, comforting and easy Swedish Limpa a try.

Swedish Limpa

An easy and tender buttermilk rye bread with just a hint of orange and anise. Perfect for fall and winter!

Author: Kristi
Prep Time: 20 minutes +3 hours rising time
Cook Time: 35 minutes
Total Time: 3 hours, 55 minutes
Yield: 1 loaf 1x
Category: bread
Method: baking
Cuisine: Nordic, Swedish, Scandinavian

Scale

Ingredients

1 cup buttermilk

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 tablespoon butter

2 tablespoons water

2 tablespoons molasses

Zest of 1 orange

1 teaspoon anise seed, toasted briefly in a dry skillet and then ground, or 1 teaspoon ground anise seed

1 teaspoon fine salt

2 teaspoons instant yeast

1 cup dark rye flour (I use the Bob’s Red Mill brand)

2 cups bread flour

Instructions

Combine buttermilk and baking soda in a liquid measuring cup. Set aside.
Combine butter, water, molasses and orange zest in a small saucepan and heat to a simmer. Remove from heat and cool slightly.
Add buttermilk mixture and molasses mixture to the mixing bowl of a stand mixer.
Add ground anise seed, salt, yeast and rye flour to the bowl.
Using the dough hook attachment, mix on medium low until ingredients are combined. Add bread flour and continue to mix on medium low until the dough is fully combined and clearing the sides of the bowl. Increase speed to medium and knead for approximately 4 minutes. If you are mixing and kneading the dough by hand, the process will take longer.
Remove the bowl from the mixer, cover with plastic wrap and let the dough rise at room temperature for approximately 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Remove the dough from the bowl and pat into an oval shape that is about 1 1/2 inches thick. Cover lightly with plastic wrap and allow to rise for another 45 minutes to an hour.
Remove plastic wrap and decoratively score dough with a razor blade or a sharp knife. Place on a baking sheet and bake until golden brown, 30-35 minutes. The internal temperature of the dough should be at least 198 degrees when it is done. Allow bread to cool before slicing.

Keywords: Swedish, Limpa, bread, rye, easy

Nordic Apple Strips

October 7, 2019 by Kristi Leave a Comment

I love it when I can use one dough in multiple ways. It’s like having a little black dress in your closet that pairs with heels and a necklace one day, tall boots and your favorite scarf the next. The dough I use for my Swedish Cinnamon Buns offers just that kind of versatility. These Nordic Apple Strips are made with the very same dough (sans the cardamom) and filling but in the form of a long strip filled with thin slices of fresh apple. You’ve got to love something that offers such delicious flexibility!

If you have never made my Swedish Cinnamon Buns before, know that there is a teeny-tiny extra step at the beginning of the process that makes a HUGE difference in creating the soft and tender texture of the final product. It is a technique borrowed from the process of baking Japanese milk bread. Basically, a small amount of flour and liquid (water, milk or a combination of the two) is cooked on the stove for a very short period of time creating a roux-like mixture. This process gelatinizes the starches in the flour allowing them to absorb more liquid and results in a higher rise and a more tender and moist final product that stays that way for a longer period of time. Science aside, it takes five minutes and yields amazing results. WELL worth the effort.

These Nordic Apple Strips are a really easy and delightful fall fika treat, basically a long buttery cinnamon bun with tender apple slices tucked inside. All you need is a crisp fall day, a cup of coffee and someone to share them with.

When you are ready for a little change from the afternoon cinnamon bun, give these Nordic Apple Strips a try! I know you won’t be disappointed.

Nordic Apple Strips

Author: Kristi
Prep Time: 45 minutes + 1 hour 30 minutes rising time
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 2 hours 35 minutes
Yield: 2 apple strips
Category: fika
Method: baking
Cuisine: Nordic Scandinavian, Swedish, Danish

Ingredients

For the Tangzhong:

5 tablespoons water

5 tablespoons whole milk

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

For the dough:

5 tablespoons melted unsalted butter, cooled

½ cup whole milk, slightly warm

2 teaspoons instant yeast

1 teaspoon fine salt

¼ cup granulated sugar

3 cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 large egg

All of the Tangzhong, cooled

For the Filling:

5 tablespoons soft unsalted butter

Pinch of fine salt

3 tablespoons packed light brown sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

2 apples, peeled, cored and sliced thin

2 teaspoons all purpose flour

For the Egg Wash and Topping:

1 large egg

1 tablespoon water

Pearl sugar and sliced almonds for sprinkling

Instructions

Make the Tangzhong: Combine water, milk and flour in a medium saucepan. Whisk until combined and no lumps remain. Place saucepan over medium heat and cook mixture, whisking constantly, until it thickens, about 1-2 minutes. Set aside to cool.
Make the dough: While the Tangzhong is cooling, begin preparing the rest of the ingredients for the dough. Combine yeast, salt, sugar and flour in the bowl of a stand mixer. Whisk briefly by hand to combine.
Attach the dough hook to the mixer. Add melted and cooled butter, slightly warm milk, egg and the cooled Tangzhong (it can be slightly warm to the touch) to the dry ingredients. Mix on medium low until fully combined.
Increase mixer speed to medium and knead mixture for 3-4 minutes or until dough is slightly tacky but not sticky and clears the side of the bowl. It’s okay if it’s sticking to the bottom of the bowl slightly. If it seems too sticky, add another tablespoon of flour and mix for another 1-2 minutes. You can also mix and knead the dough by hand but it will take longer, more like 8-10 minutes.
Cover bowl with plastic wrap and allow the dough to rise for an hour or until 1 ½ or 2 times its original size. The time will largely depend on the temperature of your kitchen.
In the meantime, make the filling. Combine butter, salt, brown sugar and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Using a fork, mix ingredients together until a smooth, spreadable paste forms. In a small bowl, toss apples with flour. Set aside.
Once the dough has risen, preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Remove the dough from the bowl and place it onto a clean countertop. Divide into two pieces. Cover one piece of dough with plastic wrap. Roll other piece out with a rolling pin until it is in the shape of a rectangle that is about 8 x 15 inches in size. The dough should be smooth enough that you do not need to add flour during the rolling process. If yours is sticking the rolling pin, however, sprinkle a little flour over the dough as necessary to prevent this from happening.
Using an off-set spatula, spread half of the filling in a thin layer over the center third of the dough. Shingle a thin layer of apples on top of the filling (see photo).
Cover the filling by bringing each side of the dough to the center, overlapping slightly. You may need a metal dough scraper to help coax your dough from the counter top if it is sticking. Seal at the seams and the ends. Carefully transfer the strip to a prepared baking sheet (again, a metal dough scaper may be helpful here). Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for an additional 30-45 minutes. Repeat process with remaining dough.
Meanwhile, make the egg wash. Whisk egg and water together in a small bowl. Once the first strip is ready to go into the oven, remove plastic wrap and brush the surface of with the egg wash Sprinkle pearl sugar and almonds over the top.
Bake for 18-20 minutes or until golden brown. Repeat process with remaining strip. If the seam down the middle gives way and the strip open up while they are baking, not to worry. As they are cooling, gently coax them back together again. Cool slightly and serve warm or at room temperature.

Notes

These strips slice best with a sharp serrated knife (bread knife).

Easy Overnight Danish Rye (Rugbrød)

September 24, 2019 by Kristi 32 Comments

*Edited on February 3, 2020 to include affiliate links and to add 10 minutes to the baking time once the loaf is removed from the pan.

In the world of Nordic cuisine, this dense rye bread is an absolute essential. It serves as the base for most open sandwiches, and is an integral part of the Scandinavian diet, not just in Denmark but throughout the region. Rugbrød can be difficult to find here in the United States. Unless you live near a good Scandinavian bakery, it’s likely that the only rye you are able to find is something more like pumpernickel or a deli rye which are definitely not the same thing as rugbrød. If you want an authentic Danish rye, you are probably going to have to make it yourself.

What is Rugbrød?

What Makes Rye So Special?

Rye has many unique qualities that make it quite different from wheat, both as a whole grain and in flour form:

Rye has historically been important for the Nordic region as it is a hearty plant that can tolerate poor soil and weathers cold and wet conditions better than most grains. It was the primary grain relied upon for bread-baking in the north for centuries and is still popular today.
Rye flour has less gluten than wheat flour. Gluten strands form the structure of bread and trap gases produced by the yeast so that your bread leavens properly. Because gluten doesn’t form well when rye flour is mixed with water, rye breads are always more dense in structure and have a closer crumb that wheat breads.
Rye flour holds more water than wheat flour and contains certain enzymes that convert starch to sugar. This can cause rye breads to be overly moist and have a gummy texture if not handled and baked properly.
Rye breads get better with a little age. Unlike wheat breads which are best eaten shortly after cooling, both the texture and flavor of rye bread improves after a rest of 24-36 hours.
An interesting fact: There is a fungus called ergot that can attack rye plants causing the grains to become highly toxic to humans and trigger hallucinations if ingested. Some historians believe that ergot-infested rye was the cause of the hallucinations that led to the Salem witch trials in Massachusetts in 1692. Fortunately, modern industrialization has all but eliminated any risk of ergot-infected rye as any diseased grains are removed prior to processing.

Rye’s unique qualities can make it challenging to use in a bread recipe. When I make Danish rye at home, I use a sourdough starter which is the traditional way to make it. The starter contributes certain acids to the dough which help neutralize some of the negative effects of the enzymes that can cause the bread to have a gummy texture. But I know a lot of people don’t keep starters and may not be up to the commitment that it involves. So I really wanted to find an easy rugbrød recipe, one that relied solely on commercial yeast rather than a sourdough starter for leavening.

I tried several. Some were total disasters and inedible. I’m talking sunken, raw in the center, straight into the trash bad. A few came out okay, but they were not even close to the quality of my sourdough loaf which I consider to be the gold standard. I knew I could come up with something better. I worked my way through several pounds of rye flour, testing and tweaking, until finally finding a consistently successful loaf that had the look and texture of authentic rugbrød. The keys turned out to be a mixture of wheat and rye flour in the dough (in order to help create a gluten structure to hold the bread aloft and keep it from sinking in the center) AND a method of baking that relies on using a few different oven temperatures during the course of the baking time. This helps prevent the enzymes that produce a gummy texture from developing by keeping the bread from spending too much time in the temperature zone where their formation is the most favorable.

If you make your own smørrebrød at home or would like to, please give this bread a try. Bursting with rye, whole grains and a variety of tasty seeds, it is one of the most delicious and nutritious breads out there. And using it as a base for a Nordic open sandwich will give you a true taste of authenticity. If you are new to smørrebrød, there are several open sandwich recipes on the blog to get you started:

Easy Overnight Danish Rye (Rugbrød)

★★★★★

5 from 5 reviews

An easy overnight version of classic Danish rye bread with no sourdough.

Author: Kristi
Prep Time: 20 minutes plus 12 hours resting time
Cook Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes
Total Time: approximately 14 hours, largely unattended
Yield: One 13 inch loaf
Category: Bread
Cuisine: Nordic, Danish, Scandinavian

Ingredients

For the Soaker:

2 ½ cups 7 grain hot cereal mix such as Bob’s Red Mill brand or rye chops (see note below)

1 cup sunflower seeds

1 cup pumpkin seeds

½ cup flax seeds

2 ⅔ cups cold water

For the Dough:

2 cups dark rye flour (I use the Bob’s Red Mill brand), plus more for dusting the pan and loaf

2 cups bread flour

1 teaspoon instant dried yeast

1 ½ cups cold water

4 teaspoons salt

¼ cup molasses

Butter for greasing the pan

Special Equipment Needed:

Stand mixer

13 x 4 inch pullman loaf pan with lid

Instructions

For the Soaker: Combine all the ingredients for the soaker in a medium bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature overnight, approximately 8-12 hours.
For the Dough: Combine both flours, yeast and water in a separate bowl. Stir to combine as best you can (mixture will be thick), and then knead briefly with your hands until you have a cohesive mixture. Dough will be very thick and clay-like in texture. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature overnight, about 8-12 hours.
Grease a 13 x 4 inch pullman loaf pan with butter and dust with rye flour, including the lid. Set aside. Combine the soaker, flour mixture, salt and molasses in the bowl of a stand mixer. Fit mixer with paddle attachment and mix on low speed for 2-3 minutes until everything is thoroughly combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl from time to time. Increase speed to medium and mix for an additional 2-3 minutes, stopping to occasionally scrape down the sides of the bowl. Mixture will be quite sticky.
Transfer the dough to the prepared pan. Smooth out the top and sift a thin layer of rye flour over the surface of the dough. Place lid on pan and let the dough rise for 1½ -3 hours at room temperature or until it is about ½ inch from the top of the pan. The time that it takes for your dough to rise will largely depend on the temperature of the dough and your kitchen.
Meanwhile, preheat oven to 500 degrees. Bake loaf with the lid on for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 400 degrees and continue to bake, covered, for an additional 15 minutes. Remove pan from oven and carefully slide the lid off. Reduce temperature to 325 degrees and bake, uncovered, for an additional 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and immediately turn loaf out onto a metal cooling rack set inside a rimmed baking sheet. Return bread to the oven for an additional 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow the bread to cool completely before slicing, at least 3 hours. Rye bread is even better a day after baking. If you can wait until the following day, let the bread sit uncovered at room temperature overnight before slicing. The bread will keep at room temperature for 3 days loosely wrapped in foil. Freeze for longer storage.

Notes

Rugbrød is traditionally made with rye chops, uniformly cut pieces of rye grain. They are available through King Arthur Flour’s online store at www.kingarthurflour.com. Because rye chops are difficult to find, I call for using a whole grain hot cereal mix such as Bob’s Red Mill’s 7 grain cereal mix. These mixes contained a variety of coarsely milled whole grains, including rye, and make a fine stand in for rye chops.

Adapted from The New Nordic by Simon Bajada

Keywords: Danish, rye, bread, rugbrød, smørrebrød, Scandinavian, Nordic

Soft Nordic Flatbreads with Garden Herbs

August 6, 2019 by Kristi 2 Comments

Nordic cuisine boasts a variety of flatbreads ranging from pillowy soft to cracker-like in texture. This delightfully soft and slightly chewy version hails northern Sweden where it is known as tunnbröd (literally “thin bread”). Usually made from some combination of wheat, barley and/or rye flour, tunnbröd is traditionally baked quickly in a hot wood-fired oven.

When I set out to develop my own recipe for a Nordic-style soft flatbread, I really had summertime wrap making in mind. We are in the height of summer produce season, and I wanted something soft and pliable to wrap around slices of fresh garden tomatoes and crisp cucumber, maybe with a dollup of hummus or garlicky skyr sauce drizzled on top. Think something in between a Mexican tortilla and Indian naan. This final version is an absolute winner…barley flour brings a subtle nutty sweetness to the bread and very little gluten which helps keeps these flatbreads tender and soft. A bit of skyr or greek yogurt and a little oil also contribute tenderizing qualities. I borrowed a trick from America’s Test Kitchen’s Bread Illustrated and misted the flatbreads with a spritz of water prior to cooking which also helped with softness. As I do not have a wood-fired oven, I opted for cooking the breads in a cast iron skillet which worked quickly and beautifully….only one minute of cooking on each side over medium heat. Continuing with my summer theme, I added chopped fresh rosemary and thyme from the garden for added freshness and flavor. The result? The perfect pliable vehicle for your summer wrap making needs.

Tips for Flatbread Success

Tacky but not sticky dough and not too much flour. When the kneading process is completed, the dough should not be sticking to the sides or the bottom of the bowl. It should not be overly dry either. If you need to add additional flour in order to keep the dough from sticking to the bowl during the kneading process, do so one tablespoon at a time. Too much flour will make tough flatbreads.
Use very little or no additional flour when rolling out the dough. This might sound crazy, but I like to allow the dough to stick to the counter as I’m rolling it out. This allows me to get a nice thin flatbread and use as little flour as possible (which, as we just learned above, helps create a more tender flatbread). If you want to roll your dough without additional flour, you must use a dough scraper to help you release it from the counter. If the dough is sticking to the rolling pin, you will need to sprinkle a little additional flour on top to prevent that from happening.
Use a kruskavel to create small divots in the dough prior to cooking. This traditional Scandinavian bread baking tool (basically a spiky rolling pin) helps keep the flatbread thin and prevents it from puffing up while it’s cooking. Alternatively, use a skewer or a fork to poke wholes in the dough. It won’t give you that characteristic Nordic flatbread look but it will do the job.
Spritz the dough round with water before placing in the skillet and again before you flip the flatbread over to cook on the other side. This helps the outside from getting crusty and hard. Be sure to wipe any excess water off of your rolling surface before rolling the next flatbread.
Brush with a little melted butter and sprinkle with coarse salt once they are done cooking. Because who doesn’t love melted butter?
Wrap the breads in a clean kitchen towel as they are cooling. This helps trap moisture and keep your flatbreads soft.
If you aren’t eating them right away, freeze the flatbreads. I like to wrap them individually and just take them out as I need them and warm them in the oven.

Soft Nordic Flatbreads with Garden Herbs

Soft Nordic-style flatbreads made with barley flour and studded with fresh garden herbs. Perfect for dipping into hummus or making easy summertime wraps!

Author: Kristi
Prep Time: 15 minutes + 1 hour rising time
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 45 minutes
Yield: 8 flatbreads
Category: breads
Method: baking
Cuisine: Nordic, Scandinavian

Ingredients

2 cups bread flour, plus an extra tablespoon or two if necessary and more for rolling the dough

¾ cup barley flour

1 ½ teaspoons instant yeast

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 teaspoon granulated sugar

1 cup water, room temperature

¼ cup plain whole-milk (4% milkfat) skyr or Greek yogurt

1 tablespoon canola oil, plus more for oiling the bowl and cooking the flatbreads

2 tablespoons chopped fresh herbs such as rosemary and/or thyme

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted

Coarse salt for sprinkling

Instructions

Whisk bread flour, barley flour, yeast, salt and sugar together by hand in the bowl of a stand mixer.
Whisk water, skyr and 1 tablespoon oil in a small bowl until fully combined. Transfer wet ingredients into mixing bowl with dry ingredients.
Fit mixer with dough hook and begin mixing at medium-low speed until dough just comes together. Increase mixer speed to medium and knead dough for three minutes. Stop the mixer and add the chopped fresh herbs. If dough is sticking to the sides or the bottom after the first 3 minutes of kneading, add an additional tablespoon of bread flour before continuing the kneading process. Continue kneading at medium speed until the dough is tacky but not sticky and clears the bottom and sides of the bowl, approximately 3 more minutes. Add an additional tablespoon or two of bread flour if dough continues to stick to the sides or bottom of the bowl during the kneading process.
Transfer dough to an oiled bowl. Cover and let rise for an hour at room temperature or until doubled in size.
Transfer dough to a clean countertop and divide into 8 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a rough ball. Cover with plastic wrap.
Add a teaspoon or so of canola oil to a 12-inch cast iron skillet. Heat over medium heat.
Working with one piece of dough at a time, use a rolling pin to create a thin circular flatbread (like a thin tortilla). If the dough sticks to the rolling pin, sprinkle a little flour on top. It’s okay if the dough is sticking to the work surface.
Finish by rolling the flatbread a couple of times with a kruskavel or poking it at 1 inch intervals with a skewer. Brush off any excess flour from the top of the dough.
Using a dough scraper and your fingers, gently release the flatbread from the countertop.
Wipe the oil from the skillet with a paper towel so that only a thin film remains. Lightly mist the top of the dough with water and place in the heated skillet, misted side down. Cook for one minute or until brown and spotty on the first side. Mist the top of the dough and flip it over with a spatula. Cook for another minute. Remove the flatbread from the skillet and transfer to a plate. Brush lightly with melted butter and sprinkle with coarse salt. Cover with a piece of parchment paper and stack a clean kitchen towel on top. Repeat the process with the remaining portions of dough. I like to turn off the burner in between cooking each flatbread to minimize any smoking of the cast-iron skillet. Simply turn it back to medium and add a little oil as you finish rolling the next flatbread.
Eat immediately or wrap tightly and freeze once the flatbreads have cooled to room temperature.

Notes

Adapted from Bread Illustrated by America’s Test Kitchen

Keywords: Nordic, Swedish, Scandinavian, flatbread, rosemary, thyme, soft, barley flour