Finnish Sourdough Rye Bread Recipes

FINNISH RYE BREAD - RUISLEIPä

Steps:

• To make the starter, pour the warm water in a large mixing bowl. Break in the bread slices (or Finn crisps) and mix in the rye flour plus the Finnish starter. Stir well to combine. Cover the bowl and leave for 2 days or until the starter is clearly bubbling and smells fresh but 'sour'.
• For this to happen, stir the starter every now and then (a couple of times each day), and keep the bowl covered with tea towels at a steady room temperature.
• After two days, 'revitalize' the starter by adding a cupful of flour (from the whole amount of flour needed for the dough) and stirring it through. After that, leave the starter, covered, for 3 more hours.
• Dissolve the fresh yeast in 100 ml of warm water and add the mixture into the starter. Add in the salt, then knead the flour into the dough bit by bit until the dough starts to unstick your hand.
• At this point, take a piece of the dough to use as a starter for next time. Wrap the piece in plastic wrap and freeze it or store it in the fridge if you are using it again in the near future.
• Leave the rest of the dough to rise, covered, until doubled in size. This can take a good couple of hours or more, depending on the conditions. Once the dough has risen, divide the dough into 2-3 portions and knead into loaves.
• You can use loaf tins or make free-form loaves, both will work just as fine. Try not to use too much rye flour, however, as this can toughen the bread. Place the loaves on a baking tray lined with baking paper, rub a bit of rye flour on each loaf, and cover the tray with a tea towel.
• Leave the loaves to rise for a further 30-40 minutes.Preheat the oven to 200C.Prick the loaves before baking. Bake the bread in preheated oven for 45-60 minutes or until the base of the bread sound 'hollow' when tapped with fingers. Leave the loaves to cool (covered with a tea towel) on a wire rack. This bread keeps well in room temperature, but if you want to freeze it, you should only do so the following day. Serve with good butter and enjoy!

FINNISH RYE SOURDOUGH | MY VINTAGE COOKING

Steps:

• The Rye SpongeUse 180g of the flour and 300ml of water from total to build the rye starter. In the late afternoon, mix 60g rye flour with 100ml warm water in a medium-sized bowl. Keep it covered in a warm spot and whisk occasionally. Give it two feedings (60g+100ml) during the next day. Whisk air in between feedings. In the next morning, the starter is ready for baking. The sponge has runny porridge-like consistency. It taste sour and has lots of tiny bubbles on surface to show activity.
• Building the rye doughMeasure the rest of the ingredients, and build the dough in a bigger bowl. Whisk water into the sponge and add more rye flour little by little. When the dough is too heavy to be mixed with a whisk, let the dough rest for a while so that the rye flour will set. Then, add more rye flour and continue mixing with a wooden spoon. Give the dough a second pause. Finally, add the rest of the flour with salt but don't forget to take a piece of unsalted dough aside for your next bake. Store this fresh dough in an air-tight box in the fridge, it's fresh up to 2 weeks.
• Now, knead the wet dough carefully and patiently by hand (5-8 minutes will do). Give the dough 2-4 hours rest at room temperature to build volume. The dough should double its size before shaping & baking. The old fashioned way is to press a cross over the dough to bless the bread. This cross sign will also communicates when the dough has risen enough.
• Shaping the rye doughDust your working desk properly with rye flour. Shaping the wet dough into a pyramid-sharp boule is a challenge and you should be quick not to let the dough stick. Flour your hands multiple times and lightly add more flour whenever needed. Decide whether you bake 1 or 2 loaves and dust one or two more spots on the working surface where you place the shaped bread to rise (dusted parchment paper as a good assistant to load a loaf into the oven). If baking the loaves in a tin, prepare them with parchment paper.
• Dust the bread surface lightly with rye flour, cover with a kitchen towel and let it/the loaves rise for an hour. In the meanwhile, preheat the oven to 225-240°C/437-460°F with a baking stone at least 45min in advance.
• Baking the 100% rye sourdoughThe surface of the bread now shows crackling and the pyramid like boule shape has flattened. Now we want to emphasize the crackling a bit more:press the top dome down lightly while supporting the bread from the sides.
• Do not score the bread. Instead, prick the surface of the loaf multiple times before loading into the oven.
• Bake on a baking stone for 40-60 minutes (lower rack). After the first 10 minutes, adjust the temperature to 200°C/392°F. Smaller loaves bake in 40 minutes whereas a bigger loaf can take over an hour depending on the oven.
• You know the bread is done when the knock on the bottom sounds hollow. Let the loaf rest on a cooling rack for a while (10 minutes) before tucking it in a kitchen towel. Let the rye sourdough rest covered and tucked in the tea towel overnight before cutting slices.
• How to store 100% rye sourdoughThe rye sourdough gets better and better the longer it sits on the table. Store it tucked in a tea towel in a cool place. The bread is good up to a week. Alternatively, you can freeze a loaf. Cut the loaf in half or slice it and freeze in plastic bags.

FINNISH RYE CRISPBREAD

Steps:

• Pour warm water in a large mixing bowl. Stir in yeast until dissolved. Season with salt. Gradually mix in 4 1/2 cups of the flour. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
• Sprinkle a clean, flat work surface with the remaining 1/2 cup flour; turn the dough onto the floured surface. Divide evenly into 4 balls. The flour from your work surface is to keep the dough from becoming sticky, but be careful not to work the extra flour into the balls of dough.
• Roll out each ball until 1/4- to 1/2-inch thick and about 10 to 12 inches in diameter. Very carefully, use a thin, flat object to transfer each round to baking sheets that have been greased and well-sprinkled with flour. Cut a 2-inch hole in the center of each round. A cookie cutter generally will do the trick. Prick all over with a fork.
• Keep rounds in a warm place to rise for about 15 minutes.
• Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C).
• Bake rounds in the preheated oven until firm to the touch, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove and allow to cool for 1 hour. The rounds will not be crisp yet.
• Let the cooled rounds dry on racks in a cool, dry place for 8 hours, or overnight. Avoid humidity.

SUOMALAISRUISLEIPä (FINNISH RYE BREAD)

Steps:

• Dissolve yeast in warm water in large bowl. Stir in brown sugar, oil, salt and 1 cup of the rye flour.
• Beat until smooth.
• Stir in enough all-purpose flour to make the dough easy to handle.
• Turn dough onto surface that has been sprinkled with the remaining rye flour. Cover; let rest 10 to 15 minutes.
• Knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes.
• Place in greased bowl; turn greased side up. Cover; let rise in warm place until double, about 1 hour.
• Dough is ready if indentation remains when touched.
• Punch down dough; shape into a round, slightly flat loaf.
• Place in greased 9 x 1 1/2-inch round pan. Cover; let rise until double, about 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Bake until loaf sounds hollow when tapped, 40 to 50 minutes. Immediately remove from pan. Brush top of loaf with butter; cool on wire rack.
• Note: Yeast Equivalents are One package = 2 1/4 teaspoons = 1/4 ounce.