Sweet • Sour • Savory

Food blog on scandinavian style food done right.

Bread

Crisp bread - Knækbrød

BreadTove Balle-PedersenComment
Crisp bread for breakfast.

Crisp bread for breakfast.

Being a scandinavian I have known crisp bread all my life. We had it with cheese or deli meats for lunch or breakfast. Most common was the Swedish Wasa brand, which you can find in most stores here in the US.

While visiting my sister-in-law, she baked crisp bread - and I loved them. She gave me this recipe from the danish flour manufacturer "Amo." 

 

 

Ingredients: 

  • 200 g all-purpose flour
  • ½ cup oil (sunflower- or rapeseed)
  • ¾ cup Water
  • 50 g Oats
  • 50 g pumpkin seeds
  • 50 g flax seeds
  • 50 g sunflower seeds
  • 50 g sesame seeds
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1½ teaspoon salt

Directions: 

Crisp bread.

Crisp bread.

Mix all the ingredients in a stand mixer - add the water little at a time.  

Divide the dough in two. Roll the dough as thin as the pumpkin seeds allows, between to sheets of parchment paper. 

Carefully remove the top parchment paper an cut the dough in desired size with a knife or use a cookie cutter to make different shapes. Slide the parchment paper with the dough unto a baking sheet. If you want to sprinkle puppy seeds or other seeds, you have to brush the breads with a little bit of water before sprinkling.

Bake the bread for 20 - 25 minutes at 400°F.

When the crisp breads are done, remove from oven and let cool completely on a rack and store in an airtight container.

 

 

The ultimate Hamburger Buns / Light Brioche Buns

BreadTove Balle-PedersenComment
The ultimate Hamburger Buns / Light Brioche Buns

The ultimate Hamburger Buns / Light Brioche Buns

There are certainly thing I never made my self. Hamburger buns was one of those things. It was so easy to grab a bag of buns in the store. But after we figured out how to make our favorite burger on the BBQ, we needed a better bun, one that didn't crumble under the patty.

I found a recipe on Foodfanatic.dk, the recipe originated from NY Times and chef Michael Symon.

The first times I made these hamburger buns, the dough was very sticky, so I made some corrections. This is how I made them:

Ingredients:

  • 3 tablespoons Milk
  • 1 pack Dry Yeast (7 g)
  • 240 g Water (warm)
  • 2 tablespoons Sugar
  • 465 g All-Purpose Flour
  • 35 g Butter (salted, room temperature)
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon salt (8 g)

Toppings: 

  • 1 Egg (beaten)
  • Sesame Seeds or what ever topping you like. 

Directions: 

In a bowl, combine warm water, milk, yeast and sugar. Let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. 

In the stand mixer bowl, whisk flours with salt. Add butter and mix it with a flat beater until the flour looks like crumbs. Stir in yeast mixture and a beaten egg until a dough forms. Knead the dough for 5-8 minutes on medium, (8-10 minutes if kneaded by hand), until smooth and elastic. 

Shape dough into a ball and let the dough rise covered for 1-2 hours until doubled in bulk.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Using dough scraper, divide dough into 8 equal parts. Gently roll each into a ball and arrange 2 to 3 inches apart on baking sheet. Cover loosely with a clean kitchen towel and let buns rise in a warm place for 1 to 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 400℉ (200℃) with rack in center. Beat remaining egg with 1 tablespoon water and brush some on top of buns, sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake, turning sheet halfway through baking, until tops are golden brown, about 15 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!

 

 

 

Gourmet Burger.

Gourmet Burger.

The Perfect crumb

BreadTove Balle-PedersenComment
Tartine Bread

Tartine Bread

The hunt for the perfect crumb started after I tried Jim Laheys 'No-knead Bread'. Maybe I wasn't making the bread the right way, maybe it wasn't the right recipe?

 

One of my friends came by with some two days old bread he had baked.

His bread had it all! Perfect crust, perfect crumb - I needed to get the secret. 

The secret was Tartine Bread by Chad Robertson. You'll find my recipe for this bread here.

A sourdough bread made from scratch. 

I highly recommend getting Chad Robertson's book, It describes all you need to know about making the starter and this amazing bread.

 

 

The Perfect crust

BreadTove Balle-PedersenComment

I have always loved the crust on italian style breads. It was close to impossible for me to get the crispness. I tried using a Pizza Stone, adding water to the oven in the beginning of the baking process. But nothing worked.

Tartine Bread

Tartine Bread

Suddenly everybody was blogging about Jim Laheys 'No-knead Bread'. People called it the worlds best bread. 

The secret was baking the bread in a dutch oven at high temperature with the lid on - the first 20-25 minutes. 

Could this be the answer to all my troubles? 

In one word  - Yes  

The lid keeps the moisture inside the dutch oven, and it works similar to the steam you get in a professional oven. 

By baking the bread till its much darker than you normaly would, gives you the crispy crust, you'll find on italian style breads.

Getting the perfect crumb is another story. Jim Laheys 'No-knead Bread' didn't give me the chewy crumb with the big holes I was looking for.