Hveder - Hvedeknopper
Hveder, or hvedeknopper, is a white bread roll spiced with cardamom. It's an old tradition from 1686 to eat heated rolls the night before "Store Bededag" aka "Prayers day." Store Bededag is the fourth friday after Easter, this year it's May 16th. Actually it's a consolidation of a bunch of prayer and pendance days. Everybody had the day off on Store Bededag even the bakers. You were actually meant to stop all work, play, travels and all games. To make up for not being able to get any fresh bread on Store Bededag, the bakers made an abundance of hvedeknopper (wheat rolls), to tie people over. And the tradition of eating the toasted hvedeknopper the night before Store Bededag was born. Ok people was meant to save the rolls to the next day, but who can resist a fresh-baked roll?
The tradition stayed but nowadays the day is one of days used for the confirmation of the young people in the church - a big day for family parties.
Makes 18-20 hvedeknopper
Ingredients:
50 g confectionary sugar
10 g salt
50 g live yeast (4 teaspoon dry yeast)
1 egg
75 g butter, room temperature
5-10 g cardamom
2½ dl (1 cup +1tablespoon) water, finger-warm
550-600 g all-purpose flour
Directions:
In a large bowl dissolve the yeast in the water. (Add a teaspoon sugar if you are using dry yeast, and wait until it starts to foam.) Mix in the butter, sugar and egg. Add salt and cardamom to a small part of the flour, and add that to the water-mixture. Add the flour a little at a time, until you have a soft dough. You might not need it all. Knead the dough for about 7-10 minutes until the dough is shinny and elastic. Let the dough rise covered for about 20 minutes.
Hveder - Hvedeknopper
Pour the dough onto a lightly floured workspace, fold the dough over 3-4 times and divide the dough into 18-20 small balls. Place the balls only about 1 cm (about ⅓-½ inch) apart on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Cover the dough balls with a dampen kitchen towel, and let them rise for another 60 minutes. They are meant to grow into each other, you want the soft sides on your rolls, when you pull them apart.
Preheat the oven for 400℉ (200℃).
Bake the hvedeknopper/rolls for 15-20 minutes until they are dark golden brown. Let them cool on a wire rack.
Before serving, cut them in half and toast them. Serve them hot with butter and jam or with a good cheese.
Enjoy!
The Danish version:
Hveder - Hvedeknopper
18-20 stk.
Ingredienser:
50 g flormelis
10 g salt
50 g gær (4 tsk tørgær/11,8 g)
1 æg
75 g smør
5-10 g kardemomme
2 ½ dl lunkent vand
550-600 g mel
Fremgangsmåde:
Opløs gæren i vandet. Hvis du bruger tørgær, kom en smule sukker i vandet og vent et par minutter indtil gæren skummer. Tilsæt smør, flormelis og æg, og rør det sammen til det er blandet godt sammen. Bland kardemomme og salt i lidt af melet og tilsæt det til vandet. Tilsæt resten af melet lidt ad gangen og ælt dejen indtil den er blank og elastisk, ca. 6-10 minutter. Lad dejen hæve tildækket et lunt sted ca i 20 minutter.
Form 20 boller som sættes tæt på en bageplade med ca. 1 cm afstand. Læg et fugtigt viskestykke over og lad dem efterhæve i ca 1 time. Bag hvederne ved 200℃ i omkring 15-20 minutter, indtil de er mørk gyldne. Lad hvederne køle af på bagerist.
Før serveringen flæk hvederne og rist dem i en brødrister eller i ovnen med skærefladen opad ved 230 grader i ca. 5 minutter.
Server hvederne med koldt smør og marmelade eller en god ost.
Velbekomme!
Source: Lagkagehuset
