{FULLKORNIGHT FORMBROD} This is a story of  Swedish bread, my friends Nina &  Sophie - 2 Swedish sisters, their mother, Elisabeth, and four cities.

Nina was not into baking bread, that is to say not until this past Christmas…. when I got her roped into the kitchen, and not even my own kitchen but that of her mother’s….. as when I saw Elisabeth a few months earlier I asked her how to make Swedish bread… She said not to worry, that she had just the recipe and as Nina was home in Stockholm for the holidays, and would come back an expert.

As she did! And further family help was on the way, as Sophie, brought the authentic Swedish ingredients (vetekross – cracked wheat & grahamsmjöl- wholewheat flour etc.) from Stockholm, to London to Paris and finally to Geneva, where this past weekend Nina and I made the recipe together. So impressed was I with the outcome – thick crunchy crust, soft, yet dense centre of cracked wheat, that I just made another loaf just to post the results this evening.

So a big thank you to Nina, Elisabeth & Sophie - I truly believe that I was Swedish in another life!

RECIPE – SWEET PEA BLOG

This is Elisabeth’s traditional Swedish Bread recipe, one that she has been making since she was a little girl.  So come, pull up a chair and grab a knife and then a slice, or maybe two, as this is true comfort food to be shared.

NO KNEADING: Bread is like people it has it’s own personality. This particular variety does not require kneading – now some of you may miss this step, but I can tell you, at the end of a long day, when you feel like baking but don’t have much time nor want the physical work out - this recipe keeps things simple.

FOR 1 LOAF

• 320g (0.42 L) white flour
• 145g (1.9 dl) cracked wheat
• 75g (1.13 dl) whole wheat flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 0.25 dl milk
• 0.025 dl water
• 13g fresh yeast

1. Butter then flour a loaf tin (25 x 10cm) and set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the white flour, cracked wheat, whole wheat flour and salt and mix well. Set aside.
3. Next, in a small saucepan, combine the milk and water, and heat until the milk is slightly warm to the touch.
4. Measure out the fresh yeast, and in a small bowl combine with 3 tablespoons of the warm milk. Mix well until all the yeast is dissolved.
5. Add the yeast mixture to the remaining warm milk and mix well.
6. Now add all the milk mixture to the flour mixture.
7. Using ONLY A WOODEN SPOON mix until all the flour is absorbed. DO NOT KNEAD the dough. You will have a rather DRY dough, do not worry this is normal – all is going according to plan!
8. Evenly spread the dough into the prepared loaf tin, then cover it well with a clean tea towel and leave to rise for 1 hour.
9. Preheat the oven to 225°C (430°F)
10. Next place in the oven to cook for 30 minutes. When the timer goes, remove the bread from the oven, and still using the OVENMITS, cover the loaf tin with a layer of aluminium foil, and place back into the oven to cook for another 30 minutes.
11. When finished baking, remove from the loaf tin and set on a baking tray to cool. Using a pastry brush, brush the top of the bread with a little water.

NOTE: This bread dries out easily so once fully cooled make sure it is well covered in aluminum foil for storing . Makes excellent toast, served with cheese or pathé as per the traditional Swedish breakfast which I love. I recently learned that Swedish baking recipes are written using volume measurements ie litres (L) and decilitres (dl) as included in this post.

{SIRAPSSNITTAR} are very addictive buttery Swedish cookies, whose name translates to Sirap = Syrup/treacle Snitt = Cut, a logical name given that they are made with syrup and cut into squares when removed from the oven. I have baked 3 batches in the last 10 days and should theoretically have gained 10 pounds by now, had it not been for eager friends who were willing to take these divine treats off my hands.

Story : Little did I know it at that time, but my cookie making world was about to be turned upside down, whilst visiting Gamla Stan (the Old Town) of Stockholm a few months ago. It was here that I accidentally found Grillska Huset’s café and purchased my first bag of sirapssnittars. I must confess I have pleasantly not recovered since – this may be the best cookie i have had / made. The taste was like a portal back to my childhood, of home comfort , milk and cookies!

Olivier’s mom had the same experience when she tasted one – saying that it reminded her of when she was a little girl of 5, at her uncle’s pâtisserie in Paris. It was here that she spent one afternoon, nestled amongst the pastries, as her mother, sister, aunt and cousin went exploring the town. She was too little and therefore had no choice but to stay behind, the silver lining of which was her uncles undivided attention and an unlimited amount of sweet cakes…. ‘tu aimerais goûter encore celui-ci… tiens ma cocotte!” (would you like to taste this one… here my little chicken) When her mother returned that evening she was full of sugar, had red cheeks, a temperature of 40° and indigestion. When she thinks back to that day she laughs and says ‘it was well worth it!’

As for me, I returned to Geneva and was on the hunt for a recipe to recreate these wonderful cookies. After interrogating many a Swedish friend, I was thrilled to receive an email from Frida with this recipe: 

RECIPE - SWEET PEA BLOG

• 190g plain flour 
• 100g unsalted butter
• 115g white sugar
• 1 large tablespoon golden syrup / treacle (in Geneva it can be called light golden molasses)
• 1 packet vanilla sugar (or 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C (320°F).
2. Take the butter out of the fridge, cut into little squares and leave to come to room temperature. When ready, using an electric mixed combine the butter, sugar and vanilla, and beat until light and creamy.
3. Now add the syrup and mix.
4. In a separate bowl combine the flour and the baking powder – gradually add this to the butter/sugar mixture and mix until it looks like breadcrumbs . 
5. Using your fingers, work the dough until it forms a nice smooth flat ball (this can take a few minutes).
6. Flour a large cookie sheet with no rims (I found one at Ikea). With a well floured rolling pin, roll the dough directly onto the cookie sheet, until it forms a circle, approximately 0.4cm thick. Alternatively you can roll the dough out onto cooking parchment and then transfer onto the cookie sheet.
7. Cook for 15 minutes.
8. Remove the cookies from the oven and immediately, using a very sharp large knife, cut them into sections. I like lozenge shaped cookie …. 1st cut vertical lines (3cm wide), 2nd cut diagonal lines in one direction. All forms taste great …. so be creative!
9. Leave the cookies to harden a little (5 minutes) before transferring them to a cooling rack.

NOTE: I use an inexpensive Ikea cookie sheet so that I can cut the cookie directly on the sheet, which is faster and easier than using cooking parchment! However there is the slight annoyance that the ikea cookie sheet has been known to buckle in the oven due to the heat, but this doesn’t affect the cookies. Also a cookie spatula is an ideal tool to transfer the cookies to the cooling rack.