In sweden we like to bake lots of bread a few times a year in a house called "bagarstuga" it is practically a house with a big stone oven. The whole family and friends comes togheter to help with the baking. It is very fun and sweaty! Usually in sweden there is a local association, guild or club that will rent their oven to you in case you do not know someone with acess to a bakery house with a stone oven. Don't fall into despair if you don't have a stone oven, it can be done perfectly as well at home in your own regular oven.
I will give you a recipe of a small batch to make at home, and a big one to make in a "Bagarstuga".
The smaller batch is a local recipe I got from a small town in northern Sweden called Jokkmokk
Ingredients for small batch at home
Oven is 275 C 3-4 min, 2 breads per oven plate
5 dl luke warm milk
50 g of butter
1 package of yeast
3 table spoons of syurup
1 teaspoon of salt
4 dl sifted rye flour
6 dl whey flour
3 1 ml mesuring spoon anis or fennel seeds
Melt the butter, add the milk. It should be 37 C, finger warm. Dissolve the yeast and then add syrup.
Mix the dry ingredients, pour into the liquid. Knead the dough until it is loose but still firm, like a belly. Add more flour if you need to.
Tips! - If you add too much flour the dough will be too tough and hard to tuck and make flat.
prove the dought under baking cloth for 45 min. Divide the dough into 8 peices. Make each peice the size of a standard plate and 1/2 cm thick with a rolling pin. Pricker them with a pricker rolling-pin.
Tips!- If you don't have a pricker rolling-pin you can use a fork to make the holes.
Put the breads in the oven 275 C 3-4 min, two bread will fit on each oven plate.
Ingredients for a big batch to use in a bagarstuga with stone oven
2 litre milk
350 g butter
2 package of yeast
1/2 bottle of syrup
3 teaspoons of salt
2 table spoon of anis or fennel seeds
2 kg whey flour
10 dl of sifted rye flour
5 dl fibre oatmeal
- the amount of flour should be approximatly 6 kg wich is around 3 standard packages of flour. You can swich in diffrent kind of flour depending on you own preference of taste.
Tips! - when you bake in a stone oven you can spin the bread 1-2 times to prevent them from finishing unevenly since the oven is hotter the further in you get. The priciple behind baking is the same as above. The two other tool you need is one big bakers peel to shove them in and out of the oven and a slimmer one to rotate the bread. If you rent a "Bagarstuga" it should have all the neccesary equipment. Usually wood is not free of charge so you need to bring a batch of your own. You always pre heat the oven and fire it up really hot before baking. When it's time to start to bake you scrape the wood away further in to the sides with a special iron tool and use a wet a birch besom to sweep clean the stone tiles inside the oven from coal and hot glowing smoulder pices.
As a boy in 1950, my Swedish grandparents bought Swedish flat bread at a bakery in Rockford, Illinois USA. As an adult I have been trying to find Swedish flat bread to buy or to bake. I do not have a stone oven but will try your recipe some time this year. Thank you for sharing.
SvaraRaderaDavid Engstrom
SvaraRaderaI think you mean wheat flour above not whey flour? In English whey four is whey protein which is comes from milk
SvaraRaderaMy grandparents and mom came from Sweden in 1947 when mom was 17. They always made Mjukkaka, Swedish raisin rye, Limpa bread, Swedish pancakes, Kanelbullar etc. I'm fortunate to have their recipes. We always use fennel and golden syrup in the mjukkaka if we can get it.
SvaraRadera