Happy Valentine’s Day

To celebrate Valentine’s Day, I decided to bake heart shaped buns.

Love Buns

25 g yeast
1 tsp salt
5 dl water
1 tbsp syrup
0,5 dl (ground) flax seed
1 dl sesame seeds
1,5 dl sunflower seeds
1 dl wheat bran
3 dl whole wheat flour
7 dl wheat flour
2-3 tbsp oil
poppy seeds, sesame seeds and/or sunflower seeds for garnishing (optional)

Crumble the yeast with salt in a bowl and leave for about 10 minutes.  Add water, syrup and all seeds and mix together. Add bran, whole wheat flour and most of the wheat flour. Knead with rest of the flour until you have a nice ball of dough, add the oil when the dough is almost ready. Cover with a towel and allow to rise until doubled.

Punch down and roll into a 1-1,5 cm thick rectangle. Use a heart shaped cookie cutter to make buns. Transfer the buns on a baking sheet, cover with towel and allow to rise 10-15 minutes. Brush with cold water and sprinkle seeds on the buns. Bake 15 minutes in 225 Celsius degrees or until browned.

Setsuuri – Sweet & Sour

This bread comes from south-western Finland and is called setsuuri. It comes from the Swedish words “söt” and “sur”, sweet and sour respectively, which pretty well sums the essence of this rye bread. While definitely sweeter than “usual” Finnish rye breads, this one is still pretty far from the rye breads of central Europe. This works as a normal daily bread, or as a bread for some more festive events. For example my family always has some setsuuri in our family meals.

Breads are an important part of Finnish cuisine. Especially rye bread has been very popular here throughout the ages. One can wonder if initially it became popular because rye is well-suited for the harsh Nordic growing conditions. But it’s not only that, it’s also good for your health as it contains a lot of fibers and doesn’t mess with your blood sugar like white bread does.

Setsuuri

starter:
1 l water
10 g yeast
2 slices of sour rye bread
8 dl rye flour

dough:
75 g yeast
1 dl water
2,5 dl molasses (dark syrup)
1,5 tbsp salt
2-4 tbsp dried bitter orange peel
1 tl fennel seeds or anis
1-3 tsp caraway seeds (optional)
2 l rye flour
5 dl wheat bran

for brushing:
1 tbsp molasses
1 dl water

Mix the yeast with cool, almost cold, water. Crumble the bread slices as finely as you can. Add the rye flour and mix well. Cover and let the dough become sour in room temperature for 1-2 days.

Dissolve the yeast into small amount of water and add to the sour dough starter, add molasses and spices as well. Add wheat bran and most of the rye flour. Cover with towel and allow to rise for an hour or two. Add the rest of the rye flour, knead and make 4 longish breads (round ones work most likely just as well.) Let rise under a towel for 20-30 minutes. Bake an hour in 200 Celsius degrees. Brush the breads with molasses and water mixture when they’re almost done (after 45-50 minutes) and again when you take them out of the oven. Cover warm breads with a blanket to ensure the crust doesn’t become too hard.

Finnish Bread

Sour rye bread has been an important part of Finnish diet for a long time, but making a good rye bread at home isn’t easy. Maybe we should have a good wood oven instead of our regular electric oven. Or maybe our sour dough starter wasn’t good enough. Who knows.

Another popular grain has been barley, and barley breads are easier to make at home. We borrowed Jaakko Kolmonen’s book about breads around Finland called “Suomen maakunta leivät”. From the book I found a recipe for Rievä, which is a barley bread originally around Tampere. It’s soft and porous and best eaten fresh. It was also easy to make.

Rievä

5 dl lukewarm water
25 g yeast
1 tsp salt
200 g wheat flour
300 g barley flour

Dissolve the yeast and salt to the water. Add wheat flour and stir until well mixed. Add the barley flour and stir for a while. Sprinkle flour on top of the dough. Cover with a towel and allow to rice about 30 minutes. The dough is very soft and it won’t double in size like usual bread doughs.

Sprinkle flour on table and take the dough out from the bowl. Make sure your hands are well floured, so the dough won’t stick on them. Divide the dough in two pieces. Knead the dough balls with the flour until it’s easier to handle. Make two round breads and pat them relatively flat. Cover with towel and allow to rise 30 minutes. Poke few holes with a fork. Bake 30-35 minutes in 250 Celsius degrees.

Carrot Flatbread

Today we went to library and among other books we borrowed three books about Finnish cuisine. One of them is Hilkka Uusivirta’s Suomalaisen perinteen keittokirja (The Cook Book of Finnish Tradition), which had a carrot flatbread recipe that caught our eyes. We made some minor changes (like substituted cow’s milk with oat milk) and here’s the recipe with the changes.

Carrot Flatbread

400 g carrots (3-4 big)
water
0,5 dl oat milk
2 tbsp brown sugar or syrup
2 tbsp oil
pinch of salt
250 g graham or bread flour

Peel the carrots and cut them in 3-4 cm long pieces. Bring the water to boil and cook the carrots until soft. Drain, but save 1,5 dl water. mash the carrots and allow to cool to room temperature or little warmer. Add saved water, milk, brown sugar, oil and salt and mix well. Add the flour and stir until well mixed, don’t knead. Make 6 round flat breads (about 1,5 cm thick), poke few holes with a fork and bake in 250 Celsius degrees about 30 minutes. Cover with a towel for a while and serve when they’re still warm/hot.

Yellow And Orange Bread

It’s winter already and we don’t have much daylight or sun shine here. That’s why I tried to add some sun in the bread I made today.

I did measure the wheat flour, but I got confused somewhere after 6 or 7 dl, so I’m not sure how much I actually used. Use more or less if needed. I didn’t look at the time I baked the breads, but I think it might have been 15-20 minutes.

Sunny Bread
(3 breads)

4,5 dl water
25 g yeast
0,5 tsp salt
2 tsp molasses (dark syrup)
0,5 tsp turmeric (use 1 tsp if you want your bread more yellow)
3 carrots
1 dl sunflower seeds
3 dl rolled oats
1 dl rye flour
about 9 dl wheat flour
2 tbsp oil

Dissolve yeast, salt, molasses and turmeric in lukewarm water. Grate the carrots coarsely and add them with sunflower seeds, oats and rye flour to the water and stir until mixed. Knead a dough with wheat flour. Add the oil in the end of kneading. Cover with a towel and allow to rise until doubled.

Punch down. Make three relatively flat round breads, 15-20 cm diameter. Put them on a baking sheet (two on one baking sheet), cover with a towel and allow to rise 10-15 minutes. Take a narrow drinking glass or small round cookie cutter and make a hole in the middle of each bread. Bake in 225 Celsius degrees until they look ready.

More Home Made Bread

I baked bread again, and it turned out great. I used only rolled oats and white wheat flour, but I think you could substitute part of the wheat flour with whole grain flour. The bread was very good with margarine and pickled cucumbers.

Oat Bread

5 dl water
25 g yeast
1 tsp salt
2 tsp syrup or sugar
4 dl rolled oats
about 9 dl wheat flour
2 tbsp oil

Dissolve yeast, salt and syrup to lukewarm water. Stir in rolled oats. Knead the dough with wheat flour and add the oil in the end of the kneading. Cover with a towel and allow to rise until doubled. Punch down and make two round breads. Place them on a baking sheet, cover with a towel and allow to rise about 10 minutes. Bake in 200 Celsius degrees until browned.

Easy Food

We had a busy day today, I came home after seven and Nomad came couple of hours later. So we needed something quick and easy and nothing too heavy. We had bread that was becoming too old and I used most of it to make warm sandwiches for dinner. Tomato sauce was simmering while I did other household work and prepared the toppings. We had bell pepper, onion, olives, chili and pickled mushrooms. Not everything on every sandwich, of course.

Warm Sandwiches

sliced bread
tomato sauce
toppings of your choice (thinly sliced onion, bell pepper, chili, mushrooms, olives, pickled cucumber, tomato slices, vegan sausage, vegan cheese, herbs etc.)

Put bread slices on a baking sheet. Spread with tomato sauce and put your toppings on it. Bake 20-25 minutes in 225 Celsius degrees.

Tomato sauce:
1-2 tbsp oil
1 onion or 2 small
2 garlic cloves
1 can passata or crushed tomatoes
1 tsp basil
0,5 tsp thyme
salt and pepper

Chop the onion and mince garlic cloves. Heat the oil in a pot and sauté onion and garlic until onion is soft and translucent. Add passata, basil and thyme and simmer until the sauce is thick enough to be spread on bread slices. Season with salt and pepper.

The Last Basils From The Balcony

We didn’t grow any herbs in the community garden, but we did grow them at home. Finnish summer is usually too chilly for basil, so we grow it indoors. I planted quite a few seeds in the spring and few weeks later we had so many small basils that they didn’t fit on our windowsills. I decided to plant the rest on hanging flower pots in a shady corner of the balcony and see if they grow there. All the good sunny parts were already taken by dill, parsley, mint, lettuce, rocket, catnip and other plants.

Here’s some herbs on May 31st. Basil in the small pots in front and Parsley and marjoram in the big pot.

This summer was much hotter than normal and the basils didn’t even mind the lack of sunlight. Here they are on August 10th.

Now it’s autumn and nights are getting cold. Indoors basils are still growing well, but it was time to harvest the ones from the balcony. I baked some bread whirls, but I used too much garlic. I didn’t know such thing as “too much garlic” even existed, but here the taste of the garlic was so strong that you barely tasted the basil. I reduced the amount in the recipe, and next time I’ll use only 2 cloves myself too.

Garlic And Basil Whirls

Dough:
2,5 dl lukewarm water
25g yeast
0,5 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 dl rye flour
1 dl graham flour
5 dl wheat flour
2 tbsp oil

Filling:
4 tbsp margarine
2 garlic cloves, minced or finely grated
2 dl chopped fresh basil
pinch of salt and pepper
3-4 tbsp sunflower seeds

Combine water, yeast, sugar and salt in a bowl and stir until dissolved. Add rye and graham flour and most of the wheat flour and start kneading. Add the oil and more wheat flour and knead more. Cover with a towel and allow to rise until doubled. Punch down and make a 30cm x 40 cm rectangle.

Mix margarine, garlic and basil in a bowl and season with salt and pepper. Spread on the dough rectangle and sprinkle with sunflower seeds. Roll the dough from the wider side and cut in 2 cm slices. Put the slices in muffin cups or on a baking sheet and bake in 225 Celsius degrees about 15 minutes or until golden brown.

I recommend using the muffin cups, because if you bake the whirls on baking sheet, they will be loose like this.

Four Grains

Oat, rye, wheat and barley is a great combination in a porridge, so why not in a bread?

Four Grain Bread

6 dl water
25g yeast
1 tbsp syrup (or sugar)
0,5 tsp salt
2 dl rolled oats
1,5 dl rye flour
2 dl barley flour
2 dl graham flour
about 8 dl wheat flour
2 tbsp oil

Mix water, yeast, syrup and salt in a bowl and stir until dissolved. Add oats, rye flour, barley flour, graham flour and 4-5dl wheat flour and mix well. Knead a nice and soft dough whit the rest of the wheat flour, add the oil in the end of kneading. Cover with towel and let rise until doubled. Punch down and make three flat breads, about 20cm diameter. Cover again and let rise about 15 minutes. Dip a round cookie cutter or narrow drinking glass in flour and use it to make a hole in the middle of the each bread. Bake in 225 degrees until browned (I didn’t look at the clock, but I think it takes 15-20 minutes).

I Won!

I participated in a competition at Chocochili nearly a month ago. Everyone had to tell what is the hardest thing in vegan cooking or baking, then the blog hostess Elina chose the answers she thought were best and picked a random winner among them. And I was the lucky winner! I won a silicone loaf pan and 12 silicone muffin cups and they arrived last Thursday. I didn’t have time to bake on weekend, but today I made a bread in my new loaf pan.

Barley Bread

3 dl water
25 g yeast
1 tsp sugar
0,5 tsp salt
1,5 dl sunflower seeds
1 dl rolled oats
2 dl barley flour
1 dl graham flour
1 dl wheat flour

2 dl barley flour
1 dl graham flour
1 dl wheat flour
0,25 dl oil

Mix water, yeast, sugar and salt in a bowl and stir until dissolved. Add sunflower seeds, oats, 2 dl barley flour, 1 dl graham flour and 1 dl wheat flour and stir well. Cover with a towel and proof 15-30 minutes. When the dough is foamy add the rest of the flours and knead. Add the oil in the end of kneading. Cover again and let rise until doubled. Punch down and form a loaf with your hands. Put in a loaf pan and let rise 15-30 minutes more. Bake about 35 minutes in 200 Celsius degrees.