| Rye %: | 50% |
| Stages: | Straight dough |
| Leaven: | Instant yeast |
| Start to Finish: | 3½ hours |
| Hands-on Time: | 30 minutes |
| Yield: | Two 1½ lb/725 g loaves |
In terms of rye baking, it can be said that Finland is where East and West meet: The breads of eastern Finland are dense, dark and sour, much like the breads of their immediate neighbors, Russia and the Baltics. To the west, the breads have more in common with the sweet, fragrantly spiced mixed-grain breads of Sweden.
This Applesauce-Buttermilk Rye, which comes from the region around Helsinki, is just such a bread. It’s built on a yeast-leavened straight dough consisting of 50/50 wheat-rye, hydrated with beer, applesauce and the fermented milk the Finns call piima, sweetened with syrup, and spiced with anise, fennel, cumin and orange zest. In all, it’s a flavorful, highly accessible bread that could just as easily be found on any table in Stockholm, Uppsala, Göteborg or Malmö.
In the past, I’ve used commercial low-fat buttermilk in breads that call for soured milk; this time, however, I chose full-fat kefir, Middle Eastern-style fermented milk that’s thicker and more sour than buttermilk. For the applesauce I used organic unsweetened from a jar and for the beer I chose a hoppy West Coast IPA.
The bread is incredibly complex – a riot of flavors that plays the spice of the rye against the sweetness of applesauce and syrup, fragrance of anise, fennel and cumin, and bitterness of the orange zest. The cake-like crumb is close and moist, the crust thin and crunchy, the chew smooth and mouth-filling, punctuated by surprising sweet-bitter nuggets of candied orange peel.
I’ve eaten this bread with prosciutto, Swiss cheese and butter and it complements each of them beautifully. My favorite topping, however, is goat cheese topped with a dab of orange marmalade, which gives me sweet orange above and below, sandwiching the creamy-sour-funky chèvre. I accompanied it with a glass of 100°-proof rye whiskey, but coffee or tea will do just as nicely.
Final Dough:
| Ingredient |
Grams |
Ounces |
Baker’s |
| Buttermilk or kefir |
260 |
9.15 |
30.59% |
| Unsalted butter, room temperature |
15 |
0.55 |
1.76% |
| Unsweetened applesauce |
260 |
9.15 |
30.59% |
| Dark corn syrup or light molasses |
145 |
5.10 |
17.06% |
| Beer |
75 |
2.65 |
8.82% |
| TOTAL FLOUR |
850 |
30.00 |
100.00% |
| Medium rye flour |
425 |
15.00 |
50.00% |
| Bread flour |
425 |
15.00 |
50.00% |
| Salt |
12 |
0.40 |
1.41% |
| Instant yeast |
15 |
0.55 |
1.76% |
| Candied orange peel, minced |
25 |
0.90 |
2.94% |
| Anise seed, ground |
3 |
0.10 |
0.35% |
| Cumin seed, ground |
2 |
0.05 |
0.24% |
| Fennel seed, ground |
2 |
0.05 |
0.24% |
| Grated orange zest, ¾ tsp. |
2 |
0.05 |
0.24% |
| TOTAL FORMULA |
1,666 |
58.70 |
196.00% |
In the mixer bowl, warm the buttermilk or kefir over a pan of boiling water to body temperature (100°F/38°C). Stir in the butter until melted, then add the applesauce, syrup and beer and continue mixing until blended. Add the flour, yeast, salt, ground spices, orange zest and candied orange peel.
Use the dough hook at low (KA2) speed to mix until the dough gathers around the hook and cleans the sides of the bowl, 6-8 minutes.
Cover with plastic wrap and ferment at room temperature (70°F/21°C) until the dough has doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
Turn the dough onto a well-floured work surface and divide it into two pieces, each weighing approximately 29 oz./825 g. Shape each into a boule or bâtard and set on a well-floured peel, if using a baking stone, or on a parchment-lined sheet pan.
Cover and proof at room temperature until the surface shows cracks and/or broken bubbles and the loaves have visibly expanded, 45-60 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 395°F/200°C. Slash each loaf to a depth of at least ¼”/0.6 cm, brush the crust with water and bake for 20 minutes. Lower the temperature to 335°F/170°C and continue baking until the loaves thump when tapped with a finger and the internal temperature is at least 198°F/92°C, 40-45 minutes. Transfer to a rack and cool thoroughly before slicing.
Ted Fichtenholtz
February 8, 2017Great recipe, but you left out when to add the yeast.
Stanley Ginsberg
February 8, 2017Thanks for pointing that out; it goes in with the flours. I’ve revised the recipe.
rudirednose
February 12, 2017Hello Stan, thank you for this recipe!
Here you see my first result
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/50815/applesaucebuttermilk-rye-recipe-stanley-ginsberg
My usual proceeding is baker-% x 5 = 500 g total flour, and so all the ingredients. And therefore only one loaf. Baked with your temperatures but in convection mode and 5 minutes longer for the greater loaf. Wonderfull bread! rudi 😉
Tia
February 21, 2017Hi, your bread here is reminiscent of a bread called “Setsuuri” which comes from Eastern Karelia, close to the Russian border. It was regarded as a festive bread because of the added spices and syrup – baked for weddings, funerals and also Christmas. It was made half and half with rye and wheat flour. The rye flour was scalded first with boiling water and left to absorb over night (autolise) before the wheat flour and yeast was added to it in the morning. It is a relatively sweet bread with a tight crumb. Sometimes it is basted with sugary water to give it a glazed finish. My recipes call for raisins instead of apple sauce but in principle the bread is very similar. Will have to try it with apple sauce next time I make some!
Stanley Ginsberg
February 21, 2017How interesting! I’m familiar with some Karelian dishes, especially the rice tarts (Karjalanpiiraka) and what I call Salmon Wellington (Kalakukko). This info is a nice addition to my knowledge. I’d be very happy to see your recipe, since this one, which comes from the Helsinki region, doesn’t use a scald.
Marta
October 21, 2017Thank you for this wonderful recipe. I was looking for a tasty recipe that can be made the same day and this is perfect. Ready in just a few hours, can be started in the morning and eaten for supper, how cool is that!
I used a very sour low fat kefir (I would have used whole milk one, but I didn’t have any) and, instead of commercial beer, my own dark and malty kvass, which was forgotten in the fridge and went flat.
I like the flavor combination from the seeds, apple sauce and orange. No complaints from the family, either!
Lovely bread. Thanks again!
fred
November 7, 2017I haven’t made this bread, having just found the recipe. But it reminds me of the Swedish Limpa recipe from Bernard Clayton Jr.’s first edition of The Complete Book of Breads. I’ve made that limpa a bazillion times, and everybody loves it (except those rare curmudgeons who don’t like raisin bread–go figure). Obviously I just gave away the secret, this one doesn’t have raisins, and Mr. Clayton’s limpa does. but the spices are similar and they both are similar rye breads. I’ll have to try this one, I bet it’s wonderful too!
Fred Smith
December 28, 2017Ah, I did try this bread, and it is quite tasty. the blend of flavors is lovely.
I used Hodgson Mills’ whole grain rye, which is readily available in many grocery stores around here (north of Boston). it wouldn’t be suitable for some other breads, but in this one it worked nicely. For the bread flour, I use KA AP with some added vital wheat gluten.
Jeffrey
October 12, 2021Hi Stanley,
Do you know why we never see any unenriched, 100% rye breads with instant yeast + an acid like buttermilk or vinegar? Conceptually it seems like yeast + acid would serve all the same purposes as sourdough.