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Recipes
Halme Bakery’s Ring Rye/Ruisreikäleipä (Finland)
| Rye %: | 91% |
| Stages: | Sponge, Final dough |
| Leaven: | Rye sour culture, Instant yeast |
| Start to Finish: | 17-21 hours |
| Hands-on Time: | 30-40 minutes |
| Yield: | Two 1¼ lb/575 gram loaves + two 2¾ oz/50g rolls |
During the 2019 Rye Tour to Finland and Latvia, our guide in Helsinki, sourdough baker and author Eliisa Kuusela, arranged a visit – actually two (of which more in a bit) – to Leipomo Halme, a 120 year-old bakery in Espoo, about 30 minutes northwest of central Helsinki.
Carrot-Potato Tarts/Sklandrauši (Latvia)
| Rye %: | 100% |
| Stages: | Straight dough |
| Leaven: | None |
| Start to Finish: | 1 hour |
| Hands-on Time: | 40 minutes |
| Yield: | About 1½ dozen three-inch tarts |
During my first full day in Riga, I had lunch with Ieva, who helped me plan the 2018 Baltic Rye Tour. We met at a traditional Latvian restaurant nestled by a cobblestoned street and surrounded by 18th century buildings in the Old City. As we discussed the itinerary, which centered on Riga and southeastern Latvia, she said, “You should really go to Kurzeme (Latvia’s western province). They make these wonderful rye tarts filled with carrots.” I sipped my beer and filed the thought away for further consideration.
Finnish Malt Bread/Mallas Leipää
| Rye %: | 51% |
| Stages: | Scald, Final dough |
| Leaven: | Instant yeast |
| Start to Finish: | 4-4½ hours |
| Hands-on Time: | 30 minutes |
| Yield: | Three 1¾ lb/800 g loaves |
One of the breads I discovered on Baltic Rye Tour 2018 was this simple and lovely Finnish malt bread. I first tasted it at the Wi-Box Bakery in Raseborg, on Finland’s southwestern coast, where Swedish influence is very strong. It was an immediate hit, not just with me, but with all 18 members of our jolly band of bread nerds.
Palanga Rye/Ruginė Duona iš Palangos (Lithuania)
| Rye %: | 90% |
| Stages: | Sourdough sponge, Scald, Scald-sponge (Opara), Yeast sponge, Final dough |
| Leaven: | Rye sour culture, Instant yeast |
| Start to Finish: | 24-30 hours |
| Hands-on Time: | 45-50 minutes |
| Yield: | One 3¼ lb/1.46 kg loaf |
My weakness for Baltic rye breads took over when I found this recipe in a Polish blog. Just to set the scene, Palanga is a coastal resort in western Lithuania, on the shores of the Baltic whose white sand beaches attract tourists from all over Europe, especially Poles and Germans. I suspect that this bread, which is lighter in both color and flavor that the other Baltic ryes I’ve encountered, is intended to appeal to the tastes of the town’s economically important summer visitors. Instead of the wholegrain rye flour that’s commonly used in Baltic breads, this one uses Type 1150, a much lighter blend that can be approximated by mixing 2/3 medium rye and 1/3 white rye.
Sourdough Danish Rye/Rugbrød på surdej (Denmark)
| Rye %: | 84% |
| Stages: | Stage 1 sponge, Stage 2 sponge, Final dough |
| Leaven: | Rye sour culture |
| Start to Finish: | 26-30 hours |
| Hands-on Time: | 35-45 minutes |
| Yield: | Two 2¾ lb./1.25 kg loaves |
The Danes are known for their rye breads, of which there are dozens of variations, all of which are called “Rugbrød.” Most are sweet and dense, loaded with seeds and coarse rye meal to provide both richness and a satisfyingly rustic coarse mouth feel.
Vitebsk Rye/Vitebskiy Chleb (Belarus)
| Rye %: | 100% |
| Stages: | Sponge, Scald, Scald-sponge, Final dough |
| Leaven: | Rye sour culture |
| Start to Finish: | 11 hours |
| Hands-on Time: | 40-50 minutes |
| Yield: | One 2¼ lb/1.0 kg loaf |
I’d been meaning to make Vitebsk Rye for some time – ever since I found it in Mike Zhuravel’s magnificent Russian-language bread blog, O Khlebye. The result made me wonder why I’d waited so long: this is a truly splendid Belarusian rye bread.
A Coast-to-Coast South Tyrolean (Merano) Rye/Meraner Striezl
| Rye %: | 61% |
| Stages: | 2-stage rye sponge, Wheat sponge, Soaker, Final dough |
| Leaven: | Rye sour culture |
| Start to Finish: | 26-30 hours |
| Hands-on Time: | 45-60 minutes |
| Yield: | Two 28 oz/800 g loaves |
If there’s a rye bread equivalent of the Perfect Storm – that is, when all the ideal conditions come together at the same time – this bread is it. Start with the formula for a classic South Tyrolean Merano Rye from Austrian master baker/blogger Dietmar Kappl, then use it to showcase two spectacular artisan flours – California-grown Abruzzi rye from Grist & Toll and organic heritage emmer from Maine Grains – and you come up with a bread that’s very, very special.
Anise-Fennel Loaves/Rågkakor (Sweden)
| Rye %: | 100% |
| Stages: | Straight dough |
| Leaven: | Instant yeast |
| Start to Finish: | Under 2 hours |
| Hands-on Time: | 20 minutes |
| Yield: | Four 10½ oz/300 g loaves, plus centers |
These Anise-Fennel Loaves were a nice surprise that showed up while I was surfing the web for easy rye recipes. My wife and I were going out that evening, planning to get together with several friends who are regular fans of my rye breads. I didn’t want to disappoint them, but didn’t have the time to produce a full-blown sourdough bread, and this one filled the bill beautifully.