Rhye Bread

So….I’ve moved to Denmark! To Copenhagen! And I’m loving it here!

I’ve been here for a month, but it feels like I’ve been here forever. I didn’t have a place to live when I got here, so I stayed in a hotel the first week when school started. Then I found a room for rent, where I’m living now, with a really sweet girl and her even sweeter 5-year old daughter. And then we went for a trip with my class for 3 days, and when I got back I had to buy books, go to ikea to buy a little bit of everything and there have been lots of partying. And a little reading. On top of this, I’ve been computer-less until now, cause I had to turn it in as it wouldn’t play cds. But the cost to fix that equals the cost of a new computer, so no thanks! What I’m trying to say is, there hasn’t been much time or possibilities for me to blog. Not that there hasn’t been things to blog about. I mean this city is packed with bakerys! Whereever you go, around every corner there’s a sweet smell of cinnamon, chocolate, bread, roasted almonds…. Don’t go hungry here! On second thought, do go hungry! Especially it you’re visiting. But for someone like me, who’s staying here for at least 4 years, I’ll try to limit it to weekends, or whenever I get a visit. Then it’s perfectly legal! But I still feel a little like a tourist, and find myself inside those bakerys a little too often. I already have a favourite, and of course it’s right next to school… So to put my lunch-trips there to an end, I decided to bake some delicious and nutritious bread. After all, I am studying nutrition, so I can’t be seen at the bakery too often… Of course I could buy bread there instead of all the sweet things, and I know they have seriously good bread. (The week I stayed at a hotel I ate their bread for breakfast every morning.) But that would be expensive. And somehow, I always end up buying something sweet when I enter a bakery, so I have to avoid it. Just like an alcoholic, I know. Luckily, I like to bake! I’ve made this bread once before, and I remembered it to be really good. It’s dense and heavy, moist and full of seeds with a certain sweetness from dark syrup. Lovely rhye bread, perfect for breakfast and lunch. Just like the Danish like it! (though I found the recipe in a Swedish Elle!)

Rhye Bread
(makes 2)

Day 1
4 dl rhye seeds
3 dl sunflower seeds
3/4 dl flax seeds
3/4 dl ground cumin
2 ss salt
5 dl boiling water

Put all the ingredients minus the water in a bowl. Pour over the boiling water and stir. Cover with clingfilm and leave overnight. (I didn’t have that sort of patience, so I gave it about 4 hours, and I thought it worked out just fine)

Day 2

5 dl water
60 g yeast
2 dl dark syrup
10 dl dark rhye flour
5 dl wheat flour

Dissolve the yeast in lukewarm water. Mix in all the ingredients, and pour in the mixture from day 1. Stir with a wooden spoon for 40 minutes, or 30 in a machine. (I didn’t have the patience to do that either, though I see the importance of it. But 15 minutes gave a decent result in my opinion!)

Butter two bread pans and dust with flour. Fill them up 3/4 with dough, even out the surface, and sprinkle with rhye flour. Leave for 30 minutes.

Turn the oven to 250 C, put the breads in, and turn it down to 210 C. Bake for at least 90 minutes. If it starts to turn black, cover with aluminiumfoil for the last half hour. It might need longer time, then be sure to cover with aluminium foil. Avoid opening the oven during the baking. You can’t eat the bread the same day you’re making it, it needs to rest for the next day. But it’s so worth waiting for, it’s durable and stays fresh for up til two weeks! But it won’t last that long…