Made my signature Christmas bread ready for next week, I always give these out as gifts and this year I made six of them. I used to sell these from my tiny microbakery and they were the most popular item.
It’s a malted dark & sweet bread that originates from the coast of Finland. It’s made from beer malt, dark syrup, rye, oats and spelt and levened with sourdough.This bread can keep for months which was the reason sailors would have this bread with them for long trips.
It’s very popular here both during midsummer and Christmas. Often eaten as open sandwiches with smoked fish.
Also made a gluten free date bundt cake. I will finish it with a chocolate ganache on Christmas. Gluten free as there are folks with celiac coming for Christmas dinner. I make this one every year as well. It’s dates, sugar, strong coffee, butter, eggs and flour. Added a dash of cointreu and a bit of cinnamon to it this year as well.
That bundt cake looks amazing even without the ganache! I am curious, how dense is that Christmas bread?
It’s pretty dense, but nothing as dense as a full rye bread. It’s typically made with yeast which would make it more dense, but I’ve tweaked the recipe to using sourdough and the dough I make for it is very high hydration, so that too lightens it. It prooves well over 24 hours too.
I have the recipe for it written in English if interested. Not sure it beer malt is easy to source though.