Bread Baking Challenge #37. Swedish Rye bread (Limpa)

Heavy, hearty, and a  wonderful bread for a  cold, winter, night soup..

Long before this bread-baking challenge that I followed, my friend  AneLee,  from Finland, taught us how to bake this wonderful bread in a class for baking, at the Quincy library.  Her parents had a bakery and she was working, helping them, as a child, and later, as an adult.

I was very surprised that you started with a cup of rye flour and  1 cup of water that you left on the counter in the kitchen. 

In a few days, it starts rising, bubbling, and smelling sour. 

This method is used in Finland in all the kitchens it is there for starting to make bread any time you need it.

I learned in this "Bread Baking Challenge" that is called "barm" and is used in many other countries. For example,  it is an important part of "panettone" a rich, sweet bread from Milan. This method uses the wild, natural yeast that grows on rye kernels. 

INGREDIENTS:

Sponge (first day):  

In the morning start making BIGA

1 cup BIGA = 1 cup bread flour+ 1/4 tsp yeast+ 1/2 cup water(Room temp)

 

 and in the afternoon add :

3/4 cup+2 tablespoons(TBSP) water (room temp) 

   2 TBSP molasses

  1 TBSP orange peel

  1 tsp ground anise seeds

  1 tsp ground fennel seeds

  1 tsp ground cardamom

1 cup + 2 TBSP rye flour

Dough, next day:

2 1/2 bread flour

2 tsp yeast

1 1/2 tsp salt

4 TBSP brown sugar

2 TBSP shortening, melted / OR vegetal oil