When I started the 101 in 1001 I had a grand intention of baking a new bread every month. I’ve done a fairly mediocre job of it over the last year. I may not have baked a new bread every single month, but I have done quite a few. The ones that I’ve done include a fantastic Sweet Potato Loaf and a failed attempt at Pugliese. There are others, but I can’t remember what they are. I tend to stick to my tried and true breads. I make a Focaccia that is to die for and I’m rather partial to my banana bread.
I’m not really supposed to eat bread, but I find that my system can tolerate breads that I make rather than the store bought varieties. I also dislike the taste of most store bought breads so it is a win win for me.
Last night I was planning on making a chicken and root veg stew for dinner, but my father-in-law beat me to it in the dinner department. He made beef stew instead. I had also planned to make a bread that comes from my girlfriend, Lena. I didn’t make the stew (that’s on for tonight), but I did make the bread.
Lena brought this bread to girlfriend’s weekend back in January and it looked so simply easy that I couldn’t believe it. Most bread I make takes a minimum of 2 days. This one can go from ingredients to the table in about 40 minutes. I asked Lena for the recipe and she gladly shared it with me. I’m going to share it with you (I didn’t ask permission, sorry Lena). Lena is from Sweden so all the recipes she gives me are in metric and need to be converted. She often does it, but this time I said I’d do it. Good thing I’m an experienced bread maker since my translations weren’t 100% spot on.
Superfast Swedish Bread
4 dl* warm water (13.53 oz)
4 T oil (I completely forgot about this last night, but it didn’t effect the taste… I don’t think) (I would use grapeseed oil if I had remembered to put it in)
1 tsp salt (I upped it to about 1 1/2 tsp because I felt the bread from girlfriend’s weekend needed an additional touch of salt… again, sorry Lena)
1 strip dry yeast (all 3 packets) or 50 g yeast
8-9 dl flour (I wasn’t sure if this was by volume or weight so I went with volume which comes out to about 3.382 cups)
Preheat the oven to 480 degrees
Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix with a wooden spoon. Remember I forgot the oil and I went with 3 1/3 cups of flour. The dough has a high water content so it is rather sticky. I continued adding flour until it was at least manageable. 9 dl is almost 4 cups (which I probably ended up with).
Form the dough into 4 “rounds.” They tend to be a bit more like puddles and will spread a bit when they sit, that’s ok. You’ll want to have well floured hands to do this.
Let the dough rest for about 15 minutes (according to Lena this is totally optional). Bake for about 10 minutes (a little more for more golden brown) until a toothpick inserted in comes out clean. Mine baked for almost 15 because I like a little more of a brown crust.
This bread stays smokin’ hot so let it cool a bit before cutting and eating. It has a bit of a tangy taste and a wonderful crust and crumb. I don’t have photos since we ate it before I could take a picture, but it is so easy to make that I’ll snap a pic the next time I make it.
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*deciliters
Don’t be surprised if this blog becomes rather bread focused. Hey, if Rhonda can blog about cakes and cookies I can certainly blog about bread.