Archipelago bread-Saaristolaisleipä

Archipelago bread is a Finnish delicacy. A loaf of rye bread with malted grain. Sweet, dense bread that stores well. This recipe is naturally vegan.

This bread is delicious with salmon soup. It is also especially baked during winter holidays since it pairs with lox really well. This bread is also perfect as a gift for your friend.

Check out also the recipe for Finnish rye flatbreads, rieska.

The secret to this tasty bread is beer malt, specifically crushed malted rye.

Background

It is not known exactly where the bread originates from. It is a traditional bread made in the whole coastal area of Finland. Åland island has its own variation that is called svartbröd, black bread because of the intense dark brown color. The svartbröd is usually a round loaf and made with finely ground malt. Archipelago bread has more of a loaf shape.

Archipelago bread is often made in buttermilk, but since the Finnish piimä is hard to get elsewhere you can get equally good bread by using apple or orange juice.

Equipment

To make these loaves of bread you need two loaf tins. If you don't have those at home you can buy some paper forms that are meant for cake and bread baking.

You can even use a round cake form to make these loaves of bread if you don't have rectangular forms.

Ingredients

• Cloudy apple juice.
• Active dry yeast or fresh yeast
• Dark syrup
• Rye flour
• Wheat bran.
• Crushed beer malt
• Salt
• Wheat flour

If you want to try out variations you can add some cumin, aniseed, or fennel as additional seasoning.

Replacements

Liquid: Apple juice can be replaced with orange juice or buttermilk (piimä). Try out also to make this bread in dark beer. Beer makes really delicious bread.

Finnish dark syrup replacements: Finnish dark syrup can be boiled from brown sugar and water into syrup. Here are also some syrup replacement ideas that all will work for this recipe:

• Dark Karo syrup
• Dark corn syrup
• Danish molasses
• Sorghum syrup
• Golden syrup with 2 tablespoon blackstrap molasses

Bran replacements: Wheat bran can be replaced with rye bran or oat bran.

Wheat flour: You can also use whole grain wheat flour or spelt flour.

Additions: Some like to add some seeds or crushed nuts, for example, sunflower seeds.

Beer malt can be ordered for example from suomikauppa.fi. The crushed beer malt can be replaced with the finer textured mämmi and bread malt. Then you will get a bit more finer textured loaves.

Instructions

1. Warm your apple juice to 108 F (42C). Add in the dry yeast and syrup. Stir around. If you use fresh yeast you need 50 grams of it, this is added in luke warm liquid.

2. Add in the malt, bran, rye flour, and salt. Stir. Then add your wheat flour. Stir the batter so it mixes evenly.

Test if the loaves are ready with a toothpick. If it comes out clean the loaves are done. If the surface looks like it gets too much color, you can cover them with tin foil or baking paper for the last half hour.

The baking time varies a lot depending on the loaf pan size, how much your dough did rise, and on your oven.

Let your loaves cool down before removing from the loaf pans and cutting them. They are best served the next day.

What to serve with

• Salmon soup
• Salmon broth
• Lox, cured salmon
• Skagenröra, shrimp salad
• Vegan skagenröra-vegan swedish shrimp salad
• Carrot lox

This bread can also be served as breakfast with some butter, cheese, and cucumber. We Scandinavians love savory breakfasts and often eat bread, with a cup of coffee of course.

Interested in other Finnish breads? Try also out this quick and easy potato flatbread recipe.

Storing

This bread keeps moist and delicious for a long time as long as you store it airtight so it does not dry. This bread is perfect to make ahead since the flavors intensify and the consistency gets better for the next day.

You can store this bread at room temperature for up to 5 days. In the fridge, it stores longer, up to a week.

Archipelago bread can be frozen and it stores up to 6 months in the freezer.