This flatbread is easy, quick, and cheap to make. Finnish rieska can be made from rye, wheat, or other flours. This is perunarieska, a flatbread with mashed potatoes in the dough.
Check out also the recipe for rye flatbreads.
What is rieska?
Rieska is a flatbread that has no leavening agent in the dough like yeast or baking powder. Rieska is often made from barley, oats, or potatoes with added wheat flour. Different regions in Finland have different types of rieska bread.
One type of rieska is baked on an oven sheet and made from buttermilk and crushed barley pearls.-this type of rieska is specially made in Eastern parts of Finland.
In Sweden rieska I called tunnbröd, meaning flatbread. The Swedish tunnbröd is baked very thin and decorated with a pastry wheel. You can buy it both as crispy dried and soft one.
Types of Finnish potato flatbreads
This recipe is a thin type of potato flatbread. There is also potato bread called lepuska in Finland. Lepuska dough is almost the same but with some added barley flour. The bread is not baked as flat and big but more of an oval shape and about 0,5-1 inches thick.
Ingredients for potato flatbread
- Mashed potato. You can use mash from real potatoes or mash made from mash powder. (see mash recipe)
- Flour. All-purpose wheat flour is used in this recipe. You can use whole grain flour.
- Egg. Egg acts as a binder.
- Salt
Substitutions and variations
Rieska can be made with different types of mashes and purees. Try with sweet potato mash or another root puree like carrot. You can also add some grated carrots or zucchini to the dough. Increase the flour amount slightly.
Flavored rieska
You can add different spices to your rieska flatbread. Traditional spices are cumin or aniseed. I like some mixed dried herbs as an addition.
You can add some veggies to your flatbread in the form of different powders also. Dried nettle, spinach, or other dried veggies are a great addition and you can make different colored flatbreads like this. Pink flatbreads are made with added beetroot powder.
You can also add some grated cheese to the dough to make cheesy flatbreads. ¼-1/2 cup of a flavorful hard cheese is used in the dough. Do not use mozzarella or other soft cheeses since then you get the wrong consistency.
Vegan rieska
Potato flatbreads can be made without eggs. Make sure your mash is also vegan; made with plant-based milk. Some instant mash has milk powder in them, so you need to check the ingredient list. Vegan flatbreads are so delicious eaten with a vegan skagenröra-shrimp salad in Swedish style or with carrot lox.
Equipment
You need:
- Bowl
- Sheet pan
- Baking paper
- Spoon or egg beater
- Fork
How to make
If you use leftover mash that has been stored in the fridge and is very dense, add some water or milk to get the right texture.
Add the egg and salt to the mash and stir it.
Add in the flour and make it into an even batter. Do not stir or whip too much, so the wheat does not get viscosity; since then, you get chewy bread. The consistency should be quite loose and sticky.
Put 4 doughballs on an oven sheet with baking paper with floured hands.
Pat the balls flat with the help of some flour so the dough does not stick to your hands.
Make some marks on the breads with a fork.
Bake the flatbreads in the middle of the oven at 440 F (225 C) for 18- 20 minutes until they have some color on top. Time depends on your oven and the thickness of flatbreads.
Decoration
Usually, rieska is decorated with some fork marks, but these are made just as practicality so that the pieces of bread stay flat in the oven. You can decorate the surface with a pastry wheel and make different shapes on the surface.
What to serve with
Warm flatbreads can be served just with some butter on top. These are great to be served as a side with Finnish salmon soup, but good side to any type of soup.
If you eat these like the Finns, as breakfast, or snack as open faces sandwich then add some of these toppings:
- Cheese
- Cream cheese
- Butter
- Cold cuts
- Hummus
- Pesto
- Red pepper spread
- Cucumber
- Tomato slices
- Bell pepper
Storing
These flatbreads are best straight from the oven when they are still a bit warm. Store rieska airtight so it does not dry. You can store it for up to 3 days at room temperature or fridge. These can be frozen up to 3 months.
Rieska can be warmed in a toaster, but then you might want to bake them a bit smaller and more oval shape so they will fit in a toaster. A delicious savory breakfast; toasted flatbread with butter, cheese, and cucumber.
Potato flatbread
Ingredients
- 1 cup mashed potatoes
- ¾ cup wheat flour
- 1 egg
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- If you use leftover mash that has been stored in the fridge, and is very dense, add some water or milk to get the right texture.
- Add the egg and salt to the mash and stir it.
- Add in the flour and make it into an even batter. Do not stir or whip too much, so the wheat does not get viscosity; since then, you get chewy bread.
- Put 4 doughballs on an oven sheet with baking paper with floured hands.
- Pat the balls flat with the help of some flour so the dough does not stick to your hands.
- Make some marks on the breads with a fork.
- Bake the flatbreads in the middle of the oven at 440 F (225 C) for 18- 20 minutes until they have some color on top. Time depends on your oven and the thickness of flatbreads.
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