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The Hirshon Finnish Rye Bread – Ruisleipä

November 17, 2016 by The Generalissimo 21 Comments

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The Hirshon Finnish Rye Bread - Ruisleipä
Ruisleipä Image Used Under Creative Commons License From jillieofalltrades.com

Citizens – Finnish rye bread, aka ruisleipä is one of the truly amazing REAL breads you’ll ever taste!

As noted in a superlative (excerpted) article on finland.fi:

First cultivated in Finland over 2,000 years ago, rye grain’s adaptability to various soil types, coupled with its ability to ripen over the short northern summer, has long seen it a staple of the local cuisine.

“Finnish rye bread is a story of a poor country, as there were so few ingredients that were always available,” Mäkelä explains. “Water, leaven, salt and rye flour – that’s still the basic recipe. Sometimes you can also add yeast.”

Whether it’s the round limppu (loaf) originating from the eastern parts of the country, or the west’s flat disc with a hole in the middle, known as reikäleipä, Finnish full-flavoured rye bread is noticeably lighter than varieties from Germany and the Baltic Region. It is also considerably less sweet than Swedish rye bread, and is commonly enjoyed as a sandwich, dipped in soup or simply by itself, topped with a layer of butter.

Whichever way you look at it, and whatever shape it comes in, the bond that Finns share with rye bread cannot be overstated.

“If people come from a different part of Finland and move to Helsinki, they often long for the kind of bread they have eaten in their childhood,” Mäkelä explains. “Also, if you ask almost any Finn going abroad to meet expats, there are two things they would take with them: rye bread and Fazer blue-label chocolate.”

This coveted bread is even on sale at Helsinki Airport to meet demand. Here travellers can pick up a last-minute gift for their friends and family, or ensure they have enough in stock when spending time outside of the country.

With research continuing to uncover new health benefits, and the number of varieties on offer growing steadily, it’s safe to say that store shelves around the country will be well stocked with the national bread for many years to come.

“We Finns use rye bread to sustain ourselves and our bodies, but it is also part of our cultural identities,” Mäkelä observes. “We are keeping it in our hearts, but on the other hand we are also keeping it on our tables.”

“It’s a living tradition.”

The special leaven, sourdough, used when preparing Finnish rye bread is known as leivän juuri in Finnish, or ‘the root of the bread’.

“Many households still have their own leaven, which they inherited from previous generations,” explains VTT’s Kaisa Poutanen. “Where I live in Kuopio, a lady has leaven which is over 50 years old that she got from her mother-in-law. She is still baking with it, every week.”

The trick to preserving leaven is to ensure that some of the bread mix is left over when baking, which can then either be dried or frozen. Next time around all that needs doing is add a little water and the bacteria start to live again. And the cycle continues, ensuring flavoursome bread time and time again.

Ruisleipä relies very much on unique Finnish yeasts to achieve its character – I give you a way to add this to your own breads in perpetuity! The true key to making this authentically is you MUST use genuine Finnish sourdough starter or it just won’t work out or taste right – you can buy it here.

Ruisleipä is a gorgeously dense bread, a genuine 100% rye bread and I couldn’t be happier to enable you to have a taste of Finland in your own kitchens, Citizens! This Sour Rye Bread recipe makes 2-3 loaves and is adapted from the classic Finnish ‘Kotiruoka’ cookbook. Try enjoying ruisleipä with any excellent Finnish meal, perhaps Finnish split pea soup with ham!

Battle on – The Generalissimo

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The Hirshon Finnish Rye Bread - Ruisleipä

Finnish Rye Bread – Ruisleipä


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3.2 from 75 reviews

  • Total Time: 0 hours
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Ingredients

Units Scale
  • Starter – you need to start this recipe 2 days before baking
  • 3–4 slices wholegrain rye bread or 6-7 slices Finn crisps (‘hapankorppu’ (sour rye crisp bread) is sold as “Finn Crisp”. Look for bread that contains over 90% wholegrain rye)
  • Finnish sourdough starter
  • 1 liter warm (25C) room-temperature non-chlorinated water
  • 1 liter (about 400g) wholegrain (dark) rye flour – TFD prefers King Arthur Pumpernickel flour
  • ***
  • Dough:
  • 25g fresh yeast
  • 100ml warm water
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • approximately 1 1/2 liters (about 600g) wholegrain (dark) rye flour + extra for kneading

Instructions

  1. To make the starter, pour the warm water in a large mixing bowl. Break in the bread slices (or Finn crisps) and mix in the rye flour plus the Finnish starter. Stir well to combine. Cover the bowl and leave for 2 days or until the starter is clearly bubbling and smells fresh but ‘sour’.
  2. For this to happen, stir the starter every now and then (a couple of times each day), and keep the bowl covered with tea towels at a steady room temperature.
  3. After two days, ‘revitalize’ the starter by adding a cupful of flour (from the whole amount of flour needed for the dough) and stirring it through. After that, leave the starter, covered, for 3 more hours.
  4. Dissolve the fresh yeast in 100 ml of warm water and add the mixture into the starter. Add in the salt, then knead the flour into the dough bit by bit until the dough starts to unstick your hand.
  5. At this point, take a piece of the dough to use as a starter for next time. Wrap the piece in plastic wrap and freeze it or store it in the fridge if you are using it again in the near future.
  6. Leave the rest of the dough to rise, covered, until doubled in size. This can take a good couple of hours or more, depending on the conditions. Once the dough has risen, divide the dough into 2-3 portions and knead into loaves.
  7. You can use loaf tins or make free-form loaves, both will work just as fine. Try not to use too much rye flour, however, as this can toughen the bread. Place the loaves on a baking tray lined with baking paper, rub a bit of rye flour on each loaf, and cover the tray with a tea towel.
  8. Leave the loaves to rise for a further 30-40 minutes.Preheat the oven to 200C.Prick the loaves before baking. Bake the bread in preheated oven for 45-60 minutes or until the base of the bread sound ‘hollow’ when tapped with fingers. Leave the loaves to cool (covered with a tea towel) on a wire rack. This bread keeps well in room temperature, but if you want to freeze it, you should only do so the following day. Serve with good butter and enjoy!
  • Prep Time: 0 hours
  • Cook Time: 0 hours

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Filed Under: Recipes Tagged With: Bread

About The Generalissimo

The myth of the Generalissimo is far more interesting than the reality.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Henrik Björk

    November 18, 2016 at 11:23 AM

    This is real bread!

    Reply
    • Esa Sakari Kilpelänaho

      November 18, 2016 at 9:44 PM

      Real poison!

      Reply
  2. Anne B

    November 20, 2016 at 9:38 AM

    I’m going to try this recipe! Oooooh, I hope it works!!! I’m already drooling…

    Reply
    • The Generalissimo

      November 20, 2016 at 1:32 PM

      Citizen Anne, let us know how it turns out!

      Reply
  3. iona McConville

    December 1, 2016 at 5:52 PM

    I just want to buy a loaf of bread….

    Reply
  4. Erik

    November 13, 2017 at 2:31 PM

    Great recipe, tastes the way I remember it! How should I revive the starter from the frozen dough piece I saved?

    Reply
    • The Generalissimo

      November 13, 2017 at 10:04 PM

      Defrost the dough, add some water and sugar to the bread, leave at room temp until fermentation starts again.

      Reply
  5. Caitlin

    May 26, 2020 at 6:55 PM

    So good! What a wonderful recipe, I just made this for my husband who is of Finnish heritage. We love the tangy flavor and the dense texture. I’m about to go bring him a plate with some butter, strawberry jam and cream cheese on it so he can go nuts. Thanks for sharing, I’ve never made sourdough before and was hesitant, but I pulled it off AND learned how delicious Finn Crisps are.

    Reply
    • The Generalissimo

      May 26, 2020 at 9:44 PM

      I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe, Citizen Caitlin! 😀

      Reply
  6. Lars

    June 2, 2020 at 6:25 PM

    Where can I get FInnish sourdough starter in (or sent to) Arizona?

    Reply
    • The Generalissimo

      June 2, 2020 at 6:50 PM

      There is a link in the post. 🙂

      Reply
  7. Caitlin Carey

    June 15, 2020 at 9:43 AM

    I have a question, Generalissimo! When you want to activate the dough you saved to make more starter are we supposed to add a certain amount of water and/ or flour to it? I assume we add at least water to thin it out!

    Reply
    • The Generalissimo

      June 15, 2020 at 10:22 AM

      Indeed, add some more rye flour and water to it to keep it thriving and lively! 🙂

      Reply
  8. francis daulby

    June 2, 2021 at 4:42 AM

    In Toronto Cdn you can buy them through “Viking,” foods

    Reply
  9. Per Forssell

    June 17, 2021 at 6:06 PM

    After several tries I finally broke down and ordered the ‘authentic Finnish rye bread starter’. What a difference. My own starter behaved right. Lots of bubbling and rising. The taste just wasn’t right at all (I’m originally from Finland so a ‘rye bread expert taster’ ). Now have authentic taste. And it looks right too. Sooo tasty!!!

    I do half the recipe. Which is perfect for one loaf. Follow the recipe except for the yest. Don’t have fresh yest. So use store bought dry such. Also don’t do the two step rise. Rather form the loaf right after mixing in the flour. And let it rise for 3 hours.

    Reply
    • The Generalissimo

      June 17, 2021 at 10:53 PM

      Citizen Per – thanks so much for the tips and glad the starter worked out for you! Your sisu is strong and kiitos! 😀

      Reply
    • Jamie

      September 24, 2021 at 10:23 AM

      Beautiful! May I ask how much “starter” (by weight) you use when you make another batch from the saved dough?

      Reply
      • The Generalissimo

        September 25, 2021 at 11:09 AM

        Honestly, I just take a random amount, the starter is fairly potent!

        Reply
        • Jamie

          September 28, 2021 at 6:31 PM

          Please forgive my ignorance. I’m still trying to figure out how to use the dough for subsequent bakes. Do you still start the process a few days prior and just use the saved dough in place of the culture and Finn crisps, mixing it with the 1 litre of water and flour? Or do you do something else completely?
          Thanks in advance.

          Reply
  10. Z

    December 30, 2022 at 12:23 PM

    Thanks for this great recipe. I’m having trouble sourcing Pumpernickel flour. Is it the same as dark rye flour and if I can’t find it, can I just use dark rye for the whole recipe? Would I need to adjust amounts in any way if I do that? Thanks

    Reply
    • The Generalissimo

      December 30, 2022 at 1:27 PM

      Citizen Z – King Arthur Flour consistently carries this – try here: https://shop.kingarthurbaking.com/items/organic-pumpernickel-flour

      Reply

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