National cuisines (recipes welcome!)

[Mervi]

Actually I just realised that my favourite breads in Sweden are actually the Finnish rye breads you can buy there, so I think we'll have to ask Mervi and the other Finns for the recipe! The Swedish pastry-type recipes I know are pretty standard: gingerbread biscuits, cinnamon buns and so on. But I'll be happy to post them if anyone wants.

Now rye bread is one the (many) Finnish cuisines that seems to be an acquired taste. It's one of those things Finns living abroad report missing the most (alongside salmiac which is just , er... ammonium chloride) but most the rest of the world seems to manage just fine without! However, rye bread is supposed to be very healthy, so at least it's a good acquired taste! I have to confess never having actually baked rye bread (oh the shock! the horror!) but I do eat it regularly so I guess I should try out a recipe or two and then share them here. I think the most difficult part for you guys would be to obtain a piece of authentic "leipäjuuri" (sorry, don't know the English equivalent, it literally means "bread-root") which is a piece of the dough that was separated before baking the previous loaf that is then used to "waken" the new dough. I think a dried piece of the actual bread would suffice too.

[Nuytsia]

I LOVE RYE BREAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
How weird, I found a recipe recently for 'Finnish Rye' and found myself wondering if Mervi would know about this, but suspecting Mervi didn't bake bread. I must be psychic!

Mervi I don't know the word leipäjuuri but I think a generic term for it in English would be 'sourdough starter' (it's probably a specific type though)

Anyhoo I tried the Finnish Bread recipe and it didn't turn out so great for me..... it did mention using some dried bread as a starter and nah I didn't have any Finnish Rye Bread on hand.. but I often make this rye sourdough bread from a German recipe which works great and I had some starter for that in the fridge so I used that.
Sooooo, maybe you DO need the specific FRB one to be successful..... I bet you can get it somewhere on the internet - they sell dried sourdough starter for other things (although I've never used them)

Atthis yum I'd love to see your Swedish pastries recipes!

[Atthis]

Now rye bread is one the (many) Finnish cuisines that seems to be an acquired taste. It's one of those things Finns living abroad report missing the most (alongside salmiac which is just , er... ammonium chloride) but most the rest of the world seems to manage just fine without!

How could anyone not love Finnish rye bread??!! Actually I love anything that's sourdough. Yum! But I think Australian bakeries leave a lot (A LOT) to be desired compared to European ones. Poor us! That's why we all want to bake our own bread!

And what's the deal with the ammonium chloride? Is this like a Finnish equivalent of vegemite or something?

I LOVE RYE BREAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Exactly! So that's Rye lovers: 3, non-lovers: 0.
Ah, I was going to mention "sourdough starter" but you beat me to it, Nuytsia. Where on the internet can you get sourdough starters? I had no idea! Hmmm, maybe we should move ourselves over to the recipes thread...

[Nuytsia]

Gees sounds like my school ..... in fact I think they did used to alternate teaching Japanese/French with Chinese/German every so often ..... omg maybe we went to the same school !!!!!

I'm a bit scared to ask, but Atthis did you go to school in Melbourne? (if it's not too personal a question! Feel free not to answer)

btw I wrote more about breads in the Recipes thread!

People eat ammonium chloride in Finland???? You guys are hardcore!

[Mervi]

Yeah I'm sure you could order it online or just dry some rye bread from store etc, but the ~thing~ about "real" rye bread is that there were recipes and most importantly starters/"roots" that were passed down from generation to generation and the ingredients were of course secret. I just asked my mom today, and she said that my grandmother (from my father's side) had such a starter, but of course the link is broken now (she actually passed away before I was even born).
I think the biggest difference re: Finnish rye bread vs other varieties is that ours isn't as sweet.

Ammonium chloride is used in a candy that is super popular in here.


.... yeah I think I'm going to split this thread. Just a sec.

[Nuytsia]

Oh what a shame your family bread starter is lost!
Maybe you can revive the tradition somehow!
Hmmm I am very curious to try some authentic Finnish Rye Bread now, but am pretty sure that if I even found something labelled as that in a shop here it would NOT be authentic! We don't seem to have a very big Finnish community in Australia.....
Ooh I want to try that liquorice too! I MAY find that in an obscure shop somewhere.

A lot of the bread simply labelled 'sourdough' here leaves a lot to be desired. I'm pretty sure you can slap that label on anything you like here. It's not like food labelling in France! (or other places I am sure)

The sourdough I make is really sour! Mmmmmmmmmmmmm I baked some the other day that I am eating through now YUM

[Mervi]

Hmm. I wonder what the Australian customs/post offices would say to a sample of dry bread sent to you? I know it's strictly forbidden to send food (or to bring it with you on a visit) to some countries.

//Edit
Wow I'm reading a list of forbidden items: Australia from the Finnish post office's site and it mentions "used bed sheets"!
Lots of foods, dried and fresh are listed but I find no mention of bread...?

[Nuytsia]

LOL!
Yes now I know it's tempting to post used bed sheets to Australia, but just DON'T ok!
That's a classic!

We have very strict quarantine on things like fruit and vegetable products and animal products because the country is thankfully free of a lot of diseases and agriculture is very important to us!

But now that you mention it I don't recall a big lecture about bread products when I've been on a plane coming back into the country ...... so maybe it's ok? Hmmmmmm

[Mervi]

Very understandable that you guys want to protect the ecosystems. But I'm a bit disappointed about the used bed sheets... I guess I'll send mine to someone more deserving.

The page I was reading had regulations for normal sized letters (not even packages!) and it lists all meats and meat products, foods that contain dairy, eggs or meat, noodles, fresh fruits and vegetables, milk and other dairy products including butter, cheese and mayonnaise, seeds, soil and plants, salmon & trout fresh AND dried, beans fresh & dried, "non-commercially packed dried fruits and nuts" (?!), products packed in fruit/veggie boxes. Curiously though, it does not mention flours.

... but maybe you want to check on your end as well.

[Atthis]

Ammonium chloride is used in a candy that is super popular in here.

Ah, it sounds similar to the Swedes' fondness for salty liquorice. I never really cared for it myself, but maybe the Finnish stuff tastes different.

The sourdough I make is really sour! Mmmmmmmmmmmmm I baked some the other day that I am eating through now YUM

Sounds like my kind of sourdough! I'm going to have try making some. I think I'll try to set up a sourdough starter and see if I get anywhere. How long do you usually leave yours to develop, Nuytsia?

And as far as sending foods into Australia, yes the rules are very strict. But if you use your imagination, sometimes there are ways to ease things along a bit. I think the important point to take from what you read, Mervi, is the bit about things that are "non-commercially packaged". I've had relatives in Sweden try to send dried mushrooms in jars without success. Now these mushrooms were dried for days, partially in the oven, and there's no way there was anything living in them. I'm talking about boletus edulis, the porcini mushroom, which I absolutely love, but which doesn't grow in Australia at all. You can buy the dried ones here, but they're ridiculously expensive ($200 AUS/US per kilo!) and usually poor quality. But in Sweden they grow in the parks in people's lawns! Anyway, we soon figured out that

Spoiler

if you vacuum pack the mushrooms and stick on a mock "brand label" (which apparently must include the scientific name of the product), the goods make it through customs no problems.

Which means more Polish pierogi for me!
So I suspect that if you send flour in a well sealed package with a clear brand label, it may well get through fine.

Oh dear, I hope this information doesn't get into the wrong hands. I would hate to lose my supply. Maybe I'll cover it with spoiler tags.