TASTEscape: Norway

Information

Course: Side 
Difficulty: Medium 
Serves: 12 
Time: 3 hrs (plus 48 hrs for the starter)

Ingredients

Starter

• 600g of water 
• 200g of flour 

Fruit bread mix

• 360g of cracked rye, soaked 
• 225g of rye flour 
• 45g of rye flakes 
• 225g of water 
• 22g of flour 
• 22g of water 
• 25g of linseed 
• 35g of sunflower seeds 
• 14g of fine sea salt

Fruit nut mix 

• 160g of hazelnuts, roughly chopped 
• 270g of prunes, roughly chopped 
• 270g of raisins 
• 80g of sesame seeds 
• 80g of pumpkin seeds

Recipe

1. It is important to give the starter the time it needs to activate by making it 1–2 days before making the bread. Combine the flour and water and mixing until just combined. 
2. Place in the fridge for a minimum of 24 hours and maximum of 48 hours, stirring 3–4 times during this process. This is a very light starter so do not expect sourness to develop at this stage. 
3. When the starter is ready, combine with the rye bread ingredients in a mixer with a dough hook attached. 
4. Mix on a medium speed until thoroughly combined. Turn off and allow the dough to rest for 15 minutes. 
5. Add the fruit nut mix and combine again with the dough hook until the fruit mix is just incorporated evenly throughout the dough. 
6. Preheat the oven to 240°C/gas mark 9, set to steam. 
7. Weigh out into 750g portions and add each to a large loaf tin. This will yield a large amount of rye bread, but once baked it will freeze well for up to 2 months. 
8. Place the loaves in the oven for 10 minutes before reducing the temperature to 180°C/gas mark 4 for 1 1/2 hours. Remove from the oven and allow to cool before turning out.