Jill and Kalee's new favorite bread

Kalee has had a whole series of strange little health problems for the last 9 months or so. We decided to make some dietary changes to see if that helped. So far it is. We have cut out refined grains, sugar, yeast and anything aged/moldy/fermented. This is a real challenge for a family with such a fabulous and prolific bread baker as Charles. This soda bread is one of the breads we have discovered. It is dense and chewy and really yummy. Kalee likes it best with some cream cheese and olives.

Whole Grain Irish Soda Bread

1 2/3 cup (400ml) whole wheat flour
2 cups (500ml) other whole grain flours (we like to combine spelt, barley and rye)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/3 cup (300ml) rolled oats
1/2 cup (100ml) natural bran
2 cups (500ml) yogurt
1/4 cup (50ml) milk
==================
1 tablespoon butter to brush on top of baked loaf

• Preheat oven to 375F (190C).
• Combine dry ingredients in large bowl. Stir together.
• Add yogurt and milk. Stir until a soft dough forms.
• Turn dough onto lightly floured surface and kneed 5-6 times until smooth.
• Shape into ball. Pat to 8" round. Place on parchment paper or greased baking sheet. With sharp knife, cut large deep cross on top.
• Bake 50-60 min, until golden and loaf sounds hollow when tapped on base.
• Brush with melted butter.
  
• Wrap in clean, dry towel to cool. DO NOT CUT until nearly cool. While it is hot the center of the loaf is still cooking.
  

Note: I usually make a half recipe or form it into two small loaves. I think it cooks better that way. For a 1/2 loaf, cook about 35 minutes.

Finnish Recipes - Riisipuuro

"Wouldn't some rice pudding be good?" I said to Charles a few weeks ago. He concurred, and said he thought he'd seen sushi rice at the store, which is what we like to use to make rice pudding. When I looked, I didn't find sushi rice, I found puuro riisi, pudding rice. Perfect!

Then, to find a recipe. I had never liked rice pudding until our friend Genna brought some to our house for a potluck. It was simple and creamy, topped with some raisins and cinnamon-sugar. She gave us the recipe and it became such a favorite of our that we put it in the cookbook we made about 10 years ago. I remember that it said it was a traditional Finnish or Swedish (I don't remember) recipe.

But, we didn't bring that cook book with us so I went to the web. The web is teaming with rice pudding recipes but they all have lots of ingredients besides rice and milk: eggs, cinnamon, cardamon, sugar and more. That must be the stuff I never liked. After searching and searching I happened to turn over the puuro riisi package and discovered three recipes right there! They are in Finnish but with the help of Google Translate I figured it out. I've made two of the recipes so far.

Riisipuuro (Rice pudding - the stove top variety)
2 dl water
2 dl rice
1 liter milk
a bit of salt

Measure water, rice and salt into pot. Cook over medium/low heat until water is absorbed. Add milk (we use skim milk but substitute a bit of cream for the total volume). Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until milk is absorbed, about 90 minutes.

We scoop it into bowls and top with a small dab of butter, raisins, and some cinnamon-sugar.

And then there is this ...

Riisiuunipuuro (Baked Rice Pudding)
2 dl rice
1 liter milk
a bit of salt

Grease a 2 L. oven dish. Measure ingredients into dish and mix. Cook in 175C. oven on lower rack for 90 minutes. Mix a few times during the cooking.

I made the baked kind this week. It is easier, but without those extra 2 dl. of water, it is quite a bit dryer than the stove top variety. On the second night we re-heated it on the stove top and added a bunch more milk to make it creamier. Yummier.

Finnish Recipes - Kraupsua

Here is the beginning of a new series of posts about cooking traditional Finnish food. Today's recipe is Kraupsua: Finnish Oven Pancakes.
Before arriving we read that it is traditional for Finns to eat pea soup on Tuesdays. Not just traditional, actually. The book said that everyone eats pea soup on Tuesdays. This seemed odd to us. A national soup, we would believe, but everyone eating it on the same day? We asked a couple Finns about that and while it struck a blank at first, both eventually said they could remember that tradition as a child. Someday I'll put a pea soup recipe up here, but today it is Kraupsua, Finnish oven pancakes which we are told are traditionally served for dessert with a dinner of Pea Soup. I found the recipe on cooks.com. Either the recipe is not terribly traditional or someone else already translated it into American measurements.

2 tsp. butter
2 eggs, well beaten
1/2 c. sugar
1 tsp. salt
2 c. milk
1 1/4 c. flour

Place 2 teaspoons butter in a 9x13 pan. Place pan in a 400 degree oven until butter sizzles and is almost brown. Beat eggs, sugar, salt, milk and flour in that order and pour into pan. Bake 25 - 30 min. Dot with butter and sprinkle with sugar. Cut into squares to serve.

I made these last night and topped them with jam (lingonberry and cloudberry), which we are told is traditional. They were very delicious. We'll certainly be making them again. Next time, though, I'll use my new whisk too make the eggs really fluffy (the beaten eggs are the only leavening) and hope for a bit fluffier pancake.