Swedish Baking Experience

Like most clever people, the beginning of the year was a time for hangovers, relaxation, performing quality dancing re-enactments of 'backstreets back', watching re-runs of Groundhog Day and foolish resolutions created in the tipsy swirl of intoxication.

Most resolutions are never kept (92% according to pointless statistics). In fact, I consider a hit rate of 50% or more to be supremely excellent, and mark such achievement as a great success. If one of the resolutions is a take on the classic 'get fit' variety, then simply purchasing a pair of dunlop volleys is more than enough. If its more in the vein of 'be organised', then purchasing high volumes of liquor in bulk for maximum Saturday evening-efficiency also suffices.

That said, one of my (admittedly meagre) personal resolutions that I almost forgot this year (apart from learning french - which was never going to happen) was to bake bread.

~ You too can catch boys with bread!… It gets better - here's the detail:

~ The magic combo, cosmetics, fashion and bread. ZAP!

Ah bread! Giver of life and absorber of alcohol. What a combo. After wine, cheese, and mercury-free salmon, it's the next in line in the world's greatest foodstuffs. So I decided it was due time for me to begin creating the foods I love the most (in ascending order of taste and difficulty - stay tuned when I begin harvesting salmon in the loungeroom). Surprisingly, I also discovered that I could quickly elevate my social status;

Through much of history, a person's social station could be discerned by the color of bread they consumed. The darker the bread, the lower the social station.

This was because whiter flours were more expensive and harder for millers to adulterate with other products.
~http://www.breadinfo.com/history.shtml

Self-raising Aryan tendencies, and bread 'adultering' aside, I began the quest to wrestle the yeast-monopoly off Baker's Delight (whom I have detested ever since they served me a burnt cheesymite scroll at full cost), and decided to go after the big guns from the outset. Plain white be damned, raisin and pecan is where the dough (and the extent of my cupboard contents) is at.
It should be pointed out, that access to quality bread in Sweden is difficult. Supermarkets only offer breads that range from very sweet, to a level of suger content that is closer to candy than it is to bread. And while speciality bakeries can dish up some tasty offerings, the outrageous cost (I refuse to pay $6 for a baguette, my dear Lund bakery), makes it beyond the means of many locals, let alone poor international students with declining home currencies.

So after guessing many of the quantities, and interwebbing how much fresh yeast I should use - I began to knead and pound my way towards self-sufficiency. I was hesitant. My only previous experience with baking was creating a loaf from grounded raw wheat in Grade 3, which ended up looking and tasting much like gravel.

My fears disappeared however, when my dough expanded magically to 1.5x of its original size. The oven was ready, the dough raised, and the baking tray was lined with (far too much) olive oil (refrain from your suggestive baking innuendo please).

45 nervous minutes later, and upon removal, the waft of freshly baked bread filled the kitchen. I have to say, I was feeling excited - after all, this was what my co-inhabitant Tobias called my 'de-virgining' breadmaking bread.


Fellow corridor members unanimously concluded, it was the best bread they had tasted all afternoon. James was surprised, responding with the rather subtle backhand comment - "It was better than I expected."

Other members were more openly positive. In fact, Tobias claimed it was the best bread he had eaten all day - quite the approval, considering his only other bread experience included a stale slice he had with an egg earlier that afternoon.

For those willing to break free from bakery enslavement, I present to you the aforementioned recipe with accurate measurements. Now also with Swedish translation so brave souls can navigate the nightmare that is the local grocery store:

Dan's Raisin and Pecan Power-Bread!
~ Viking Lord's Russin och pekannöt Power-Bröd!

Ingredients:

• 2 coffee cups of plain flour (Vetemjöl)
• 1 small spoon of fresh yeast (jäst)
• Some raisins (några russin)
• Handful of crushed pecans or any other nut (pekannöt)
  
• 1 coffee cup of warm water (vatten)

Method:

• Mix it all together I guess.
• Knead it a bit. Place over the lounge-room heater with a tea-towel. Come back in an hour and put it in the oven you forgot to pre-heat to 180. Come back in 45 minutes with an appetite for success.

Now, to start cultivating some salmon…