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Don't Be Afraid To Try Something New
I figure it’s time for a bread recipe - but a story first...
(Don’t pass this one by. I know it might make you feel a little intimidated or make you ask, “why would I make bread when I can get it from the grocery store?” Well my little chickadee's, this is one you’ll never get from a store or bakery. Please try it at some point. It is the most delicious bread and whoever tastes it, will think you’ve been sent from heaven to make this just for them.)
I had started college at the University of Montana in Missoula. It was about a four hour drive from Choteau where the ranch was and we all finished high school. I had worked on the ranch and at the Cow Track Lodge (restaurant) during the summer break from school, but coming back from college, I wanted something a little different. There was a family further up the canyon road that owned and operated a dude ranch. They had 2 daughters that were the same age as Van and I and were in our respective grades. Debbie was my age and Laura Vans age. All that to say that we knew them and the family pretty well. So when it came time to come back for the summer, it was easy for me to get a job there to work in the kitchen. Chuck and Sharon Blixrud were the parents. Chuck would take groups on horse back - pack back into the Bob Marshall Wilderness and Sharon would take care of the guests that stayed at the ranch.
They needed a cook - in the kitchen at the ranch - to help Sharon to feed the sometimes 40 guests they had staying throughout the summer while Chuck was in the mountains. This was perfect. After being on my own at college for a year, I was enjoying my newly found freedom. It would be great because I could live on the ranch even though it was only a few miles from home - still far enough away from mom and dad. My accommodation was a travel trailer - like the one you’d pull behind a car to camp in. This one was small, just wide enough for a bed at one end, the door and a sink/stove (that didn’t work) in the middle and a table and bench at the other. This one had been pushed in the middle of the forest, I’m guessing by hand or horse because it hadn’t been pulled behind a car in years. Still, I thought it was fantastic. After cleaning up at the end of dinner, I could go to my trailer, where I could read my books and listen to music on cassette tapes. (So independent.) I’d set my alarm for 6am to be in the kitchen for 6.30 to start breakfast. I forgot to say that there was no heat in my little haven. So getting up early, getting dressed to go to shower and bathroom building (that served the cabins with no plumbing) was cold. - later in the summer, very cold. Standing under the shower, you could most morning see your breath. It was bliss to finally get to the kitchen where it was warm - even if it was early.
I realize that you’re humoring me while I have a little trip down memory lane.
Bacon in the oven, biscuits made from scratch, dozens of eggs cracked to scramble, cream gravy made... in my element. After breakfast, we’d use the morning planning out meals, menus and go over guest numbers. We’d spend hours making different kind of cookies (from scratch) in huge batches. Many of Sharon’s recipe cards multiplied out to give you these vast quantities (I thought at the time) of food. 16 cups of flour and 5 pounds of butter and 6 pounds of chocolate chips...tray after tray of cookies all to be stored in shoe boxes in the freezer for them finally to be packed away on a mule, traveling miles into the wilderness to be enjoyed later by some green horn. This is where I learned the delight of eating a frozen chocolate chip cookie that had been perfectly baked.
Cooking, planning, baking, cleaning, laughing - it wasn’t a bad way to spend the summer. I’ve told you about the cookies, but there was also bread - homemade bread. One of the recipes in Sharon’s box of recipe cards, that for some reason I secretly coveted, was the recipe for Swedish Limpa. A dark, sweet rye bread that I’d never heard of but I was keen to give it a go.
It was so fantastic and unbelievably delicious that it took me by surprise. It could quite possibly be the first time that I said “OMG - This is SOOOO good”. It was a whole new world to me. I never knew bread could be like this. A ham and cheese sandwich made on this bread was my first real understanding of how you can take the simple act of taking two good things to make one out-of-this-world thing. I started paying attention to how foods and flavors worked together. I was hooked.
I lost this recipe for a long time. I had forgotten about it (as you do). But I’ve found it (or maybe, it’s found me) and now I make it almost every week. With just a little practice, you’ll be rewarded with a life long memory.
So here is the recipe that I hope I have enticed you to try. (Please try it.)
Swedish Limpa Rye Bread
2/3 c molasses
2/3 c brown sugar
1 Tbsp fennel seed
1 Tbsp caraway seed
1 Tbsp salt
1/4 c butter
2 1/2 cups water (hot)
1/2 cup warm water
1 teaspoon sugar
2 packages dry, instant yeast
4 cups rye flour
5-6 cups white flour
In a mixing bowl (I like to use a heavy ceramic bowl) add the first 7 ingredients with water that’s hot enough to melt the butter. Cool to room temperature.
Add the sugar to the warm water. Dissolve the yeast into the sugared water, stirring to dissolve. Let sit for a few minutes until the yeast starts to activate (bubbling and foaming). Add to the cooled mixture.
Stir in the rye flour and beat until smooth. Add 5 cups white flour, using the remaining flour as needed. Turn out the dough and knead until smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes). Place in a greased bowl, cover and let rise until double in size (it could take up to 2 hours).
Remove from the bowl and punch down. Cut dough in half and shape into 2 loaves (round is more traditional). You can put right onto a greased cookie sheet or place in 2 greased 9 inch pie pans.
Cover with a clean cloth and let rise until double again (1 to 2 hours).
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes. Remove when the bottoms sound hollow when thumped. Let cool for just a few minutes (it will make it easier to cut) before you butter the first slice and let your eyes slip back into the top of your head.
Don’t be afraid to try something new. What’s the worst thing that can happen... clean your bowl and start again. There’s no harm in that.
(Don’t pass this one by. I know it might make you feel a little intimidated or make you ask, “why would I make bread when I can get it from the grocery store?” Well my little chickadee's, this is one you’ll never get from a store or bakery. Please try it at some point. It is the most delicious bread and whoever tastes it, will think you’ve been sent from heaven to make this just for them.)
I had started college at the University of Montana in Missoula. It was about a four hour drive from Choteau where the ranch was and we all finished high school. I had worked on the ranch and at the Cow Track Lodge (restaurant) during the summer break from school, but coming back from college, I wanted something a little different. There was a family further up the canyon road that owned and operated a dude ranch. They had 2 daughters that were the same age as Van and I and were in our respective grades. Debbie was my age and Laura Vans age. All that to say that we knew them and the family pretty well. So when it came time to come back for the summer, it was easy for me to get a job there to work in the kitchen. Chuck and Sharon Blixrud were the parents. Chuck would take groups on horse back - pack back into the Bob Marshall Wilderness and Sharon would take care of the guests that stayed at the ranch.
They needed a cook - in the kitchen at the ranch - to help Sharon to feed the sometimes 40 guests they had staying throughout the summer while Chuck was in the mountains. This was perfect. After being on my own at college for a year, I was enjoying my newly found freedom. It would be great because I could live on the ranch even though it was only a few miles from home - still far enough away from mom and dad. My accommodation was a travel trailer - like the one you’d pull behind a car to camp in. This one was small, just wide enough for a bed at one end, the door and a sink/stove (that didn’t work) in the middle and a table and bench at the other. This one had been pushed in the middle of the forest, I’m guessing by hand or horse because it hadn’t been pulled behind a car in years. Still, I thought it was fantastic. After cleaning up at the end of dinner, I could go to my trailer, where I could read my books and listen to music on cassette tapes. (So independent.) I’d set my alarm for 6am to be in the kitchen for 6.30 to start breakfast. I forgot to say that there was no heat in my little haven. So getting up early, getting dressed to go to shower and bathroom building (that served the cabins with no plumbing) was cold. - later in the summer, very cold. Standing under the shower, you could most morning see your breath. It was bliss to finally get to the kitchen where it was warm - even if it was early.
I realize that you’re humoring me while I have a little trip down memory lane.
Bacon in the oven, biscuits made from scratch, dozens of eggs cracked to scramble, cream gravy made... in my element. After breakfast, we’d use the morning planning out meals, menus and go over guest numbers. We’d spend hours making different kind of cookies (from scratch) in huge batches. Many of Sharon’s recipe cards multiplied out to give you these vast quantities (I thought at the time) of food. 16 cups of flour and 5 pounds of butter and 6 pounds of chocolate chips...tray after tray of cookies all to be stored in shoe boxes in the freezer for them finally to be packed away on a mule, traveling miles into the wilderness to be enjoyed later by some green horn. This is where I learned the delight of eating a frozen chocolate chip cookie that had been perfectly baked.
Cooking, planning, baking, cleaning, laughing - it wasn’t a bad way to spend the summer. I’ve told you about the cookies, but there was also bread - homemade bread. One of the recipes in Sharon’s box of recipe cards, that for some reason I secretly coveted, was the recipe for Swedish Limpa. A dark, sweet rye bread that I’d never heard of but I was keen to give it a go.
It was so fantastic and unbelievably delicious that it took me by surprise. It could quite possibly be the first time that I said “OMG - This is SOOOO good”. It was a whole new world to me. I never knew bread could be like this. A ham and cheese sandwich made on this bread was my first real understanding of how you can take the simple act of taking two good things to make one out-of-this-world thing. I started paying attention to how foods and flavors worked together. I was hooked.
I lost this recipe for a long time. I had forgotten about it (as you do). But I’ve found it (or maybe, it’s found me) and now I make it almost every week. With just a little practice, you’ll be rewarded with a life long memory.
So here is the recipe that I hope I have enticed you to try. (Please try it.)
Swedish Limpa Rye Bread
2/3 c molasses
2/3 c brown sugar
1 Tbsp fennel seed
1 Tbsp caraway seed
1 Tbsp salt
1/4 c butter
2 1/2 cups water (hot)
1/2 cup warm water
1 teaspoon sugar
2 packages dry, instant yeast
4 cups rye flour
5-6 cups white flour
In a mixing bowl (I like to use a heavy ceramic bowl) add the first 7 ingredients with water that’s hot enough to melt the butter. Cool to room temperature.
Add the sugar to the warm water. Dissolve the yeast into the sugared water, stirring to dissolve. Let sit for a few minutes until the yeast starts to activate (bubbling and foaming). Add to the cooled mixture.
Stir in the rye flour and beat until smooth. Add 5 cups white flour, using the remaining flour as needed. Turn out the dough and knead until smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes). Place in a greased bowl, cover and let rise until double in size (it could take up to 2 hours).
Remove from the bowl and punch down. Cut dough in half and shape into 2 loaves (round is more traditional). You can put right onto a greased cookie sheet or place in 2 greased 9 inch pie pans.
Cover with a clean cloth and let rise until double again (1 to 2 hours).
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes. Remove when the bottoms sound hollow when thumped. Let cool for just a few minutes (it will make it easier to cut) before you butter the first slice and let your eyes slip back into the top of your head.
Don’t be afraid to try something new. What’s the worst thing that can happen... clean your bowl and start again. There’s no harm in that.