Swedish Sour Milk Bread
A low-and-slow Swedish rye loaf with buttermilk, dark syrup, and warm seeds, made for slicing alongside cheese or soup.
Prep 15 min · Cook 1 hr · Total 2 hr · Makes 1 9-inch square loaf (9 pieces)
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 tablespoons butter, melted
- 1 cup sour milk, or buttermilk
- 1 egg, beaten
Directions
- Heat the oven to 215ºF (100ºC.) and give a 9-inch (23 cm) square cake pan a light coating of grease.
- Grab a large bowl and whisk the all-purpose and rye flours with the baking powder, baking soda, and caraway seeds.
- Using a spice grinder, or mortar-and-pestle, crush the fennel and anise seeds until they are nearly finely ground, with a little texture still hanging around. Add them to the flour mixture and whisk until the spices are well distributed.
- Make a hollow in the middle of the dry ingredients, then add the buttermilk and dark syrup. Stir just until everything dry has been moistened, and resist the urge to keep going.
- Spoon the batter into the prepared pan, smooth it in, and bake for 30 minutes.
- When those 30 minutes are up, raise the oven temperature to 325ºF (160ºC) and continue baking for another 30 minutes, until the center feels just done when gently pressed. If you check with an instant-read thermometer, you are looking for 190ºF, 88ºC.
- Take the bread out of the oven, and once you can handle the pan safely, turn the bread out and let it finish cooling on a wire rack.