Light Scandinavian Rye Kavring Bread

Light Scandinavian Rye Kavring Bread is a dense, slightly sweet bread that is perfect to enjoy with a sharp cheese. In Denmark, Kavring is often used to make “smorrebrod” which basically is a name for elaborate sandwiches with a selection of different toppings. Traditionally kavring is made with a course rye flour, however here we have used regular rye flour, since the coarse version is difficult to come by.

This recipe was adopted from one by Anna Bergenstrom, a well known Swedish writer of cookbooks, and it’s quite easy to make as long as you prepare in advance. Apart from most other bread recipes, this one doesn’t require any kneading. You simply stir all the first day ingredients together, let it sit until the next day, add the remaining ingredients, stir well (or use a mixer if you don’t feel like mixing too hard by hand) and then place in loaf pans, rise and bake. The method is very easy and the result is very good. This bread is typically Scandinavian in texture and taste with little gluten development, a flavored, slightly sweet taste and a moist crumb.

2 Loaves

First Day
¾ tsp yeast
1 tbsp salt
¾ cup yogurt
2 cups water
¾ cups steel cut oats
4 cups rye flour

Next day
1 tbsp whole cumin
1 tbsp whole fennel
2 cups flour
1/3 cup dark corn syrup
100 g butter, melted & cooled
¾ cup sunflower seeds

Method:
Stir yeast, salt, yogurt and water together. Add the oats and lastly the rye flour. Stir until everything is well combined. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow to sit for 24 hours.

Next day, crush the spices in a mortal and pestle, Mix the spices with the flour. Add corn syrup, melted butter and sunflower seeds into the bowl from yesterday. Stir well, then lastly add the flour. With a wooden spoon, work the dough together well and make sure there are no flour pockets.

Pour/scoup the sticky dough into two oiled loaf pans. Add some flour on top of the dough and gently press down with your hand to remove any air pockets, then poke a couple of times with a fork on top of each loaf. Cover with oiled plastic wrap and allow to rise for 1.5 – 2 hours.

Bake the loaves in a 350 degree oven for about 45- 55 minutes, or until an instant read thermometer in the center reads about 205 degrees.

Remove the breads from the pans and wrap in bread towels, so the loaves don't dry out. Preferably let the bread sit for a day or two (in a plastic bag) before cutting into.

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I'm also sending over this bread to wildyeastblog for the yeastspotting post.