Great Scandinavian Baking Book

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AnnieT on 3 Apr 2008 at 14:02

I just ordered this book (along with Crust and Crumb) and wonder whether anyone has any comments or has tried any of the recipes? One of the many bed and breakfast owners on the island expressed interest in having me bake bread for her visitors and I figured she would want more breakfast type breads and rolls than plain old sourdough. I found the book in the library and like the sound of many of the breads - so of course I had to add it to my baking shelf. (Any excuse, right?) I would like to hear any comments, good or bad. I would also like to put in a plug for a book I re-read for the umpteenth time, This House of Sky by Ivan Doig, a really good read.

Floyd, I know this is a bit late but is there any way to help TFL to benefit from Amazon orders? A.

Hi Annie. I can't find a reference to the book you ordered in your post.
David
is by Beatrice Ojakangas, published in 1988 by Little Brown and Company, and the paperback version is published by the University of Minnesota Press. She covers breads, cakes and cookies from all the countires of Scandinavia, A.
Hi Annie, If you click through any of the Amazon links here, like in the "Recommended Books" section, then locate and purchase something, TFL will get a cut. That is true even if what you order is completely unrelated to the original link.
I have The Great Scandinavian Baking Book, but have only tried Swedish Christmas Dipping Bread. Excellent! I've drooled over the other recipes in the book. It has a great variety of recipes for loaf breads, coffee breads, flat breads, crackers, and other baked goodies to satisfy the sweet tooth. The table at a Scandinavian meal usually has several varieties of breads. The coffee table is set later with an irresistible array of baked goods. Beatrice Ojakangas' recipes are well-written and she's a respected authority on Scandinavian cooking and baking.
Thanks for your input. I haven't made many sweet or enriched breads and this looks like an excellent introduction, and I am enjoying Ms. Ojakangas' interesting background stories. Did you actually dip the bread? I am thinking of starting with the Cinnamon Ears (Korvapuustit) from Finland. What fun! A.

No, we didn't dip the bread, but when we visited my mother's cousin in Sweden several years ago, she was very surprised that we didn't know about the dip-the-bread custom at Christmas. And we were surprised that our Swedish relatives didn't know about potatis korv (potato sausage), a Swedish treat beloved by our family in the U.S. Apparently traditions change over a century, or maybe we mispronounced potatis korv!

When we visited relatives in Sweden and Norway, the coffee table (yes, like the low coffee table in our living rooms) was spread with a table cloth and all the baked goodies were set on it. We sat on the sofa and chairs near the coffee table, and each cake, torte, etc., was passed around to everyone. Sometimes guests were invited for coffee table in the evening, but not for the evening meal. Occasionally guests would bring their specialty dessert to add to the table. The Scandinavians rarely eat out, as restaurants are very expensive there. We had delicious meals and baked goods at our relatives' homes. My Swedish cousin made some delectable, melt-in-your-mouth tarts, and I searched for a recipe when we returned home. The Icelandic Almond Tarts recipe on p. 248 is similar, but I think my cousin skipped the grated orange rind in the filling, and used sherry as the liquid in the glaze. They're a lot of work as separate tarts, so I've also made them as bars.

Now that sounds like my idea of a fun evening, sitting around a coffee table loaded with baked goodies! I just got in from the grocery store where I nearly fell on the floor when I saw the price of cardamom - $15.79 for a small jar! I have a jar which has been in my cabinet for ages and I figured I should replace it ready to begin the Scandinavian baking. Happily I found some at half the price in the organic aisle. Still spendy but not quite so bad. King Arthur flour was up another 20cents at $5.99. I love hearing about your visits to relatives, thank you for sharing, A.
Sitting around the coffetable in the living room enjoying sweet baked good seems like the standard scandinavian "fika". This is undoubtedly the best part of beeing swedish, drinking strong coffe coupled with some oatmeal cookies or just plain cardamon flavored buns.

For me "fika" is just about the standard procedure when someone comes to visit, mainly making the visit an excuse to indulge in the sweets!