Swedish Seeded Limpa Bread

There is quite a revolution happening in British kitchens, no longer are we satisfied with supermarket pre-packed sliced, we want to master a home baked loaf.  Now if you follow my blog you’ll know that I am a sourdough addict, occasionally though I find I just haven’t had enough time to bake my sourdough.  This is when I’ll make the easiest and simplest loaf of bread you’ll come across, guaranteed!

Rummaging through my recipe file, I came across this recipe, given to me by my mormor (granny).  I have fond memories of making and eating this delicious bread, limpa with a slices of Prästost (Swedish hard cheese), one of my favourites, shared with my grandparents. Having a mutual love of food we inevitably ended up baking something for lunch or fika together.

This is my updated recipe, tweaked a little and a healthier version. Classically this bread contains a fair amount of syrup. Limpa can be made with either yeast or bicarbonate of soda however for speed I’ve used the latter. I am a fan of heritage flour and in this case I’ve used wholemeal spelt, combined with dark rye, both low in gluten. Seeds and nuts add the required texture and crunch.  Traditionally this would be made with a cultured milk,  filmjölk (probiotic cultured milk) I’ve used organic Kefir, which is very similar.

In all honesty it takes me no time to weigh and mix the ingredients, pop in the oven and an hour later I have a lovely home baked loaf!

Print Recipe

Swedish Seeded Limpa

Prep Time18 minutes mins

Cook Time50 minutes mins

soak the seeds for 1 hour prior to baking1 hour hr

Total Time2 hours hrs 2 minutes mins

Cuisine: Swedish

Author: Louise

Ingredients

• 200 g Wholemeal spelt flour
• 150 g Dark rye flour
• 100 g Mixed seeds
• 50 g Chia seeds
• 50 g hazelnuts, skinned & roughly chopped
• 400 g Kefir
• 15 g Black treacle
• 10 g Honey
• 30 ml Olive oil
• 1 ¼ tsp Fennel seeds
• 1 ¼ tsp Caraway seeds
• 7 g Fine sea salt
• 1 ½ tsp Bicarbonate of soda

Instructions

• Begin by combining the seeds in a bowl. Remove 1 tablespoon of the seeds and set to one side. Add 75ml cold water and soak for an hour.
• Preheat the oven to 180C (Fan). Line a 900g or 2lb loaf tin with parchment paper, grease the short ends. In a free standing mixing bowl place the flour, fennel, caraway and all but 1 tablespoon of the mixed seeds, the hazelnuts and chia in the bowl with the salt and bicarbonate of soda.  Now add the kefir, olive oil, honey and molasses, turn the speed to low and blend the ingredients briefly.  You may find there is a little flour at the bottom of the bowl, take a spatular and mix it all into together.  The dough is fairly wet but you are just going to tip it into the prepared tin and smooth the top with the spatular.
• Sprinkle the remaining seeds on the top of the loaf.  Place in the pre-heated oven and bake for 45-50 minutes.
• Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.  Store wrapped in a clean tea towel. It's lovely toasted too.

Tips:

• Soaking the seeds makes them more digestible.
• Toast the nuts for added flavour.
• Use natural yogurt instead of kefir.
• Vary the ingredients to suit what’s in your larder.  Substitute the spelt flour for white or wholemeal plain flour.
• add chopped dried apricots for a fruity twist.