Finnish Wheat Bread

Growing up, I thought every family owned an industrial-size mixer that their mom and grandma made bread with. Homemade bread was so standard in my home that I looked forward to having store bought white bread, the pre-sliced kind, at friend’s houses. Now that I’m old, I fully understand how special that was, especially when it comes to this Finnish Wheat Bread recipe.

From Helen

This bread recipe is something that has been handed down from generation to generation here on The Farm. Every person who is Finnish and lives in this community makes the same type of bread with a few variations according to the taste their family prefers, whether that is a crunchier or a heavier texture, more cracked wheat or more white flour. No one here remembers where it got started, but I’m sure it came from the old country. It’s very similar to the bread we saw in Finland when we visited Jim’s relatives.

Recipe

This was one I really wanted to make myself with the pictures and steps, but the week got away from me with other tasks. So here is the recipe, and maybe I’ll come back to it and add step-by-step pictures.

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Finnish Wheat Bread

Total Time3 hours hrs

Servings: 3 loaves

Ingredients

Starter

• 1½ tbsp yeast
• ½ cup water
• 1 tbsp brown sugar

Dough

• 2 cups water
• ¼ cup dry milk
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 2½ tsp salt
• 3 tbsp canola oil
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 4 to 4¼ cups white flour

Instructions

• In a small bowl, whisk together the yeast, sugar, and water. The water should be warm to the touch. Set aside until yeast begins to bubble.
• In a mixer bowl with a bread hook, add the water, sugar, canola oil, dry milk, and salt. Blend together. 
• Add the starter. It should have bubbled up if it is active. 
• Now start to slowly add the wheat flour a little at a time. The dough will be pretty runny in this step.
• Then start to add the white flour until the dough starts to crawl up the dough hook and pull away from the sides of the bowl. You want it to be firm to the touch and not very sticky when it’s ready. 
• Let sit in a warm place covered with a cloth for 30-45 minutes or until it rises over the bowl. 
• Once it has risen, form the dough into three rounded loaves. Either poke them with a fork or slit them twice across the top with a knife. 
• Set on a greased cookie sheet and let rise for about 20 minutes. 
• In a 350° oven, bake for 45 minutes or until they are quite brown on both top and bottom and make a hollow noise when you tap them. 
• Let cool and enjoy!