ysabetwordsmith | Review: Scandinavian from Scratch

Scandinavian from Scratch: A Love Letter to the Baking of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden [A Baking Book] Hardcover – October 3, 2023
by Nichole Accettola

We just finished reading this cookbook. It's an interesting introduction to Scandinavian cuisine, which is pretty different from most European food. It makes heavy use of rye, which is nice. The front matter includes A Baking Love Letter, Scandinavian Baking: An Overview, The Scandinavian Pantry, Useful Baking Equipment, Baking Best Practices, and the Table of Contents. The Index lists both ingredients and recipe titles. Also, our hardback edition has a red grosgrain ribbon in it for marking your place.

The recipe chapters are The Cookie Tin, Simple Cakes and Celebration Desserts, Let's Fika! (a type of bread dough), Rise and Shine, Rye Bread and Smørrebrød, and Winter Therapy. Most recipes have bilingual titles. We mostly skipped over the bread chapters, as they're a lot fussier than I tend to like. However, if you're bored with making ordinary bread and want to try some new techniques, definitely take a look at these chapters -- especially if you're a rye fan. We found a number of recipes worth marking, though. These include Finnish Almond Matchsticks, Black Currant Caves, Black Licorice Slices, Hazelnut Cookies, Cardamom-Scented Pear and Apple Snacking Cake, Rye and Beer Pancakes, Cinnamon Buttons, and Cardamom Hazelnut Matchsticks. Most recipes have a full-color photo. Some of the more complicated techniques have photos of the steps too.

This is a good choice if you want to explore Scandinavian baking, or if you've gone through typical American recipes and want something different. It's probably not ideal for beginners, although there are a few simple recipes, but it has plenty to interest intermediate to advanced bakers. Recommended.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Ooh, thanks for the review! I need to add this one to my collection.

If you do pick it up, let me know what you think.

a lot of those sound yummy!

A large number of Scandinavian pastries are flavored with cardamom, which is one of my favorite spices. And there are a lot of recipes for fish, or for cheese.

There's one holiday bread made with a lot of cardamom in it. It's usually braided, but I didn't have any place to put an 18-inch bread wreath. So I tucked it into a loaf pan, and the result made a very pretty design.

I noticed the cardamom. Anise / licorice is another. Rye is a favored grain.

I thoroughly dislike anise/licorice flavor. I have eaten New York Jewish Rye bread, as toast or as the support for a sandwich but I only want it seedless. I once Wiki'd "Finnish cuisine", and found a baked pudding with a rye base which sounded weird enough to be interesting. My dear old friend Maellenkleth is of Finnish/Welsh/Canadian descent, and swears in Finnish or Welsh when driving in traffic. I need to learn some of those curses - I'm not fluent enough in Klingon yet.

Just be careful with their Winterfeast foods and drinks. Especially watch out for glogg, a spiced wine with brandy in it that's easy to drink too much of, because it tastes good.

The Ikea store nearest me has a "snack bar" where they sell cinnamon buns - but there's cardamom in with the cinnamon. They also have a sit-down restaurant where they serve Swedish meatballs, but I'm happy with the cinnamon buns and other pastries.(And the packaged cookies they sell - heart-shape shortbreads filled with both raspberry jam and fudge icing together. They sell the meatballs frozen if you want to serve them at home.)

>> I have eaten New York Jewish Rye bread, as toast or as the support for a sandwich but I only want it seedless. <<

I like mine with seeds.

>> found a baked pudding with a rye base <<

I've done a quiche with a rye crust. It's a right pain in the ass to make but beautiful and delicious.

>>Just be careful with their Winterfeast foods and drinks. Especially watch out for glogg, a spiced wine with brandy in it that's easy to drink too much of, because it tastes good.<<

Not my idea of fun, and my partner is sober.

>> They also have a sit-down restaurant where they serve Swedish meatballs, <<

I love Swedish food. One restaurant had fruit soup that was supposed to be served cold, but is the world's best waffle topping when hot.

Excellent rec! My Danish bloodline thanks you - I read the recipe sample in the link, which lost me at "parchment paper" but what I recall most about Gran's cooking was open-faced sandwiches. They really were loaded with good sliced meat and cheese and sometimes a gravy overall. Her bread was wonderful, rye and pumpernickel along with black bread.

>> Excellent rec! My Danish bloodline thanks you <<

I'm happy I could help. :D

>> I read the recipe sample in the link, which lost me at "parchment paper" <<

Parchment paper is a type of baking paper that is nonstick and withstands high temperatures. I use it a lot. The current roll has a decurling strip, which makes it harder to get the paper out of the box but much easier to work with once it is out. Cookies and such usually peel right off it. Theoretically you can cut a strip longer and use it to lift things out of a pan, but I haven't bothered with that. Not everyone wants to fuss with the stuff, but I have found it useful.

>> but what I recall most about Gran's cooking was open-faced sandwiches. They really were loaded with good sliced meat and cheese and sometimes a gravy overall. Her bread was wonderful, rye and pumpernickel along with black bread.<<

Yeah, there's a whole section of "stuff on a slice of bread" that we mostly skipped because the dough recipes are more finicky than I like. But if you are looking to recreate childhood memories of this cuisine, this is probably a great book for that. It uses a lot of rye. I don't remember seeing pumpernickel or black bread, though. The bread chapters lean toward presenting one or a few basic recipes and then variations of those in subsequent recipes.

Fika is coffee break, the time you have a baked good and coffee.

Filo is a dough.

The chapter says Let's Fika. So if fika means coffee break, then I expect all the bread/pastry things that say fika mean something like coffee cake. It's not filo, which is a thin flaky thing.

Here's an online example:
https://foodspassion.com/2019/01/02/cardamom-fika-rolls/

No, not coffee cake. It's having coffee or tea with a baked good. It's a category of baked goods to have fika.

Fika is a noun and verb.

People say coffee cake meaning something they eat with coffee, rather than having coffee in it; and they're using fika the same way, even though it started out as meaning coffee break. Fika dough, fika cakem fika buns -- something you make to serve at fika with the coffee.

Don't look at me, it's not even my language. I'm just writing about the book, although I did check online to see if other people are using fika as an adjective for baked goods, which they are.

Review: Scandinavian from Scratch

no subject

You're welcome!

no subject

no subject

Yes ...

Re: Yes ...

Re: Yes ...

no subject

Thoughts

no subject

Well ...

Re: Well ...

Re: Well ...