I know it's been ages since I've updated the blog. Oops, my bad. At long last here is an update to my previous blog about the lost recipe of Diana Bread from Sweden. I really think the last time we added too much water. Sometimes translating cups to liters and deciliters is not easy. Of course, when we lived in Europe we had the correct measuring tools but we gave them away long ago. 

Rick thought of contacting a Swedish collegue of his that he had not talked to in a long time, so he emailed him not knowing if the email was still valid or not. Stig replied and he had his wife translate the recipe. We realized that what we had taken rye flour for the rye ingredient when it was really "cracked rye" or "rye berries" as they are also called. A very different thing! It made a huge difference. Also, we had used what was called "Lingonberry Sauce" from the import aisle of a grocery store which was not as "jammy" as the one we bought at IKEA on the suggestion of Stig. He should know, he's Swedish after all! So we strolled the mile through the IKEA maze (just for the exercise) and bought some jam. The rye berries we had to order from good old Amazon. Seriously, what did we do before Amazon??

Below are Rick's notes from the second experiment.

Diana Bread (Second Try)

From Kallaren Diana in Stockholm, Sweden

translated and tweaked by Rick and Lynne as well as Stig and Gunnel Oresjo

1/2 cup cracked rye

1/4 cup wheat bran

1/4 cup flaxseed

1/2 cup lingonberry jam (ideally from IKEA)

3/4 cup raisins

1 tablespoon salt

1 tablespoon caraway seeds

1-2/3 cups lukewarm water

Combine all above ingredients in the evening and allow to set overnight.

The next morning combine:

4-1/2 teaspoons instant dry yeast

8 cups whole wheat flour

2-1/8 cups warm water (a bit more if needed)

Mix the yeast with the flour. Blend the water into the yeast/flour mixture and add the overnight mixture. (See note below.) You may need to add a bit more flour or water, but you want to end up with a shaggy dough. It was best to simply mix this using our hands (Lynne did this).

The dough does not need to be kneaded. Form into loaves, either several free-form loaves or put in 3-4 small greased loaf pans. Proof at 125°F for 15 minutes. (Next try, go a bit longer and see if it rises more.) Bake at 450°F for about 30 minutes and start checking temperature. Strive for a temperature in excess of 195°F. This may take up to 45-50 minutes.

Above Photo was before baking.

The above is based on our second try at the bread and it was quite good. We did two “free form” round loaves and I think smaller loaves would be better. This is a lot of dough. Also think it needed to proof better. Our oven has a proof setting, but I don’t think it gets to 125°F. We cooked one loaf for 50 minutes and achieved a temperature of 204°, and a second loaf 10 more minutes (an hour altogether) and the temperature was 208°. These are probably a bit too high. The loaves rose some in the oven on “proof”, but could rise more. The crumb was dense and moist but not wet. The flavor was spot on from what we remember.

Here are the loaves after baking/slicing. It was delicious! We've been eating it toasted in the morning. Of course, this is not the sort of bread you use for sandwiches. It's very hearty, and bursting with whole grains. Yummy.