My sugar strike is ending on monday so i decided to get prepared for it. Even though i haven't been craving too much really sugary things, i've missed this bread. It's probably my favourite bread and i especially like it with some gravlax or a slice of smoky hard cheese. For some reason this bread is quite expensive in stores, hence i didn't use to get it often, but since i learned to make it myself it actually comes quite cheap. The recipe is originally from here (in finnish).

Archipelago bread:

- 1 l buttermilk (sourmilk)

- 50 g yeast

- 3 dl dark syrup

- 1 tbsp salt

- 3,5 dl oat or wheat bran

- 3,5 dl rye flour

- 3,5 dl malt

- 1 l wheat flour

Warm up the buttermilk to just above hand temperature. Mix in the syrup and salt and dilute the yeast. Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Pour in the liquid and mix well (you will probably have to get your hands dirty and knead the dough some). The dough will not be too thick but rather sticky.

Divide the dough in 3 oiled bread molds and pat the surface even with wet hands. Let rise for about 2 hours in a warm spot under a kitchen towel. Once the breads are ready to be baked you can baste the surface of the dough with some watered down syrup. Bake in 160 degrees celcius oven for about 2 hours. About half way through baste the breads again atleast once more. This will give the breads that nice black shiny crust.

I know you would like to try your bread immediately after baking, and you can taste a little, but i advice you would leave it alone for atleast 2 days. The bread gets better a few days after baking, and that's exactly the reason why i made my bread 3 days in advance before i can start eating them. The bread will stay good for long, atleast 2 - 3 weeks even without putting it in the fridge, so there should be no rush eating it.

Here are my breads cooling down:

 

Saaristolaisleipä - Saaristolaislimppu