Friday, January 27, 2012
Latvian Black Bread
This week I learned how to make Latvian "black bread". And it's about time!
I have had the luxury of my mother keeping us well supplied with this Latvian staple food. Finally she suggested that I learn how to make it myself.
And I agreed. So began the somewhat convoluted process of making this absolutely delicious, dark rye sour-dough bread.
As I carried out each direction, under my mother's supervision, I also wrote down the recipe. It came out to 3 pages of handwritten instructions.
My first batch is not cookbook-ready. The top crust is a little light-looking.
But I can assure you that it is completely delicious.
It is not a bread for the faint of heart, though. This is a country-style bread with a tough crust and a strong, distinctive flavour. A bread to get your teeth into. It tastes particularly good when paired with a hearty vegetable soup or a glass of beer.
There is nothing like the aroma of Latvian sour-dough bread baking. And the taste is also totally unique: somewhat sour, aromatic, dense, crunchy. One slice can totally satisfy because it is such a dense bread.
When there is Latvian black bread in the house, I don't eat any other kind of bread, I love it so much.
This batch is basically already gone since I have promised my children a loaf each.
It looks like I'll have to get ready to make another batch soon. Looks like the baton may have been passed...
Posted by Ilga Leja on 01/27 at 10:48 PM
