Best Quick And Easy Artisan Swedish Christmas Limpa Recipes

SWEDISH LIMPA (RYE BREAD)

Steps:

• In a saucepan, mix together molasses, water, brown sugar, fennel, and salt. Bring to boiling point, then gently cook, uncovered, for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add shortening. Let stand until lukewarm.
• Dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup lukewarm water. Add cooled molasses mixture and mix well. Stir in the rye flour. Beat until smooth. Cover and let rise at room temperature overnight, about 9 to 10 hours.
• In the morning add 5 cups white flour, and place remaining 1/2 cup on a pastry cloth or board for kneading. Turn out the dough and knead until smooth and elastic. Place in greased bowl, cover, and let rise until double in size, 2 to 2 1/2 hours.
• Cut dough in half and shape into 2 loaves (round is more traditional). Place in 2 greased 9 inch pie pans. Cover with a clean cloth and let rise until light, about 2 hours.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Bake for 45 to 55 minutes. Remove and brush tops with melted butter.

SWEDISH LIMPA BREAD

Steps:

• In a large bowl, combine brown sugar, molasses, butter, orange zest, salt, aniseed and boiling water; stir until brown sugar is dissolved and butter is melted. Stir in cold water; let stand until mixture cools to 110° to 115°., Meanwhile, in a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Stir in molasses mixture; mix well. Add, all-purpose flour and 1 cup rye flour. Beat on medium speed 3 minutes. Stir in enough remaining rye flour to form a stiff dough., Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour., Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide in half. Shape into 2 oval loaves. Grease 2 baking sheets and sprinkle lightly with cornmeal. Place loaves on prepared pans. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes., Preheat oven to 350° . With a sharp knife, make 4 shallow slashes across top of each loaf. Bake 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to wire racks; brush with butter.

QUICK AND EASY ARTISAN SWEDISH CHRISTMAS LIMPA

Steps:

• Combine hot tap water and orange juice. Check temperature of water mixture. Should be lukewarm. Mix the yeast, salt, honey, spices and orange zest with the water in a 5 qt bowl or a lidded (not airtight) food storage container.
• Mix in the remaining dry ingredients without kneading, using a spoon, a 14 cup capacity food processor [with dough attachment], Danish dough whisk, or a heavy duty stand mixer [with dough hook]. If you are not using a machine, you may need to use wet hands to incorporate the last bit of flour.
• Cover (not airtight) and allow to rest at room temperature until dough rises and collapses (or flattens on top), approximately 2 hours.
• The dough can be used after initial rise though it is easier to handle when cold. Refrigerate in a lidded (not airtight) container and use over the next 7 days or divide into 4 1-lb portions and freeze in an airtight container for no more than 2 weeks. Thaw 24 hours before usage.
• On baking day, dust the surface of the refrigerated dough with flour and cut off a 1 lb piece (grapefruit sized). Dust the piece with more flour and quickly shape it into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter turn as you go. Allow to rest and rise on a whole wheat flour covered pizza peel for 40 minutes. Mix together topping ingredients, enough for amount of loaves being made.
• Twenty minutes before baking time, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F, with a baking stone placed on the middle rack. Place an empty metal broiler pan on any other shelf that will not interfere with the baking.
• Paint the surface with cornstarch wash and slash a cross, scallop or tic-tac-toe pattern into the top of the bread, using a serrated bread knife. Sprinkle with topping mixture. Cornstarch wash can be refrigerated for up to 3 days.
• Slide the loaf directly onto the hot stone. Pour 1 cup of hot tap water into the broiler tray and quickly close the oven door. Bake for about 40 minutes, or until deeply browned and firm. Allow to cool before slicing and eating.