DARCI HANNAH: Because it’s October and many of us bakers get the urge to bake, I thought I’d talk a little bit today about a foodie subject that’s near and dear to my heart: homemade bread. Homemade bread is one of the great pleasures in life. I don’t know many people who can resist a warm slice of fresh-from-the-oven bread, especially when it’s slathered with butter. Yummy!
When my children were little, I made most of the bread we ate (and baked goods, if I’m totally honest). I’ve always enjoyed baking and working with yeast dough, and since I was home most of the time, the long rise times that yeast breads require weren’t an issue. Yet once the kids started school and our lives grew busier, baking bread fell by the wayside… until I entered my sourdough era. I mean, who didn’t jump on the sourdough bandwagon during the Pandemic?
My passion for sourdough ended when I killed my starter. Honestly, I was more relieved by this than saddened. Keeping that starter alive required daily attention and discarding so much of the starter felt wasteful. Sure, the bread was delicious, but most of our kids had flown the coop by this time, and we just didn’t need that much bread!
Then one day, while I was working in the library, a coworker of mine discovered a fascinating new bread book in the cookbook section. It was called Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. That got our attention! We checked the book out, bought some flour, and went to my house to test some recipes. I picked a recipe for Swedish Limpa Bread, which was my mom’s favorite bread. When I tried this recipe, I was truly blown away by how easy the method was and how good the bread tasted. This is the book that challenged everything I knew about baking bread. I was so excited by it that I went out and bought 4 copies, one for each of my adult sons, and one for me. You could say I’m a fan.
The recipe below is from this book, with slight modifications made by me. This no-kneading method works because the dough has a high moisture level which, according to the book, makes the gluten strands active enough to align themselves without kneading. It’s pretty genius. If you enjoy this recipe, I highly recommend getting the book!
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Easy Swedish Limpa Bread
Prep time: 10 minutes. Rise time: 3 hours total. Makes 4 1-pound loaves
Requires a large mixing bowl with a lid, and a baking stone or a loaf pan.
3 cups lukewarm water (680 grams) 100°F or slightly below
1 tablespoon granulated yeast (10 grams)
1 tablespoon Kosher salt (17 grams)
½ cup honey (170 grams)
1 teaspoon Anise seed
1 teaspoon ground Cardamum
1 tablespoon orange zest
1 cup rye flour (120 grams)
5 1/2 cups All-purpose flour (780 grams)
Parchment paper for baking
Swedish sugar for top (optional) mix together 1 tablespoon sugar, ½ teaspoon ground anise seed, ½ teaspoon ground cardamom.
Directions:
Mixing and storing dough: In a large 6-quart mixing bowl or food container (I use a large Tupperware container for this) add lukewarm water. Next mix in yeast, salt, honey, spices and orange zest.
Mix in the remaining dry ingredients without kneading. You may need to use your hands for this. It’s important that all the flour is evenly mixed in.
Cover (not airtight) and allow to rest at room temperature until dough rises and collapses, (or flattens on top) which is approximately 2 hours. The dough can be used immediately after this initial rise, although it’s easier to handle when it’s cold. At this point cover and refrigerate the container of dough. Do not seal the lid completely. The dough will still rise in the refrigerator. At this point the dough is ready to use over the next 7 days.
On baking day: Dust the surface of the dough with flour and cut off the amount you want to use for your loaf. Cutting off 1 pound makes four round loaves. (I sometimes use half the dough and put it in a parchment-lined loaf pan. This will give you two nice loaves of bread over the week.)
Sprinkle more flour on your dough. It will be sticky. Next, quickly shape it into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough around the bottom on all four sides, making a tight little doughball. (For a loaf pan, do the same thing, only make your dough elongated to fit into the pan.) Place the doughball on a piece of parchment. This will make it easier to place it on the baking stone, which will be heating up in the oven. If making a loaf of bread, place the dough in the parchment-lined loaf pan. Cover dough with a cloth and let it rise at room temperature until it has doubled in size.
Preheat oven to 375°F and place the baking stone in the oven as it preheats. Place an empty broiler pan in the oven on the lowest shelf as well. (Water will be added to this to create steam heat while the bread is baking.) For round loaves, once the loaf has risen, you can brush the top with water, make a cut on the top, then sprinkle Swedish sugar. (I generally don’t sugar the top of the loaf pan, but you can.)
Slide the dough directly onto the hot baking stone. (For loaf pan, just place it on the rack.)Immediately add a cup of water to the broiler pan and shut the oven door. Bake for 40-50 minutes. Smaller loaves will cook faster, so check at the 30 min mark. Allow bread to cool on a rack before slicing. Enjoy!
You can print a copy of the recipe HERE!
Do you like baking bread? If so, what’s your favorite bread to bake?
Darci Hannah is the bestselling author of the Beacon Bakeshop Mystery Series, the Food & Spirits Mystery Series, the Very Cherry Mystery Series, and two works of historical fiction, The Exile of Sara Stevenson, and The Angel of Blythe Hall. Darci grew up in the Midwest and currently lives in a small town in Michigan with her husband and two dogs. Darci is a lifelong lover of the Great Lakes, a natural wonder that inspires many of her stories. Passionate about family, dogs, food, baking, history, books, lighthouses, laughter, good conversations, coffee, and the paranormal, Darci feels especially blessed to have found a way to combine her interests in the stories she writes. It brings her great joy to be able to share them with you.
Connect with Darci at www.darcihannah.com
Instagram: @authordarcihannah
Facebook: @Author Darci Hannah
Murder at the Campfire Cookout
By Darci Hannah
Book #7 in the Beacon Bakeshop Mystery Series
When Lindsey Bakewell leaves behind her lighthouse bakeshop, her boyfriend, Rory, and her Newfoundland dog, Wellington, for a glamping trip with her mother in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, the bears leave them alone—but a killer doesn’t. . .
Converting the old Beacon Point lighthouse into a bakery is as adventurous as Lindsey cares to get. Her mother, Ellie, a former 80s fashion model, likes her creature comforts even more—until she sees a business opportunity for her Beacon Harbor fashion boutique when she’s invited by the Mitten Kittens Glamping Club on a woodsy getaway.
Far from roughing it, the ladies will be warm and cozy in chic vintage campers. Ellie insists Lindsey come along to win the campfire cookout contest. Campfire cooking has come a long way from bacon and beans. Soon Lindsey is making pizza, berry cobbler, and gooey Carmelita camping bars.
But the festive spirit is soon dampened when a body is found in Ellie’s camper. It seems like an accidental death until everyone’s tires are slashed and it’s clear the glampsite has become a crime scene. With no cell service to call for help, it’s up to Lindsey to smoke out the killer around the campfire . . .
Because no one is out of the woods yet.
A Spirited Supper at Dundoon Castle
By Darci Hannah
Book #2 in the Food & Spirits Mystery Series
When chef Bridget “Bunny” MacBride got a role on the reality show Food & Spirits, she thought “spirits” meant cocktails. Instead, she’s cooking up dinners meant to tempt the departed to appear. And to her surprise, she’s discovered abilities to connect with the beyond—and crack murder cases . . .
Now that Bunny’s entrées come with a side of the Other Side, it comes in handy to have a grandma who’s friendly with the elderly owners of a haunted Scottish castle. During Bunny’s childhood she heard all about Dundoon’s bloody history and the “ghostly piper” who roamed the grounds—and soon she’ll be visiting the ancient place with her ghost hunter and psychic co-stars. The annual bagpipe competition in the late piper’s honor will make for some good footage as well.
After Bunny serves a feast fit for a 17th century king, including lamb chops with plenty of fresh herbs, she heads outdoors for the ghost hunt. But in the dark, dense fog, someone fatally plunges from the clifftop over the loch. The sound that follows is a mournful, otherworldly bagpipe . . . and once the body of another perished piper is retrieved, Bunny is determined to solve this Highlands homicide—and prevent a killer from getting off scot-free . . .
COMING FEBRUARY 23, 2027
A TOAST TO AGATHA CHRISTIE’S GHOST
By Darci Hannah
Book #3 in the Food & Spirits Mystery Series
Chef Bunny MacBride has gotten roped into a ghost-hunting reality show called Food & Spirits, creating dishes to whet the appetites of apparitions. Along the way, she’s discovered she has some supernatural gifts of her own—and an eerie knack for solving murders…
The cast and crew are on Burgh Island, at a restored Art Deco hotel that boasts Agatha Christie as its most famous guest—and now its most famous ghost. They’re filming at a murder-mystery weekend, and Bunny expects it to be more kooky than spooky. But she’s excited to meet the renowned resident chef and delighted to run into her Granny Mac playing the role of Miss Marple. As a bonus, her romance with costar Brett continues to simmer.
The downside is dealing with arrogant guests like Buckley Thorne, who sends back her beetroot salad and demands whipped cream for her peach Melba. Then the show’s phony psychic, Giff, insists on playing Poirot, complete with an absurdly bad accent. When it turns out the victim role is assigned to Buckley Thorne, she feels a touch of satisfaction—until she realizes he’s doing too good a job of playing dead . . .
Shocked to learn Buckley’s true identity, Bunny has to change course once again from cook to crime-solver. She’d sensed an undercurrent of drama at the dead man’s table—and with help from the spirit of the world’s greatest mystery writer, she’s looking closely at the victim’s handsome son, much-younger wife, and elegant circle of friends to conjure up a solution . . .
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