My husband’s Bestemor (Grandma) from Norway. Has never bought bread from a store. She only knew what’s best for her…..to make homemade bread. This recipe had never been written down. It had just always been in her head. The bread is just delicious. Nothing like what you buy in a store. It’s like that warm nostalgic bread, you get at the start of dinner, in an amazing restaurant.
A few years ago, I asked her to show me how she makes it. With the help of my mother-in-law, we wrote it down in Norwegian.
Unfortunately she was in hospital, for a period of time. So Besterfa (her husband) was at home on his own. His version of cooking is putting a frozen pizza on a frying pan π«. So my mother-in-law and I, attempted to bake the bread for him. The feedback we got, was it didn’t taste the same, as it didn’t have enough salt π .
The other day my sister-in-law and I were trying to work out, what bread we could give our 8 month old babies. I remembered I had this recipe in the cupboard. We found it, luckily still readable. And tested the recipe out. With half the mixture, we didn’t add any salt and used unsalted butter (for the boys). I recommend if you do this, make a different decoration on top, so you know which one is which. My sister-in-law came up with, an extra sprinkle of sesame seeds on ours!! What a great idea π‘
So while my parents entertained the boys. We made the bread. We couldn’t believe how quick it was to mix up. Its perfect, because we didn’t have to wait for it to prove. You just put it straight into a cold oven and turn the heat up π. One hour later, that glorious smell of baking. Had the boys drooling over the bread. All of us stood round the bread in the kitchen, testing it out π.
This bread also tastes great once stored in the freezer. Just pack it in a clear food bag, and put that in a carrier bag. Take it out the night before you need it, to let it defrost…… delicious for breakfast or lunch.
INGREDIENTS
1kg of plain flour
2 cups (256g) of wholemeal bread flour
1 cup (128g) of oats
4 teaspoons of sesame seeds (remove from kids bread if allergic)
2 teaspoons of salt
700ml milk
100g yeast live (Norwegian) or if dry Β yeast use quantity required for 1.4kg of flour on the packet
500ml water
METHOD
1. Mix together all the dry ingredients.
2. Heat 400ml milk with 500ml water to about 37 degrees.
3. In 300ml warm milk add the yeast and mix well.
4. Mix the milk and yeast into the dry ingredients. Then pour in the rest of the wet ingredients.
5. Mix till you get a dough that’s not too dry and not too sticky. If too sticky add a little more plain flour. If too dry add a little more warm water.
6. Divide the mixture into 3, and make them into bread like loaves. Place onto baking parchment on a tray. Sprinkle more sesame seeds on top. And make a few dents on the top.
7. Use salted butter to put blobs on tops and on the sides. To give them a nice golden look.
8. Place the tray in a cold oven. Turn the oven up to 180 degrees for 30 minutes. After this time turn the oven up to 200 degrees for 25 minutes.
9. Take out of the oven once you can tap it. It should give a hollow sound.
Be creative, by adding extra seeds or dried cranberries!! Enjoy!! π€ for breakfast, lunch or dinner!!
I definitely will be making this bread, it looks amazing…and the fact that I don’t have to wait for it to rise is a huge bonus π Thank you for sharing this.
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Hi Tanya. Thanks for the follow; I hope my future posts will be of interest though I don’t post as much as I used to about cooking (including baking). Though I said in my recent post I’d settled on my bread recipe I’ll make an exception with this one; looks wonderful. Thank you for posting it. ‘Grandma’s bread’ – I like that too.
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Awe thanks! looking forward to seeing your posts π
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Hi again!! I still can’t thank you enough for your blog on Bestemor bread!! It meant so much to her and to my in-laws π if you need any help from me on anything please let me know c
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Thank you for sharing the recipe! Are you using fresh yeast? I’m bad in bread making but I want to give a try!
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Hi Ilze, I think you’ll like this recipe then, I’m not great with bread but this is simple π you don’t need fresh yeast. I used the dry one. Let me know how it comes out π
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I’m confused! 100g yeast?! Realy!? Cause my dried yeast package says it’s 1 tsp for 500g flour!
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Go with 2 tsp of yeast it’s based on the yeast packet I’ll update it on my site too thanks for checking
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2-3tsp as the flour in total will come up to 1.5kg
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I totally understand with a little one you want quick things to make. Hope the recipe is a success for you x
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My oldest one are ill and I couldn’t get to the bread making! I hope I’ll be back in kitchen soon!
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Hope they feel better soon
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Oh, thank you! I hope so too!
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Awe so glad it was a success. Bestemor is always feeding people, she’ll be so happy people are enjoying her recipe π
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Thank you for such a lovely review
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I’m baking this bread for the second time already! I don’t know if this bread requires kneading, but I never do that. Just mix it and put in the oven π
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No don’t need to knead just mix π how is it coming out?
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Delicious! I’m adding a bit more salt and can’t get the dough right. It’s always too wet, but I love this bread so I will find the right amount of my flour π
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Just checking in… I LOVE THIS BREAD!
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Awww so glad!!! Our bestemor will be so happy, she’s in her late 80s and still making it π
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