Traditional bread baking (rågkakor)

In many Swedish homes, it is traditional to bake some of the the bread you eat. Even in our family.
Mostly, it is me baking the bread.
One of our favorite bread is round soft rye cakes. It is a bread with a long tradition. My wife has told me that her grandmother baked such breads.
Today it was me who baked rye cakes. A batch of dough is enough for four round cakes + a small bun made from the dough left over when making holes in the cookies.
I start with 50 grams of fresh yeast, which I dissolve in 0.5 liters of water warmed to 37 degrees Celsius (99 ° F). I also add 50 grams of melted margarine and 2 tablespoons syrup.

Seasoning consists of

• 1 teaspoon ground anise,
• 2 teaspoons ground fennel seeds and
• 1.5 teaspoons of salt.

Then it shall be seven deciliter rye flour and 5-6 deciliter of wheat flour .

All the ingredients are kneaded in an Electrolux Assistant - a classic Swedish household appliance.


The dough is fermented for at least 30 minutes. Then I take it on a breadboard and knead it.

When the dough is kneaded, I share it in four parts.Each part is rolled out into a round cake which is 17 centimeters in diameter. I put the cakes on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. There they rise for another 30 minutes.

When the cookies are fermented they are baked in the oven at 225 degrees Celsius (437 °F). 
When ready they look so good: