Estonian bread
Description
It goes perfectly with tea and coffee. Estonian sepik bread can be baked with sourdough or with baker’s yeast, in a loaf pan or free-form on a baking stone/tray. The ingredients can vary from recipe to recipe. The bread has quite a long history; over time the recipe has naturally evolved, and every home cook has their own unique version. I'm sharing my recipe as a base you can tweak and build on. You can serve it with tea or coffee.
Instructions
- 1
Step 1
Prepare the ingredients.
- 2
Step 2
First peel the potatoes and put them on to boil.
- 3
Step 3
In warm water, dissolve the yeast, add sugar, and leave for 10–15 minutes to activate.
- 4
Step 4
Pour warm milk into the yeast mixture, add salt and the seeds (flax, sunflower, pumpkin), vegetable oil, and bran. Mix everything together.
- 5
Step 5
Gradually add the flour.
- 6
Step 6
Knead the dough by hand or with a mixer. The dough will be fairly firm.
- 7
Step 7
Mash boiled potatoes into a purée, cool to room temperature, add to the dough, and knead until smooth.
- 8
Step 8
Gather the dough into a ball and place it in a warm place to rise for 1 hour.
- 9
Step 9
Dough after 1 hour. Punch down the dough and let it rise again. This will take roughly another 30 minutes. After proofing, the dough becomes lighter and more airy.
- 10
Step 10
Prepare a baking dish, grease with vegetable oil, and lightly sprinkle with bran.
- 11
Step 11
Turn the dough out onto the table work surface dusted with a mixture of flour and bran. Shape the loaf.
- 12
Step 12
Place the dough in the tin with the seam facing down. Leave the bread to proof for 30 minutes.
- 13
Step 13
After 30 minutes, brush the bread with milk. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees. Bake for 10 minutes at a temperature of 25 degrees, then lower the temperature to 180 degrees and bake for about 45 minutes more until done.
- 14
Step 14
The finished loaf should come out of the pan easily; if it sticks, simply run a knife along the inside edge of the pan to loosen it from the sides. Cool the loaf on a wire rack until it reaches room temperature.
- 15
Step 15
The bread turned out very tasty, with an incredibly crispy crust. Simply spread a slice of bread with butter and enjoy its wonderful flavor!