The Great Alone | Finnish Bread
Be warned — The Great Alone is a heartbreaking novel. The story crafted so well, you can’t help but fall in love with Leni and her Mama, Cora. You will mourn their heartbreaks (I cried many times) and root for them as they learn to survive the harsh realities of an Alaskan winter and weather the volatile moods of Ernt, Leni’s father. You will smile at the quirky and generous neighbors like Large Marge and Thelma, who teach Leni and Cora how to bake bread, build livestock pens, make jam, smoke fish and ultimately how to stand on their own two feet.
I absolutely loved this book (and yes it did ruin me).
The novel is packed with homesteading inspiration. As I made my way through it, I could practically smell the homemade bread and wanted nothing more than to enjoy a warm buttered slice by a crackling fire.
My bread recipe came to me from my Mom, it’s a lovely hearty bread, flavourful enough to stand on its own or be enjoyed along with a bowl of soup.
Finnish Bread
Ingredients
Ceral base
1 cup Sunny Boy Cereal
1 cup whole wheat flour
¼ cup honey or sugar
3 Tbsp oil
2 tsp coarse salt (generous, less if using fine salt)
YEast Mixture
½ cup warm water
½ tsp sugar
1.5 Tbsp active dry yeast
8-9 cups all-purpose flour
Instructions
In a large bowl pour 4.5 cups of boiling water over Cereal Base ingredients and let cool to lukewarm.
In a small bowl combine Yeast Mixture ingredients.. Water should be warm, not hot. Let rise for 10 min.
Stir Yeast Mixture into cooled Cereal Base. Add 7 cups of all-purpose (can substitute up to 3 cups of whole wheat flour). Slowly add the remaining 1-2 cups of flour in small amounts. For this step I add about ¼ cup at a time, decreasing to a Tbsp at a time as it gets close to the right amount. You are looking for a bread dough that sticks lightly to your finger but doesn't leave any dough on your skin. Knead for about 10 minutes.
Let rise for 1 hour in a covered bowl.
Divide into 4 and shape into loaves. Place in pans, cover and let rise again until doubled in size.
Bake at 350F for 40-45 minutes until golden brown on top.
For another bread recipe try my Oatmeal Molasses Bread Recipe, find it here.
Hi, I’m Beth! I’ve been inhaling books and baking from the time I learned to read…
