While he’s on the road or in the kitchen, Chef Andrew Gerson is always investigating the cultural and culinary landscapes of the cities around him. The Mash Files are snapshots of each city on our Mash Tour in Chef Andrew’s own words. Read about Chef Andrew’s love of rye in its ancestral home in Stockholm, then check our Mash site for when he’ll be in your neighborhood.
I was never much of a baker, but over the last year I have fallen in love with making rye bread. Each week, my wife and I feed our dormant yeast starter, mix up a wet batch of batter, butter our pan and bake a new batch of one hundred percent rye bread. There is something incredible satisfying about pulling a loaf out of the oven, inverting it, and watching it cool on a rack. The hard part is letting it rest for a day or two as it cools and sets before slicing into it for a meal.
The Scandinavian countries and much of Central and Eastern Europe have a long tradition of rye production and baking. Unfortunately, like many artisan prodcuts, it has lost footing to a myriad of white flours and flavorless breads. Chefs Martin Berg and Mathias Dahlgren and baker Tina Fernlund have joined forces at the Green Rabbit Bakery in Stockholm to revive old traditions, capture incredible flavors, and celebrate this ancient grain.
When you walk in the Green Rabbit Bakery, you can smell the difference long before you taste it. Rye is a complex cereal grain with a pronounced flavor and spicy character that sets it apart from its wheat relatives. Under the careful supervision of Tina, loaves are shaped, slowly fermented, and proofed, in what can be a twenty-four hour ordeal for each batch. This patient process allows for flavor development that emphasizes the grain, but also highlights the lactic and slightly sour qualities of the natural yeast starter and gives them a place to shine in the final loaf.
Rye is an essential part of Swedish culture and a must-have for a successful smorgasbord. The open-faced sandwich is a Swedish specialty, and rye is the perfect vehicle for the myriad of mayonnaise laden salads, cured meats, smoked seafood, pickled herring and other Swedish delicacies laid out to choose from.
Rye is the foundation for all the things I love about Swedish food and its simplicity. This filling, nutritious, nuanced and delicious bread captures the essence of a time past. Thankfully, the folks at Green Rabbit Bakery are preserving this tradition one loaf at a time. Rye or Die!