Danish Loaf - Slesvig-Holstein Bread

A danish bread that is has a gloopy porridge-like dough. Filled with goats cheese and pesto. You can also make this bread with strong white flour and no filling.

Breadmaking At Jo Jo's Danish Bakery

Before I jetted off to Cyprus, I went to a breadmaking class at Jo Jo's Danish Bakery in Edinburgh, with my cousin Claire who blogs over at A Kiss of Cookies.

Claire measuring out flour.

slicing the top of our loaves

Jo Jo

We had a great day a Jo Jo's. The bakery is a small one on St Mary's Street, just off the Royal Mile.

Jo Jo is a master of Danish baking and regularly stays up into the wee hours of the morning to perfect her danish pastries. I vouch they are worth the effort.

They are as light as air and don't leave you with a greasy feeling in your mouth. I've never tried any quite like them.

Alex

Our course was actually Italian breadmaking and was taught by an Italian girl called Alex who is studying in Edinburgh.

Jo Jo did teach us to make bread while we were there and you will see the recipe for it at the end of this post.


It was lovely listening to Alex speak about her childhood in Italy.

She told us how she would spend a lot of time in the kitchen watching her mother and grandmother cook and bake.

She was never actually taught any recipes, she would pick up how to make things by watching and sometimes her mother or grandmother would ask her to take over while they went to do something else.

They would correct her technique, but she never learned precise recipes. It has resulted in a real love of baking.

There were only four of us in the class, so an intimate group, with Alex and Jo Jo showing us their techniques.

Such a relaxing way to spend the day.

I would really recommend trying one of Jo Jo's classes, if you find yourself in Edinburgh or why not just pop in for some bread, cakes or pastries.

One of my favourite breads of the day was Ricciole.

A spiral bread that Alex taught us to bake, then eat the Italian way, by unwinding it as you eat it. Cooper loved this one. 7

When I met them outside the museum, Graham said the smell was wonderful and that I smelled like a walking bakery. They were very happy to tuck in.

Making Ricciole

The finished Ricciole ready to be unravelled and eaten Italian style.

Today I will show you how to make the filled bread that Jo Jo taught us. It is called Slesvig-Holstein Bread and is made with a mixture of rye, spelt and dark flours.

The only photo of me on the day, pouring out my gloopy dough.

It is the most amazing bread to make. At the initial stages it is like porridge, really sloppy. I have never made a bread quite like it.

We filled it with sun-dried tomatoes, herbs and chilli when we made it in the class.

I am sad not to have a photo of the two Slesvig-Holstein loaves I made in class, but time was tight, so I took the dough with me to Dunfermline to bake and forgot to take a photo in all the rush.





also try Basic Wholemeal Bread

print recipe

Slesvig-Holstein Bread with Pesto & Goats' Cheese

Written by Jacqueline Meldrum

July 20, 2012

A danish bread that is has a gloopy porridge-like dough.  Filled with goats cheese and pesto. You can also make this bread with strong white flour and no filling.

Ingredients

• 500g strong white (bread) flour
• 250g strong stoneground wholemeal flour
• 250g wholegrain spelt flour
• 1 sachet fast acting yeast
• a shake of salt
• 1-2 tbsp sunflower, rape or olive oil, plus more for oiling the dough
• 800ml warm water, you may need more
• 60g pesto (optional)
• 50 -100g Goats Cheese (veggie or vegan), optional

Instructions

1. Mix the flour, yeast and salt in a large bowl, then add the water. Stir to create a rough, sticky dough, then to a porridge consistency. The dough should be sticky and wet at this stage, if it isn't add a splash of water.2. Mix with your hand for 10 minutes.3. Pop the contents of the bowl onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes, rhythmically stretching the dough away from you, then folding it back on itself. The idea is to stretch and develop the gluten within the dough, not to beat the living daylights out of it. The dough will become less sticky and easier to handle as you knead. The wetter the dough, the sexier the bread.4. When the dough is smooth and elastic, either stretch it out to pop your ingredients in if you are making my loaves with the pesto and goats cheese and form into a ball, or if you are making plain bread, just form it straight into a ball. Coat in oil and pop into a clean bowl. Cover with clingfilm and leave in a warm place until it has doubled in size, it should take about 1½ hours.5. Shape the dough into loaves and leave to prove for another 45 minutes.6. Carefully transfer the risen loaves to a tray, slash the tops with a sharp serrated knife and put in the oven. Bake for 45 minutes at 220c/200c fan/425f/ gas 7, until the crust is well coloured and the loaf sounds hollow when you tap the bottom sharply with your fingers.7. Do not eat warm, the bread is still cooking, wait until it has cooled and then eat. If it isn't quite cooked through, pop it back in the oven for 20 minutes at 175c.

Details

Total time: 2 hours 45 mins
Yield: Makes 2 loaves

also try - No Knead Black Olive Beer Bread

Thanks to Jo Jo and Alex for such an excellent class and thanks to Jo Jo for the recipe.

Disclosure: I was not paid or sponsored by Jo Jo's Bakery. I paid for the class myself and all opinions are my own.