Search This Blog

Search This Blog

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
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:
Yield: Makes 2 loaves




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.

31 comments

  1. Well, you are very welcome, and I am happy you enjoyed my class! Sadly, I don't work at Jo Jo's any more, but I had fun teaching you, too! :-)And I hope you'll be baking my ricciole again! If anyone wants the recipe for those, just hop over to my blog, you'll find them there :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Alex, oh that is a shame, you are a great teacher. Hopefully we can keep in touch through our blogs. I will definitely be going on the hunt for the recipe for ricciole :)

      Delete
  2. What a great way to spend a day. Bread making is such an important skill and one I love to use and get the kids involved when I can . It has helped with getting them to appreciate brown, granary and white breads equally. Those Riccole look good fun to make. Like the idea of unwinding them as you eat x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was such fun and I really loved the riccole, definitely going to try it again.

      Delete
  3. That looks like a great day out. I love making bread...just need to remember to blog the next time I bake!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, do blog next time you bake some, I would love to read your bread posts :)

      Delete
  4. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Another fabulous day Jac. You do get to go to some good classes. Love the idea of bread filled with goat's cheese. My weekly bake is rye sourdough and it too is like porridge. Luckily it requires no kneading at all, so it goes into the tins with the consistency of thick porridge, but it comes out beautifully - err, most of the time!!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I get most of my classes of Groupon or Itison Choclette. They are fun. Will have to get that recipe of you.

      Delete
  6. I've had some amazing bread, visiting friends in Denmark. Though everyone I know makes almost exclusively sourdough - often with lots of rye. Yummy! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sourdoughs are good. It is great going abroad and trying regional breads.

      Delete
  7. Jacqueline I adore make bread what nice class sounds like Jo Jo is an amazing teacher:)
    Love this post and the recipe!

    ReplyDelete
  8. wat a fantastic post..no doubt you had a wonderful time there..:)
    Tasty Appetite

    ReplyDelete
  9. Looks fab, will bookmark the recipe.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ahhhh, a good one for the Bookmarked Recipes challenge then.

      Delete
  10. Oh..the first click of loaf looks so rustic..good to read about your experience through bread making..hugs.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is a very rustic loaf, with a lot of flavour and such fun to make.

      Delete
  11. How I wish I had known about this before we went to Edinburgh! The experience looks amazing and the bread yum :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You could stay in Edinburgh for a month and still not manage to do all the fun things. You will have to plan another holiday Tandy : )

      Delete
  12. this looks delicious. I have starting baking my own bread and love it. Need to do a course but so hard to find time!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know what you mean, but it is well worth taking a course, it makes such a difference to get some guidance. You should see if you could find a half day course :)

      Delete
  13. Now that's something I'd love to do! What fun for you. And the bread looks marvelous. I used to take lots of cooking classes with friends...

    ReplyDelete
  14. What an awesome post - such fun! And the bread sounds AMAZING! I hope you'll share it with BYOB - Bake Your Own Bread this month, Jac! (http://www.girlichef.com/2012/07/byob-bake-your-own-bread-july-12-some.html)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I was meaning to do that actually, but I completely forgot. Hope I am not too late.

      Delete
  15. What a fun class, learning to make all those special breads from a real 'bread pro'...really enjoyed seeing all the photos and the amazing breads. I pinned the top gorgeous photo~

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for the pin Elisabeth ad glad you enjoyed it :)

      Delete
  16. Great class Jacqueline! I learnt baking when I was living in Denmark. Danish baking is interesting and inspiring, I am always keen to learn more when I am there (my in laws live in Copenhagen). Ricciole?? I do not know this bread!! It sounds really good.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Ricciole was fabulous. I will make some soon and post it. A great Italian bread :)

      Delete

I love reading comments, so thank you for taking the time to leave one. Unfortunately, I'm bombarded with spam, so I've turned on comment moderation. I'll publish your comments as soon as I can and respond to them. Don't panic, they will disappear when you hit publish. Jac x