Barkbread – From famine to luxury
Barkbread has evolved from the dismal years of crop failure to trendy snackas in luxury restaurants. Plenty of fibers and antioxidants from the pine trees in northern Finland.
Incredibly good! The spontaneous comments came thick and fast when the visitors at Stockholm International Fairs (Stockholmsmässan) chewed the bark of the crispy bread. Now, what used to be famine food has become pure luxury food and forest products are coming into focus more and more. There is much more than timber and pulpwood to sink your teeth in.
“Härjedalbröd” in Lillhärdal, Sweden, has become very successful with the barkbread that besides bark contains rye, wheat, pilsner malt extract, crushed juniper berries, salt and water.
– We mix in about six percent bark flour which comes from pine (Pinus sylvestris) whitebark in Rovaniemi, Finland. Unfortunately, we are forced to import because there is nobody who can bring out the quality of barkflour that is needed in the bakery. We sell over 8000 packages barkbread every year, said Soren Lindwall, one of three owners of Härjedsbröd, who has been making barkbread since since 1993.
It is not the outer pine bark which is used but the thin layer called the phloem, which is between the wood and the outer bark. The taste is very bitter and should, in other words be mixed up with plain flour. Reportedly, the barkflour is very vitamin C-rich and can be purchased at health food stores.
Barkbread is associated with famine and misery, but can be viewed as a piquant spice and a variation of breadbaking. There are many recipes, but you don’t need to be very exact or careful. Those with sensitive stomachs should perhaps use a small admixture of bark flour.
Forestnews invites you to wooded proper baking:
100 grams of yeast
1 liter of lukewarm water
1 liter of rye flour
1.5 liters of wheat flour
just over 2 dl bark flour
Mix the dough and let rise one hour. Roll out and bake – time and temperature depends on the size of the bread you make.
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