This Christmas bread contains all the classic Swedish taste of christmas. Cloves, bitter orange, ginger and cumin provides a wonderful aroma and flavor that immediately takes me back to my childhood Christmases. Enjoy it with simple accessories like butter and a creamy, mild cheese so that al the spices can flourish on their own.

Now it is almost Christmas and you probably run back and forth with al the preparations. Nothing so restful than baking a bread then. Once again I used my (gluten-free) oat cream that I always keep ready in my fridge nowadays. So much you can do with it! In this bread the cream, contributes with a lovely flavor and results in a fine and juicy bread. Here we go!

Swedish tasting Christmas bread

1 bread

Ingredients
300 / 10,5 oz grams of thick oatmeal cream (gluten-free) + 200 / 7,05 oz gram lukewarm water
20 gram / 0,7 oz fresh yeast
100 gram / 3,5 oz date syrup
200 gram / 7,05 oz buckwheat flour
100 gram  3,5 oz gluten-free oatmeal
10 gram / 1,5 tsp salt
2 tsp grounded cloves
1 tsp grounded caraway seeds
1 teaspoon grounded fennel
1 tsp ground anise seeds
1 teaspoon grounded ginger
3 tsp grounded bitter orange
40 gram / 1,4 oz physillium husk

How do I do it?
1. Grind all the spices finely in a mortar or electric coffee grinder. It makes such a difference in taste if you make it yourself!
2. Crumble the yeast into a big bowl. Pour in the oat cream and water. Stir until the yeast is dissolved.
3. Add the remaining ingredients except the physillium husk. Wish the dough substantially, preferably with an electric mixer. Buckwheat flour often gets better when whisked well, about 5 minutes.
4. Add the physillium husk while continuing to whisk to avoid lumps.
5. Cover the dough well with plastic film and let it rise at a room temperature without draft for two hours.
6. Preheat the oven to 175 ° C. Prepare a baking sheet with baking parchment paper.
7. Sprinkle some buckwheat flour on a free and clean surface and pour the dough on top. Shape the dough into a round bread. Try to not knead the dough too long.
8. If you like to decorate your bread, take away a small lump of dough before shaping it. Unleash your imagination and decorate the bread as you like. Attach the decorations by brushing a little water on the bread before you “paste” them into place.
9. Bake the bread directly for 45 minutes. Make sure that your decorations doesnt get burned. If needed, cover the bread with a piece of foil after 30 minutes.
10. Let the bread cool completely before cutting it.

The bread is free from gluten (if using gluten-free rolled oats for the oat cream and flour), refined sugar, lactose and milk protein.