[blanchois]

This is a new item for them and I tried it over Christmas. I had planned to do the traditional Danish pickled herring on the very dark, dense, nutty rye bread that they love (appetizer type thing) but the bread I got at Wegman's was AWFUL.

So on the morning of Christmas eve, i hightailed it over to IKEA to check out this mix. I'd only glanced at it before but i thought it was what i wanted. I got there as soon as the doors opened and sure enough, it was exactly what was looking for. I figured it had to be better than the cardboard loaf I had just thrown in the trash.

It comes in a milk carton-like container. Got it home, poured in 114 F. water as directed, shook, poured batter into loaf pan, let rise, baked.

DANG, it was SO GOOD. I had a slice warm with butter. I could have eaten most of it right then and there.

It's heavy and dense and dark and very flavorful. I am posting here because (1) it was surprisingly good and (2) the weird packaging and mixing method and the photo on the box might scare people away from trying it.

I'd had this kinda bread in Denmark but never warm from the oven. I've gotten better stuff here but I know it's never really fresh. Now that I've had this, I don't think I'll ever buy a ready-made loaf of it again.

The Danes love it with butter and pickled herring, or with cheese (I bet Danish blue is great) and their liver spread which is in-between pate and liverwurst. They eat it all the time. I think I might do that, too.

[Tigratrus]

Oh man, does that sound good. I'm a serious breadaholic, as is our 5 year old. Thank you VERY much for the tip! Susan makes awesome bread, but sometimes it's just too much time/work, this sounds like the perfect low work solution, and I LOVE dense breads like that. Costco carries a really good Innkeeper brand multi-grain that's great for sandwiches, but REAL bread is best savored with just some nice melted-from-the-heat-of-the-bread butter.

We'll have to pickup some cartons next trip!

James

[gwen]

Sounds wonderful - Thanks for the review!

We'll be putting some in our basket next trip. Yum!

Gwen

[DesignDiva]

Oh. My. And here I thought our next IKEA trip would be commando-style, going in through the back and assaulting the warehouse and zipping out.

NOW I have to stop in the Grocery.

[blanchois]

If you make this bread from scratch, you need a sourdough starter. That's another reason I was amazed that there was a mix for it and that the finished product was authentic. I didn't know there was such a thing as instant sourdough starter! It does list it on the box along with yeast.

I was laying in bed last night thinking about this bread. It would be great with cream cheese and lox, among other things. Also roast beef and mustard, maybe ham and mustard. I dunno about sweet toppings---orange marmalade might be good. You need stuff with lots of flavor.

Oh, one more thing---don't count on shaking to blend it well. I had to dump it into a bowl and stir a bit to get the last lumps out.

[Susan]

Yummmm....even the 5 year old can add water and shake! Now I have another reason (other than I need more catalogs) to make a run up to IKEA. One of these days I'll be making a run to get cabinets, but that's well in the future. Rye bread will do in the meantime....

Susan

[RyeBreadLover]

IKEA in North York , Ontario, just put rye bread back on the shelves. In order to secure that rye bread mix isn't taken of the shelves again (anywhere in the world) please join the facebook-group:

Scandinavians Abroad Who Appreciate Rye Bread/Rågbröd/Rugbrød Mix at IKEA

Address:15 Provost Drive North York, Ontario M2K 2X9 Store Shuttle:From Leslie Street Station - runs every 20 mins. from store opening to 1 hour past closing. Telephone:(416) 222-4532 Store hours:Monday to Friday: 9:30am - 9pm Saturday: 9am - 9pm Sunday: 10am - 7pm IKEA Store Directory Entry for IKEA North York