Rieska

This is apparently a bread originally from Finland. In honor of my plans to go there this summer, I decided to make it. And man was it good. My parents actually went back for more after dinner. That never happens. I was very shocked. It's good plain, or with butter or even with jam too. It seems to be very versatile with toppings. It sort of reminds me of a thick oatmeal pancake - delicious.

This recipe was adapted from King Arthur Flour.


Rieska

• 1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1 cup barley flour (they said pumpernickel or rye flour, but my dad doesn't like those, so we chose the last option of barley)
• 1 cup King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 1/4 cup (4 Tbsp) unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 500° F. Grease a 9" x 13" pan (I used parchment paper as well to more easily get it out of the pan).

In a large bowl, whisk the oats and flours with the baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar.

Work the butter into the dry ingredients until thoroughly distributed. Stir in the buttermilk. The mixture will be very sticky.

Transfer the dough to the prepared baking sheet and, using wet hands, pat it out so it fills the pan and spread evenly with a spatula (or something similar).

Bake the bread for 15 to 17 minutes, until the top is light golden brown and springs back when gently touched. Remove the bread from the oven (be careful, the pan will be REALLY hot) and cool it on a rack before slicing. (Pulling the bread from the pan bent the bread slightly and made a crease in it, but that's not a big deal - if that happens, just cut along the crease if it bothers you.)