The malt bread of Teemu Laurell’s restaurant Shelter in Helsinki is the perfect choice for the Christmas table.
Shelter’s malt bread can be prepared well in advance. Jenni Gästgivar
Shelter’s malt bread has become a top chef Teemu Laurellin owning Shelter– already a real classic in the restaurant. The bread has been on the menu since the opening of the restaurant, since 2016, and customers praise the bread year after year.
– The bread is really good, and the best thing is that it can also be frozen, so you can bake it well before Christmas, Laurell advises.
A new opening and time for yourself
Laurell was seen this fall Survivors Finland – program, where the top chef immediately took on the role of food manager. In the program filmed in Malaysia, the contestants had to make do with a small amount of rice and flour. For the top chef, surviving on little food was not difficult.
– The worst part of the survivors was not actually hunger and bad sleep, but boredom. For a character like me, standing still and being bored are the worst possible things, Laurell laughs.
The top chef was also seen on TV last spring when he competed A farm in Finland. There is time left for participating in television programs after Laurell made a conscious choice to leave the Shelter kitchen, where she used to work long hours.
– I’m grateful that Shelter runs on its own these days, and I don’t have to be in the kitchen all the time.
Lately, there has been more time to take care of yourself, and of course to plan something new.
Laurell will open a new restaurant in Helsinki next winter, with international cuisine and high-quality food. Establishing a restaurant has required – and will require – hours of work, but the chef is excited about the new opening.
Teemu Laurell will open a new restaurant in Helsinki in spring and winter. Jenni Gästgivar
However, before the last-minute opening rush, Christmas is ahead, when Laurell plans to relax with her family.
– Even though I have been a cook for 18 years, I have always outsourced the making of Christmas dishes to my mother. It’s a tradition. My mother worked as a cook before becoming a family daycare nurse, so we have always cooked a lot of home-cooked food.
Laurell says that she especially appreciates traditions at Christmas.
– Christmas, if ever, is the time for traditions. Besides, food always tastes best when it’s made by someone other than yourself.
Shelter’s dark malt bread
Ancestor:
1 dl of water
1 dl wheat flour
0.5 ps dry yeast
Swollen malt:
2 dl malt groats
3 dl of water
Butter syrup for malted bread:
100 g of butter
1.5 dl of dark syrup
Dough:
5 dl of water
2 tsp (22 g) dry yeast
1.5 dl of rootstock
2.5 dl of swollen kalyja malt
3.5 dl of dark syrup
1.6 l of wheat flour
4 teaspoons of salt
1. First, prepare the butter-syrup mixture by heating the butter and syrup until they boil. Cook the mixture, stirring occasionally, on low heat for about five minutes so that it forms a light syrup.
2. Cool the syrup before use. It will keep at room temperature for about a week after cooking.
3. Next, prepare the swollen malt by boiling water and adding it to the malt groats in a bowl. Mix carefully and let the grits absorb all the water. Allow the malt mash to cool before baking the dough.
4. Prepare the pre-root by mixing the ingredients together carefully. Let the root rise at room temperature for four hours in peace, before preparing the actual dough.
5. Start making the dough by combining lukewarm water and dry yeast in the bowl of the universal machine. Mix carefully by hand so that the yeast dissolves completely in the water.
6. Add root, swollen malt, syrup and wheat flour. Mix in a stand mixer on medium power for about five minutes until the dough is shiny.
7. Add salt to the dough and beat for another two minutes.
8. Lubricate the bread pans carefully with pan spray or oil so that the bread comes off the pan easily after baking and you get a good toast on the surface of the breads.
9. Measure the bread dough into four pans evenly and smooth the surface by pressing lightly with your hand.
10. Cover the pans with cling film so that the dough can rise evenly and the dough does not form a crust. Heat the oven to 250 degrees.
11. Let the dough rise for about 45 minutes or until it has doubled in size.
12. Put the bread pans in the oven to circulate air and sprinkle about half a deciliter of water into the oven. As the water evaporates, the bread will have a crispier crust.
13. Toast the bread in the oven for 15 minutes until you get a really toasted surface. Knock the breads out of the pan and lower the oven temperature to 175 degrees. Put the breads on the baking sheet on the baking paper. Spread the butter syrup mixture all over the loaves, which gives them a beautiful shiny surface.
14. Bake the malt bread in the oven for another five minutes in a 175-degree oven, so that the butter syrup adheres better to the surface of the bread and you get a crispy surface and a good glaze on it.