Bread Many artisan bakers produce their own yeast with a growth culture. If kept in the right conditions, it provides leavening for many years. The baker's yeast and sourdough methods follow the same pattern. Water is mixed with flour, salt and the leavening agent. Other additions (spices, herbs, fats, seeds, fruit, etc.) are not needed to bake bread, but are often used. The mixed dough is then allowed to rise one or more times (a longer rising time results in more flavor, so bakers often "punch down" the dough and let it rise again), then loaves are formed, and (after an
Finnish bread sweetened with sugar and spiced with cinnamon. Finnish bread In Finland, bread is a very important food, served with almost every meal with many different types produced domestically. In the Swedish-speaking region of Åland, there are other varieties of bread, the majority of which owe much to Swedish cuisine. Rye bread (Ruisleipä or hapanleipä (lit. "sour bread") in Finnish) is a dark, sour bread produced in quantity in Finland, where it is the most popular type of bread. Compared with the more internationally popular German style, Finnish rye-breads tend to be less oily or moist in texture. The most common