"Coarse" tea cakes - Grova tekakor

"COARSE" TEA CAKES
Grova tekakor

In Sweden, ”tea cakes” aren’t cakes served with tea but flat, rather thick breads used for our typical open sandwiches. These are made from wheat-bran which makes them coarser, and they’re lovely with a fresh cup of tea. And maybe "coarse" isn't the right word to use here but I translated it straight off ... :-D

10 tea cakes

3½ oz butter or margarine

2 cups milk
1 ¾ oz fresh yeast
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons sugar
¾ cup wheat-bran
4 to 4 1/3 cups flour
wheat-bran to sprinkle over the breads

Melt the fat in a saucepan. Add the milk and heat to 37°C/body heat. Crumble the yeast in a bowl and dissolve it in some of the liquid. Add remaining liquid plus salt, sugar and wheat-bran. Add the flour, little by little. Work the dough until pliable until it no longer sticks to the sides of the bowl. Cover and let rise for about 30 minutes.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and work until smooth. Roll out the dough to a ½-inch thick cake and measure out tea cakes, 5 to 6 inches in diameter, using a measure. Put the cakes on greased baking plates (or use baking paper), prick them with a fork and leave to prove under a cloth for about 30 minutes. Sprinkle the breads with wheat-bran and bake in the middle of the oven at 440F for about 10 minutes.

Let the tea cakes cool on a rack, covered with a cloth.

Enjoy!

Bella