Yes, it might be a bit difficult to pronounce [‘ries. ka] but it is a very easy bread to make. It’s one kind of Nordic flatbread solely made with barley flour. Rieska is a Northern bread to its core. Think about Aurora Borealis, winter wilderness, and warming up indoors with a bowl of soup in one hand and a piece of rieska in the other.

This does not mean it’s only baked in winter, though! And no no no, rieska is not a Finnish equivalent for pita bread but something very unique, rustic, and original. It’s that kind of bread that you would enjoy with a meal of game, cold-smoked fish, or other strong flavors.

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Get to know my Heirloom Recipe

I’ve grown up with this bread and I’m accustomed to the strong taste of barley. The recipe is given by my mother whose pastry peel and bread peel you can spot in the photo above.

The etymology of the word rieska tells that it used to be a categorical synonym to bread in general. Nowadays rieska means only this kind of flatbread specifically but it is baked differently across the country. If you google rieska, you’ll find regional variations.

In the Nordics, rieska is also known from Swedish Lapland where it is called tunnbröd. Tunnbröd is a soft version of barley flatbread and includes also wheat. But this recipe here is the Lapland version and includes only barley.

Now, rieska is very flexible concept in terms of size and thickness. It can be baked crispy , chewy or soft. I like to bake my rieska quite thin and crispy whereas both of my grandmothers baked the loaves twice the size of my loaves. That was one chunky bite of bread for a kid back then! I wish you have fun with the decorating and enjoy the nutty taste of barley!

Lapin rieska | Barley flatbread from Lapland

You need a baking stone | Oven 250-275°C or 480-525°F | Bake each flatbread for 10-12 minutes

RIESKA | Barley Flatbread from Lapland

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Makes/Serves: 4-6 loaves Cooking time: 10-12 min 10-12 min

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

INGREDIENTS

• 3,75 dl / 1,59 cups of water (room temperature)
• 0,5 tsp sea salt
• 7 g fresh yeast or 0,5 tsp baking powder
• 5-7 dl / 2,11-2,96 cups of barley flour

METHOD

1. Dissolve the fresh yeast into a small amount of room temperature water. Add the rest of the water and salt. Add flour one decilitre/cup at a time. If using baking powder, use cold water! Mix all the ingredients together without kneading either by hand or in a machine. The dough should be moist rather than dry. The amount of flour needed depends on the milling and the freshness of the flour. Do not add too much flour or otherwise, the bread will become too dense.

2. Divide the dough into equal pieces and shape them to the thickness of your choice. Each rieska is baked individually on a baking stone. This gives you a chance to explore different levels of thickness and thinness if you wish. My rieska loaves here were about 0.5-0.7 cm thin before baking because I prefer them rather rustic.

3. Shaping is done on a lightly floured surface and has a process as follows. Form a piece of dough into a ball and then press it flat against the surface. Knead the flat circle a bit wider by pressing it with your dominant hand while supporting the edge to hold the shape with your other hand. Make sure that the dough is not stuck onto the working surface (detach it from the table couple of times during the process to make sure).

4. Use a rolling pin lightly back & forth between each opposing compass points. Take a small amount of flour to your hand and with a clock-wise lightly pressing motion massage it to the surface. Roll the pin couple of times more if the thinness is not there where you want it to be. The surface should be smooth before decorating the bread. Use whatever you fancy decorating the bread as long as you can hold it at a 45-degree angle. Or if you have a decorated rolling pin, spin it!

5. Prick the rieska all over with a fork right before each piece goes to the oven. Bake each rieska separately on a stone for 10-12 minutes (250°C/482°F). Do follow the heating directions of your baking stone & adjust accordingly. The baking time depends on the thickness but the edges of the bread should get a bit of color. You can ensure that the rieska is ready by listening to it (knock the bottom and if it sounds hollow it's done). Return the bread to the oven if you think it needs a bit more time.

6. When warm, stack the rieska loaves in an upright position against e.g. kitchen backsplash and later wrap them in a tea towel. You can store rieska also in the freezer and reheat quickly in the oven.

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How to decorate Rieska?

Do you like the pattern how I decorated the bread? I used a pastry wheel instead of a knife. I think this trick is invented every week somewhere in the world so I might just tell the story how it has entered into my kitchen routines.

My mother and aunts learned how to bake rieska from their mothers, who learned from their mothers and so on and so on. I’ve seen many stages and evolutions of how the surface of the bread has been decorated. To name a few:

• A spiked, saw-like metal ruler to make a full diamond squared surface.
• Bread knives
• Wooden rulers
• Wooden hair comb
• Embossed rolling pins (I really like this Square Geometric Pattern Embossed Wooden Rolling Pin*)

At some point in my childhood, my mother started to use this pastry wheel technique and it has stuck with me ever since. I see photos online which show that some bakers do not decorate rieska at all. Very simple and humble option. As every rieaks loaf is baked separately, you can have fun and try different tools to find your own signature pattern.

Baking Rieska in Wood-fired Oven

My grandmothers used to bake these in their big country homes in wood-fired ovens. It has been a dream of mine to build an outdoor wood-fired oven in the garden. Baking bread is hot stuff and during summer it’s quite impossible. But with an outdoor oven, there would be so many more possibilities.

In the Finnish video below, Seppo demonstrates how he bakes Rieska in a wood-fired oven in a house museum. He tells that the first flatbreads bake in 3 minutes, the next batch in 5 minutes, and so on as the oven cools down.

The take-away for you is that this bread needs a very HOT oven. If your oven performs higher than mentioned in my recipe below, please feel free to test a faster bake.

Also see that diamond square decorated surface? Tha’s how my grannies also decorates their loaves with a thin metal-saw. :)

Barley is not wheat and rieska is not everyday breakfast bread. To me, it’s a culinary companion for stronger flavors and main dishes. Although I have to admit, it’s irresistible when warm from the oven, topped with plain butter, and washed away with a glass of cold milk. Yum!

Love, Saara