Norwegian Food Culture - Assignments After Practical Session 4

 

Norwegian Food Culture - Assignments After Practical Session 4


Hello! Welcome back to my blog! My name is Youngjun Kwon, and today I will introduce you about what I made this week!

And that is... Bread and cookie!


Last week I had an awesome teaching from professor Kari about the traditional breads called Lefse, which are generally used for norwegian holiday. They are basically flat, and contains flour and milk. But one thing that was different compared with original flat bread was that Lefse is not fully baked. We had to stop baking it before it turns into completely brown. Also we need a large flat griddle to cook it.


Lefse, Millas Mat


This practical session was kind of something than the other sessions because I already studied about how bread is valuable to Norway or other European regions. I, as a non-bread enjoyer, but also as a tolerant student, had to respect the bread culture in Norway. During the session I tried to think and feel like norwegian to serve awesome food for christmas.


Then let's get this cooking started!






First, Baking Sognelefse

Lefse preparation, Youngjun Kwon


-Ingredients-

100g of Butter
100g of Margarine
Powdered sugar
Normal sugar

Wheat flour
Semolina flour
Milk

Two eggs + 60ml of Milk (Egg mixture)

Brown cheese



-Recipe-

From Berta Ølnes Finnes, The recipe book we got from the practical session



Learning Point 1 :
If you only have butter , then it's totally fine. Margarine is invented for the replacement of butter, so there will barely the taste difference.

Since I already got leftover dough from the last practical session, I just used it which was so lucky. Also I couldn't find the round fabric pad for dough work we used before, so I replaced it with rubber pad which I found under the window.

Number one rule in the kitchen: Always take care of using sharp tools and fire, and keep everything clean after finish cooking.

Butter spread, egg mixture, and stove, Youngjun Kwon



Before flattening dough, I prepared egg mixture and butter spread first. Also you need to turn on the stove so that you can cook fast.

Butter spread which was already made was in the fridge, so I gratefully used it instead making by myself.

Learning Point 2 :
Egg is used for better taste of bread, and also is really good protein supplement.


Flatten dough, Youngjun Kwon


Now that you finished all preparation, you can finally have fun with dough!

I already got finished dough, but if you have to make it right from the start, You can use two types of flour with milk and butter to make a dough. If you want, you can also add grinded boiled potato in it. (allrecipes, 2023)

It was the hardest part among whole process, because I was not used to handle the dough and flour. The dough was too sticky, but it turned out that I didn't use enough flour. So I tried to be brave at using flour this time.

Make sure to keep the shape round, and evenly flatten.



Baking and egging dough, Youngjun Kwon


What you have to note during this baking process is that you should keep an eye on the color. You shouldn't make it crispy. just little brown is okay.

In the middle of baking, put the bread out of the stove and spread the egg mixture evenly over the bread. this egg process is for adding soft and mild flavor to bread, and for keeping bread moist. Once it's done, put the bread on the stove again and wait for the egg slightly cooked. Of course you shouldn't let it too long to be crispy.

Alright, everything is okay, and bread is also ready! 



Covering bread with moist fabric, Youngjun Kwon



If you're making lots of amount of lefse and worrying about drying out, you can use moist fabric to cover them. If it's only one or two, then it's going to be okay.

But as a part of studying, I tried to cover the bread with moist fabric. 



Sognelefse finished, Youngjun Kwon



It's time to fold the bread! Put brown cheese and butter spread over the bread. If you want, putting additional sugar is also okay.

There we have it! Sognelefse, another kind of lefse!


Currently I put the lefse in fridge, to prevent from getting spoiled.







Second, Baking butter cookie for Christmas


Cookie preparation, Youngjun Kwon


-Ingredients-

150g of Butter

100g of Sugar

200g of Spelt Wheat Flour

One Egg

+Vanilla oil (Advised by Soyoung)


-Recipe-

10000RECIPE, 2018



I reused butter paste after finishing baking Lefse, because the butter that I need for this cookie was almost the same butter I used to the bread.


Mixing Butter spread and egg, Youngjun Kwon


First, prepare butter spread(200g of butter + 100g of sugar) and egg. Mix them together.

The butter spread has been stored in fridge pretty long time, so it was drier than I expected, but not a severe issue.


Mixing everything else, Youngjun Kwon


Measure and add flour in it. and mix it well.

Add one or two drops of vanilla oil. And mix it well.

Pretty easy, isn't it? I also didn't expect that Making cookie was pretty simple like this. :)



Baking... , Youngjun Kwon


According to the blog, set the temperature to 180°C and bake it 15 minutes. But since I made each cookies too big, It took two more minutes to finish.

Learning Point 3 :
Cookie Dough doesn't contain yeast, whereas several breads do. Yeast helps bread got swollen up while baking, by lettin 'out carbon dioxide.





Butter cookie, Youngjun Kwon


Its taste was awesome, and I think everyone would like it! I felt so happy that now I can make this yummy cookie by myself.

The recipe was quite simple, but considering I'm beginner of baking I thought this level was okay.





Third. Conclusion


Happy Christmas food, Youngjun Kwon


I got two ideas after this cooking. First is 'what if Korea had a culture of oven?' and second is 'How important is Christmas for Norwegian people?

The answer of the first question is... quite complicated to make a conclusion. In Korean history, we also got fireplace for cooking food, but it's mostly used for making soup or cooked rice with big iron cauldron. 

Korean snacks, 집학박씨


We also have our own traditional snacks. They were commonly used for Korean ancestral rites(Jesa), holiday food, and marriage. but it's really hard to find out the trace of bread in Korean history. So I'm thinking like  "If we had cultivated wheat or barley instead of rice, then how our life nowadays would change?" No one knows. And for me it's also hard to imagine Korean eating bread more than rice. But both bread and rice are really good carbohydrate provider, so our body nutrition system might not dynamically different between each major grain. 

Well, about the second question, In Korea Christmas is one day holiday, and not celebrating as much big as Europe and USA. One reason is that our major religion in history was Buddhism, not Christianity.(According to the history search, Christianity had spreaded in Korea at mid-16 Centuries.) Apparently, Most European country celebrates Christmas so big, basically more than three days. And they spend most of the time with family, so many stores are closed during the Christmas. If I were Norwegian, I would love to spend my time with family with precious bread made by ourselves. I can relate and respect to how they feel and enjoy the holiday. 

Bread is somehow so easy to see, make, and eat, but also has extremely long story in it. So I'd say that I have to respect their bread culture and try follow their holiday activity, and most importantly, learn new things.


I hope someday I will make these tasty breads by myself even after I return to Korea.



Thank you so much for this blog, and I'll see you soon!






Reference lists

DEBBA7. (2023, 1st March). Norwegian Lefse. allrecipes. https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/18082/norwegian-lefse/

잡학박씨. (2021, 29th June). 대한민국 전통 과자. 잡학박씨. https://fruitpia.net/99

MILLAS MAT. (n.d.). Hardanger lefser with kling: buttered coffee treat with long traditions, MILLAS MAT. https://millasmat.com/bakverk/hardangerlefser



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