Pine Bark Bread & Juniper Berry Butter …. It’s still snowing here in Finland and I imagine this is the time when people would eat Pine Bark Bread. Perhaps their flour supply was running low at the end of winter and adding pine bark to bread recipes helps stretch the flour to last longer. Or perhaps they just like the taste.
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Yes it tastes really good, like a fresh Pine Forest. And when paired with Juniper Berry Butter the flavor transports you to the center of a boreal forest. This really tastes like Lapland to me, deep rich earthy northern forest.
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These recipes are adapted from the Sami Elder, Laila Spik. Kiitos to Laila Spik for sharing these traditional Sami recipes in her book The Reindeer Recipe Book.
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Juniper Butter: 200g butter, 1/4 small yellow onion, 2 cloves garlic crushed, 10 Juniper berries. Place ingredients in blender, blend until smooth. Keep refrigerated.
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Pine Bark Bread: 200ml Pine Bark flour, 900ml whole grain flour (I used rye), 1 tsp salt, 400ml cold water. To make Pine Bark flour remove loose pieces of bark from pine tree, first ask the tree and say Thank You if they say Yes. I only took 1 small piece of bark from each tree because I dont want to harm the tree. Allow bark to dry. Grind into a fine powder. Sieve to remove any large pieces. Then preheat oven to hottest setting. Mix all ingredients to form a dough. Roll onto very thin sheet, prick with a fork. Cut into bite sized pieces. Place on lightly oiled pan. Bake for 3 minutes. Flip the bread over after 2 minutes. Remove from oven and serve with Juniper Butter, YUM!
