Smorgasbord by Johanna Kindvall

We started studying Swedish this past year. H has been learning the language as well as the culture. One of the first books we looked into in regards to culture was Fika also by Kindvall. It was a great introduction to the afternoon snacktime popular throughout Sweden. Smorgasbord opened up the world of Swedish entertainment even further.

Smorgasbord shares not only the concept of the self-serve dinner party with finger food but has many wonderful recipes to get you started. I tried several of them with great results. Including creating a sourdough starter and making a lovely scalded rye loaf from it.

The starter uses small amounts of flour/rye from the beginning, making it less expensive and less wasteful than other starter recipes I've used in the past. It takes a week to get it to the point of being able to use it, but well worth the effort. And it makes a fun science experiment.

The scalded rye loaf used only the starter for leavening and yielded a dense, moist bread perfect for open face sandwiches. I was surprised by it at first because I'm so accustomed to using commercial yeast in bread. But once I actually had a bite with some toppings, I was sold. The one pictured below includes the hot smoked salmon from the book.

I also tried my hand at the homemade butter recipe which uses the addition of some plain yogurt and a long rest before churning to add some tang. It was amazing and very simple to make.

Overall, it's a great book, especially if you love open face sandwiches and are looking for some new to you flavor combinations. It is also a fun read if you are interested in Swedish culture. There are a variety of other recipes including breads, cheeses, toppings, meats, and drinks. Looking forward to sharing a spread with some friends after mastering some more of these recipes.

I received a free copy of this book through NetGalley for the purpose of review. I'm never required to give positive feedback but I'm always happy when I can.

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