• jaschaumal on May 29, 2023

  This is my favorite baking book. Rising times given in the book are always a bit to short for my doughs, but as Magnus writes in the introduction they do depend on many factors. Finding the one or other joke in the receipe introductions is nice as well (looking at you, Butter Buns receipe)

• racheljmorgan on January 21, 2022

  Nilsson is something of a documentarian here, with extreme thoroughness to minor details and repeats of the same recipe under different variations. Nonetheless he is a good writer who peppers in interesting stories and thoughts throughout his instructive tome. May be too much for a beginning baker, but approachable enough for those with intermediate experience who have a feel for baking already. It almost seems like his goal is to make sure to include every recipe someone's Nordic grandma made. It's an interesting window into a culture I've had little contact with or much familiarity going in.

• RaySadler on October 09, 2018

  Difficult to understand the target for this book. Comprehensive, yes, but who exactly wants multiple recipes for flatbread, cinnamon buns etc? Too many for domestic cooks, I feel. Perhaps aimed at Scandinavian bakers?

Notes about Recipes in this book

• Plain wheat loaf (Loff / Vehnäleipä / Ranskanleipä / Franskbrød / Vitt bröd / Franskbröd)

  • racheljmorgan on January 23, 2022

    Makes a reasonable plain white loaf, though needs a lot longer to rise in our frigid apartment (perhaps 60F).

• Wheat loaf with poppy seeds (Barkis / Bergis)

  • racheljmorgan on January 23, 2022

    I enjoyed the crunch of the poppy seeds enlivening an otherwise plain loaf. Can be topped equally well with sweet or savory spreads. Again, needs extra rise time in our drafty apartment at 60f or lower. I kind of thought these recipes would be adapted to cold already given the Nordic origin, but maybe yeast bread is just temperature finicky all over the world.

  • melissa_8tppo3 on May 07, 2026

    I varied the flour base of this recipe by adding in some spelt and some wholemeal to the bread flour. I alsomade these into rolls because that's what we wanted for lunches and snacks. I used a proofing box to make sure I got the rise that i wanted and they worked perfectly. Loved the poppy seed topper.

• Norwegian wholemeal loaf (Kneippbrød)

  • racheljmorgan on February 22, 2022

    My hard red wheat flour just wasn't working with this. It was a terribly dry dough that wouldn't rise. I eventually revived it by rekneading with a cup of warm water. Very slow rise bread, recipe needs almost twice the moisture to work as written. Once finished I was disappointed. The bread was dense and in my opinion only fit to make croutons with.

• Pomerans loaf (Pomeranslimpa)

  • racheljmorgan on August 21, 2022

    Really excellent, a nice sandwich bread that's not as sweet as you might expect with a little bitter hint of orange. By the next day, bread was drier and somewhat crumbly.

• Potato loaf based on rye and wheat flour (Potetbrød / Potatisbröd / Potatislimpa)

  • racheljmorgan on March 14, 2022

    Soft and dense, an excellent bread with butter. Came together very easily in the stand mixer. Maintains a good taste and soft texture for at least 4 days at room temperature.

• Icelandic potato bread (Kartöflubrauð)

  • racheljmorgan on March 18, 2024

    A great use for leftover baked potato. It's a nice, slightly moist white bread with a crisp crust. Not as heavy as most potato breads.

• Oat porridge loaf (Grötbröd / Havrebrød)

  • racheljmorgan on January 17, 2024

    Dense and hearty, with a mild flavor. Good for sandwiches, might need a little more salt.

• Stone ground wheat breads from Åland (Hemvete)

  • racheljmorgan on March 06, 2022

    These are delicious and soft whole wheat breads that I plan to make again. It was a very simple process with the stand mixer and produces a healthful bread. After discovering though other recipes in this book that no fresh yeast to dry yeast conversion ever really works out(and still having no access to fresh), I have just learned to put in the right amount by feeling, maybe half a small handful of instant yeast.

• Danish or Norwegian breakfast buns: rye (Rundstykker 2)

  • racheljmorgan on April 26, 2022

    These had a nice, fluffy texture. However, they need a bit more salt or flavorings. The taste is quite plain. We enjoyed them dipped in salty juices from the supper meat .

• Tea buns (Teboller / Tekakor)

  • helena.h on April 04, 2026

    They tasted great! Recipe stated a yield of 15-20 cakes when made 1 cm wide. We thought it had to be a mistake and made them 10 cm wide, still got 36 teacakes.

• Scanian rye bread (Kavring)

  • racheljmorgan on April 11, 2022

    A very dense bread with a quite chewy crust. The anise came through as a hint, but caraway was undetectable sadly. Mine came out flatter, as I only have a 9×5 pan instead of 8×4. The dough seemed claylike and basically would not rise at all (a recurring problem when I try many of this book's recipes). However, even with these minor problems, it appears to have the bricklike texture and appearance the author and various Swedish bloggers describe. We rather enjoyed eating the loaf. It does need a lot of butter and a side of soup or gravy to soften up the slices.

• Upplandic rye bread (Upplandskubb)

  • racheljmorgan on February 27, 2022

    Again having real problems with the rise, but at least it formed an appropriate dough. Maybe the conversions for fresh yeast cakes on my American instant yeast jar are wrong. Are these yeast dead suddenly? Ugh! Not sure I would try further bread recipes from this book without access to fresh yeast (which I have never seen in my life outside the science lab I used to work in). Going to see if dough improves with an all day rise, because at 30min the recipe describes I'm only like 5% of the height it needs. After 6 hours of rise, baked for around an hour. Delicious flavor but very dense. Crust was extremely chewy and thick, maybe steam method on stove next time is in order.

• Finnish sweet-and-sour loaf (Setsuuri / Sötsur limpa)

  • racheljmorgan on February 12, 2023

    A nice dark loaf with a pretty shine. Not sour to my taste, but relatively sweet with lots of anise flavor and a hint of coffee-like bitterness. A hit in our house. Starting to notice we really like any bread with bitter orange peel, which we hadn't tried before getting this book.

• Griddled rye breads filled with semolina or rice porridge (Sultsina)

  • racheljmorgan on June 26, 2022

    Pg. 168

• Mixed seed crispbread (Fröknäcke)

  • Pimlicocook on April 12, 2024

    OMG, who knew it was so easy to make the most delicious crispbread? This has become a staple at home. I think my baking sheets might be a bit smaller than Magnus Nilsson's, as my first batch felt a little bit thick, and I have been experimenting to figure out the thickness I'm happiest with (reducing the recipe for one sheet; splitting the full recipe between two sheets). Ridiculously good.

• Potato crackers (Potatiskex)

  • Astrid5555 on October 27, 2025

    Lovely flavour, very easy to make, also added sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds on top. Got soft the next day, so use quickly.

• Thin pancakes (Pannukakur / Pannekaker / Lettuja/räiskäleitä / Pandekage /Tunnpannkaka / Plättar)

  • anya_sf on December 22, 2019

    These are pretty close to what my mother used to make, but the batter is slightly thinner and eggier. She always made small pancakes in a special cast iron frying pan with 7 indentations, which is the version I made as well. We enjoyed them with lingonberry jam.

• Icelandic waffles (Vöfflur)

  • racheljmorgan on December 24, 2024

    I found these to be quite a bit denser and chewier than American or Belgian waffles. The batter is almost the consistency of a soft dough. Not particularly sweet. I would not repeat simply because of the texture.

• Rice porridge (Jólagrautu / Risengrynsgrøt / Riisipuuro / Risengrød / Julgröt / Risgrynsgröt / Tomtegröt)

  • anya_sf on December 24, 2019

    The volume quantity of rice is incorrect; it should be half the stated amount, or 3/4 cup + 1 Tbsp. The weights are correct. Otherwise, this is a good, basic rice porridge recipe - nice and creamy. Calrose rice and lowfat milk worked well. I did use the cinnamon stick and sprinkled cinnamon-sugar on top of my serving.

• Finnish oven porridge/oven pudding (Uunipuuro)

  • mjes on September 23, 2021

    Think of a rice pudding - use barley rather than rice and omit the sugar. A sumptious base that is satisfactory with a bit of cassia cinnamon or superb with a compote (soup) of dried fruits. Absolutely lovely.

• Sweet wheat bun dough 2, Tove's recipe

  • anya_sf on December 22, 2019

    Easy to make if you have a stand mixer. The dough is very stiff, so you might hold back a bit of flour. Using 2 tsp SAF gold instant yeast instead of fresh yeast, this dough rises a lot. Baked buns are nice and buttery, although they don't keep well, so freeze any extras.

  • Astrid5555 on January 26, 2025

    Excellent bun recipe, used fresh yeast, perfect to work with.

• Cardamom buns (Kardemummabullar)

  • anya_sf on December 22, 2019

    I made dough # 2 (Tove's) and it was rather stiff, so next time I'd hold back 50 g flour and test the dough before adding the rest. I didn't have fresh yeast, so substituted the recommended equivalent (2 tsp) of instant yeast (SAF gold); after an hour, the dough rose a lot! Rolling and shaping instructions were very confusing (roll 1 cm wide?); I used the shaping instructions on p. 261, although I couldn't tell if those were for the full amount of dough or half. I ended up rolling each half into 16" x 14", folding over to 8" x 14", cutting into 14 1"-wide strips, yielding 28 total buns. I refrigerated the shaped buns overnight, then let rise in the morning before baking. They were rather crowded on the baking sheets, so they baked unevenly and needed 16 minutes in the oven. Double the syrup so there's enough for brushing. I skipped the sugar topping as they were sweet enough already. These buns have loads of cardamom; you could cut back, although my Swedish MIL wanted more.

  • Astrid5555 on January 26, 2025

    Like anya_sf I used dough # 2 but did not have any issues. For shaping I watched several youtube videos since I wanted mine to look like the ones I had at Juno the Bakery in Copenhagen, and some of them actually almost did. I had enough syrup, but too much cardamom sugar topping. They were really good, kids loved them a lot.

  • breadenthusiast on October 07, 2025

    I used the basic dough recipe (#1), which is a pleasant and easy to work with dough. The second proof takes longer than 30 minutes for me, about an hour or so. I needed a bit more syrup but had cardamom sugar left over. Delicious and they look impressive, I make them regularly once the weather gets cooler.

• Butter buns (Voisilmäpullat / Smørboller / Smörbullar)

  • melissa_8tppo3 on April 09, 2026

    My first time making something like this - the butter/sugar insert into a sweet bun. I made the dough with warmed milk, dry yeast, flour, butter, an egg and vanilla sugar. Then after the shaping and rising, you poke a hole in the top of the bun and insert a cube of butter and half a teaspoon of sugar. Then cover in an egg wash and a sprinkling of pearl sugar.

• Saint Lucy's Day saffron buns (Lussebulle / Saffransbröd / Lussekatt / Luciapullat /Lussekatter)

  • anya_sf on December 22, 2019

    I had saffron threads and only soaked them 1 hour; the buns still had nice color and flavor, but powdered saffron would work better. I used dough # 2 (Tove's) with 2 tsp instant yeast and the dough rose a lot. Due to bad timing, I had to let it rise, refrigerated, a 2nd time before shaping and refrigerating overnight. The buns rose a final time in the morning before baking. Stupidly, I attempted to bake both sheets at once on convection, but they did not brown evenly, and since they only took about 10 minutes to bake, next time I'll bake one pan at a time. They were very good, but don't keep well, so freeze any extras.

  • anya_sf on December 22, 2019

    There is an error in the instructions - the dough page numbers are 258-9, not 458-9.

  • melissa_8tppo3 on April 24, 2026

    I made a very sticky dough and they handled while I rolled and shaped them. Then I put one tray in the proofing box for 1 1/2 hrs and 1 tray in the cold oven with a cup of boiling water. The proofing box buns probably overproofed. Then I baked two trays at once. I'd like to try this recipe again. They are a pretty little bun and taste nice but I just feel I did not get the process quite right.

• Sweet Shrove Tuesday buns from Norway, Finland and Sweden [version 1] (Fastlavnsbolle / Laskiaispullat / Semla / Fettisdagsbulle / Fastlagsbulle)

  • senzler on February 18, 2026

    Made these this year for Shrove Tuesday they were a big hit.

• Doughnuts (Smultringer / Munkit / Munkar)

  • jaschaumal on May 27, 2023

    150ml milk has been by far not enough when I made the munkkis. The dough didn't rise at all. With 300ml (maybe a little bit less) they turned out perfectly

• Rye shortbreads (Torplyckor)

  • racheljmorgan on March 07, 2022

    A nice vanilla shortbread with a bit of chew from the rye.

• Coconut muffins (Kokosmuffins)

  • racheljmorgan on May 06, 2023

    I followed the instructions, and my paper cups collapsed too far and spilled during baking, which created a big mess. Maybe the American paper cups are designed only for use with the muffin pan? I'm glad I only tried a small batch. As far as flavor, it's a sweet buttery yellow cake with a good amount of coconut. It's good but not all that remarkable. It's not as heavy as most American muffins, more like a flat cupcake as the author writes in the chapter intro.

• Chocolate oatmeal balls (Havregrynskugler / Chokladbollar)

  • milgwimper on December 18, 2019

    Delicious, sweet, easy for little hands to make, and eat. We made the balls much smaller so we got more than twenty. Goes good with coffee. Crunchy. Some like to blitz the oats but we like the texture.

• Banana bread (Banankaka)

  • vividbowl on December 25, 2021

    My favorite banana bread recipe

• Egg-white sponge cake / Silver cake (Sølvkake / Silverkaka)

  • racheljmorgan on February 01, 2025

    Despite the author's ringing endorsement that he would never willingly bake this retro cake, I decided to try it to use up some egg whites. Pulled out at 26min instead of recommended 40 (internal 202F). There's not much to it. It's just like a lightly sweet scone. Not bad but not compelling. Drier next day. I put half in the freezer to make trifle, etc with perhaps Valentines Day.

• Rhubarb chewy caramel crumble (Knäckig rabarberpaj)

  • br22 on July 02, 2023

    Cooking time significantly longer; at least 45 minutes rather than the stated 15. Excellent flavor.