Fresh bread or bakeries in Finland?

[Woverke]

Hello,

this is my second week of 3 months in Finland, and I'm desperately looking for good, fresh bread. All I can find is factory-made bread that is way too sweet...

I live in Belgium and there you can find a bakery with delicious bread at every corner, so it's really something I miss here!

I was also told that Vaasa (where I'm staying) is where the "Knakebrod" originated, but I haven't found that either..

Finally, I do not have an oven, so I cant buy bread that needs baking.

Hope you guys can help..

[EP]

Sweet? Are you sure that you have not bought "pulla" as bread?

[Rosamunda]

Well French baguettes as sold in France contain a lot of salt, so it could be that Finnish bread tastes "sweet" just because the salt content is lower. Not sure. What kind of bread are you buying? Down here there is a huge (as in humungous) variety of bread in the average supermarket (some is baked in-store, some arrives daily, some is vacuum-packed, etc) so I would think there is something for everyone. We have a couple of French bakeries in Helsinki that sell French loaves and there are some Finnish bakeries selling fresh bread (like Halme in Kauklahti and that one in Tapiola etc). Some of the big supermarkets sell bread fresh from the small bakeries (Citymarket in Iso Omena sells bread from Halme)

There is a large industrial bakery in Vaasa, there are probably some smaller ones around to. Google found this one:

http://maps.google.fi/maps?hl=fi&um=1&i ... 9350605183

.... on Myllykatu. Sounds hopeful.


http://www.020300200.com/category_searc ... ies/Vaasa/

BTW.... "delicious" to most people up here is rye bread. Have you tried it? It took me a while to like it, but now I prefer it to white bread.

[EP]

I was also told that Vaasa (where I'm staying) is where the "Knakebrod" originated, but I haven't found that either

It is in Finnish "näkkileipä" and every single store has it, varous kinds and brands. If you have not found it I suspect that you have not found bread either, except maybe some plastic bagged toasts (or pulla like I suggested, which is coffee bread). Bread is really something Finnish bakeries do very well, and the choice is way bigger than in central Europe. For example Vaasan leipomo is one of the biggest bakeries in Finland. They have two factories and 14 smaller bakeries. Factory is just a big bakery.

[onkko]

I was also told that Vaasa (where I'm staying) is where the "Knakebrod" originated, but I haven't found that either

It is in Finnish "näkkileipä" and every single store has it, varous kinds and brands. If you have not found it I suspect that you have not found bread either, except maybe some plastic bagged toasts (or pulla like I suggested, which is coffee bread). Bread is really something Finnish bakeries do very well, and the choice is way bigger than in central Europe. For example Vaasan leipomo is one of the biggest bakeries in Finland. They have two factories and 14 smaller bakeries. Factory is just a big bakery.

Well in store where i use to go "dry bread" is in different aisle than other breads, far away to be exact. And if you dont know what kind of package youre looking it could be hard to find correct one
http://www.wasabrod.fi/tuotteet.html there is pictures about packages if that helps.

[Pursuivant]

All I can find is factory-made bread that is way too sweet...

Hrmpf... you should go to Estonia, then talk about "sweet".... or Sweden where they put raisins into toast...

"Knakebrod" originated, but I haven't found that either..

I think you're just too small to go shopping alone, ask someone grownup to take you .

[flyingyellowpig]

Hi there,
If you are in Helsinki ,maybe you can go to Primula bakery , they sell fresh and very cheap bread . I always buy our bread from there.

Yhteystiedot Primulan Leipomot Oy
Teollisuuskatu 3
00510 Helsinki

[EP]

If he comes to Helsinki the bread is no longer fresh when he is back in Vaasa.

But really. Like Penelope said, many markets bake their own bread (dough comes from bakeries), so there is fresh (even hot) bread several times a day. Usually they are packed in paper bags that have a transparent strip on one side so you can see what is inside.

On that self there is a sign "leivottu täällä".

[Jukka Aho]

this is my second week of 3 months in Finland, and I'm desperately looking for good, fresh bread. All I can find is factory-made bread that is way too sweet...

Usually Finland is said to be the country of sour(dough) bread... the sweet bread tradition starts when you go westwards to Sweden, or to the south.

See these articles for some basic information:

• Breads of Finland (Wikipedia)
• Bread from Kainuu (I think Rob will find this interesting as a history / folk-culture buff... :)
• Finnish bread
• A bread discussion from Finland for Thought

That aside, you might want to try the outlets/cafés of Kotileipomo Hämäläinen (especially their Myllykatu 11 location, I would guess) or Othello although I’m not sure if they sell loaves of bread in the cafés or only sweet confectionery/patisserie products.

The Vöyrinpoika instore bakery at the local Prisma hypermarket might a good bet too, and I think there’s some sort of a fresh bread counter at both of the local “K” Citymarkets. (One of them is located right next to the central market square and the other one is in Kivihaka, near the Prisma.)

The local Minimani has a pretty good bread section too but it’s mostly the factory-made stuff in plastic bags. As far as the standard-issue bagged “industrial” products go – those which you can find in any store all over the country – I’d recommend Fazer Kaurapuikulat or Fazer Ruispuikulat, but if the word “bread” only means white wheat bread to you I’m not sure where you would find the biggest and most diverse selection of that.

Note that the availability of the “industrial” bread products varies by the locality, too, as the smaller local bakeries have their own specialties which they deliver daily to the local grocery stores but not to the other parts of the country. For instance, Vöyrinpoika and Pirjon Pakari are well-represented in this region whereas they might be virtually unheard of in some other parts of the country.

As EP says, fresh bread baked on location is often put on display in part-paper, part-transparent-film bags which, when handled, make a lot more rustling noises than the ordinary plastic bags used for “factory-made” bread.

The concept of ubiquitous urban little bakery shops dotting the cityscape and offering fresh bread for the city-dwellers each morning does not really exist in Finland. This is probably because Finland wasn’t a too “city-oriented” or urbanized country until lately. (You could debate how “urban” we are even now.) Up until the 1960s most of the population lived in the countryside – usually as small-time farmers ploughing their fields – and baked their bread themselves.

The modern “local bakeries” tend to be either a side business of some local farmer family (who typically lives in the sticks and perhaps runs a catering service and other supporting functions) or of industrial or semi-industrial variety – perhaps still a small family business but hoping to expand – and located, likewise, outside the city. Perhaps they have a roadside rest stop or a location in some industrial area, or even a café or two which will sell (some of) their products, but they’re generally more focused on serving the retailers than selling to individual customers directly... and in pursuit of volume sales, they usually aren’t going to establish a little bakery shop in the next block from you. (I guess it is also a question of convenience: Finns generally seem to want to do their grocery shopping easily in a supermarket or hypermarket, getting everything under the same roof instead of running around the city from one little store to the next for basic food items such as bread, meat or milk.)

[Rosamunda]

... and as Jukka Aho suggested, Finns STILL make a lot of their own bread which is why there is such a fantastic selection of flours in the supermarkets, much better than the standard selection in even the biggest Carrefours in southern Europe. OTOH, if you don't have an oven then that's no help to you!

But I really suggest that you try some of the dark breads that are on offer, they are really good and go equally well with fruit jams and marmelades (try cloudberry (lakka), or sea buckthornberry (tyrni) and of course, blueberry) and also ham and cheese, which would be the more traditional breakfast for Finns.

[pierrot]

(...) Bread is really something Finnish bakeries do very well, and the choice is way bigger than in central Europe. (...)

Maybe you should go and have a look at Germany where they have much more variety (light and dark bread) and also real bakeries, not just factories or supermarkets which simply heat up frozen stuff. The number of "real" bakeries (like Emil Halme) in Finland is a joke, most of the stuff comes from Fazer, Vaasan, etc with medium quality.

[Rosamunda]

Sure, Fazer and Vaasa are the biggest but both Prisma and Citymarket in Iso Omena have a huge selection of bread from many, many different bakeries (including Halme, the Moroccan bakery, the Tapiola bakery and probably over a dozen others). And I think some of the Fazer bread is really good (considering it is produced on an "industrial" scale). There's a great choice of seed loaves with sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds etc. and I love Fazer's Myslipuikulat.

But yes, I don't doubt Germany has a bigger and better selection of bread. There are 82 million people living there

[sinikala]

This discussion has been done several times before. If you are after rye bread, then yes there is usually lots to be found. It has a long shelf life so it seems fresh for longer, but very few places, even bigger supermarkets here, sell good fresh white loaves. Not even Stockmann deli.

Yes, most of the supermarkets, even the smaller ones have thier own oven in the back and prepare "fresh" baked bread and pastries (from frozen) each morning....

that is not fresh bread, it's frozen dough which has been thawed and cooked. It's edible, but not even close to fresh bread. That most of the folks on here can't tell the difference is not surprising if you've never had eaten the good stuff.

We also have a couple of local bakers shops here, their dark breads are fine, as are their cakes... but their white bread is not up to scratch. I assume it's all prepared at a factory and not on the premises http://www.viialanleipomo.fi/leivat.htm as they never have any smell of baking there.

The best restaurant in these parts http://www.bucco.fi/ do such good bread that they started to market it last year ... it's the best fresh bread you can buy in a supermarket. A real godsend.

http://www.porinleipa.fi/sarpi/nyt.htm

Don't know if you can get it outside this area though.

[Pursuivant]

And if you're wanting this bread that goes hard in one day, you really don't find it that often, as the bakeries use quite a lot of gluteined flours so the bread stays soft for the 3-4 days... maybe due to te non-urbanization its not "traditional" to go to the store daily so if you buy bread you want it to keep. Not like a french baguette thats inedible in the evening (with my teeth anyways)

[sinikala]

And if you're wanting this bread that goes hard in one day, you really don't find it that often, as the bakeries use quite a lot of gluteined flours so the bread stays soft for the 3-4 days... maybe due to te non-urbanization its not "traditional" to go to the store daily so if you buy bread you want it to keep. Not like a french baguette thats inedible in the evening (with my teeth anyways)

Agreed.