Letfover Porridge Root Bread

Leftover Porridge Root Bread

By Seppo Lindén / Unicafe (Helsinki)

This recipe transforms leftover oatmeal porridge into a flavourful bread, helping reduce food waste—a pressing issue in Finland, where up to 400 million kilograms of edible food are discarded annually.

The bread’s distinct taste comes from a blend of fermented dough crust, organic wheat, rye, and rice flours, alongside oven-roasted bread dough. It highlights Finnish-grown root vegetables like swede and turnip, seasoned with thyme grown organically in Malmi’s communal fields.

Mämmi and bread malt create a bold, crispy crust. By repurposing unsold porridge, this recipe promotes biodiversity and reduces food waste. The fibrous root vegetables and grains are not only gentle on the gut but also kind to the environment.

Seppo Lindén and Leftover Porridge Root Bread.
Photo: Veikko Somerpuro.

Ingredients

(for 10 loaves)
Dough for the crust:
0,5 l water
296 g organic rye flour
150 g mämmi malt (mämmi is a traditional Finnish dessert made of water, rye flour, ground malted rye, salt, and dried orange zest)
30 g oatmeal porridge
1 g fresh thyme
17 g fresh yeast

Bread dough:
1 l water
1700 g organic wheat flour
192 g organic rye flour
23 g organic wheat gluten
33 g fresh yeast
32 g salt
100 g swede and turnip purée
120 g oatmeal porridge
4 g fresh thyme

Method

To prepare the crust dough, mix all the ingredients into a smooth paste and let it rest for 1.5 hours.

For the bread dough, combine all ingredients except the salt, mixing vigorously by hand for about 4 minutes. Then, incorporate the salt and knead for around 7 minutes.

Let the dough rest for 20 minutes before dividing it into 450-gr pieces and flattening each one. Leave them to rest on the table for 15 minutes.

Shape the pieces into loaves, approximately 17 cm long, and apply the crust dough on top for a smooth finish. Dust with rye flour, then cover and let the loaves rise for 1 to 1.5 hours.

Bake at 250°C with steam for 4 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 200°C and bake for an additional 35 minutes. If your oven lacks a steam function, place a heatproof dish of water in the oven during baking.

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