ruisleipä

There are various types of bread in the stores here, but the most interesting is a flat rye bread (not cracker) with a large hole in the middle. It's round, about 20-25 cm in diameter and 2-3 cm thick, and is sold sliced into two layers. Sometimes it's also scored into six wedges. Like baguettes in France, this bread is ubiquitous, inexpensive, and invariably good. My favorite so far is the one made by the Salonen bakery; it's a little plumper and softer than the others, and has a taste that is at once purer and more complex. It's made with rye flour, water, and salt, but nothing else; some brands use additional ingredients. I've been eating it for breakfast with butter and cloudberry jam: the cloudberries have a tropical fruit flavor that goes well with the rye.