Funny Finnish Bread Rolls - Vekkulit Sämpylät...

..our oven baked snack at ten o'clock in the light mid summer Finnish evening.

Showing off the baked goods on glass plates

"Daddy...This is serious creature baking business"

A snake roll for Daddy and Rosa's butterfly fresh out-of-the-oven.

Funny Finnish bread rolls are a modification from the basic Finnish bread roll sampylä. These Vekkuli (Friendly) Sämpylät made baking more interesting for children. Rosa and Aura began the bake following the Myllyn Paras recipe on the back of the box.

Examples of more bread rolls in Finland: Bread rolls for hamburgers Hampurilaissämpylät, with cheese juustosämpylät. The list goes on.

A healthy Sämpylä Roll for Kids and Adults

More than average fiber and still...tasty.

With four grain types. Rye, wheat, oat, barley flakes.

Finnish barley's got vitamins plus minerals.

It contains sugars from grains. Yep...No added sugars!

Rosa adding water to the surface of unbaked funny sämpylä bread rolls

Rosa doucing the raw rolls with water before they go into the oven.

The Recipe

To buy: A box of Myllyn Paras Neljan Viljan Pikahiutale (In Finland). Box looks/styles change over the years. The main thing is to look for a box wich include the four grains:

4 dl water

dl flakes

2 dl quark

50 g fresh yeast

Half tablespoon salt

Half dl honey

8 dl wheat flour or whole wheat flour

50 g melted butter

Heat up the water. Mix the cool quark into the water. Orange or Carrot juice also work. Dissolve the yeast into the water mixture, then add 6 dl of Neljan Viljan Pikahiutale flakes. Leave the mixture covered for 20 minutes.

When the mixture bubbles, add the rest of the ingredients. Knead into a soft dough. Form the dough into a long fat rod shape. Divide the rod into 20 pieces.

Rosa Forms more Funny Figures...Butteflies, Cats, Bunny Rabbits, a teddy bear, an envelope, medusa and a rock.

Let the creatures sit for 30 minutes in a warm place. Douce them with water, or milk. Put eyes on em or a mouth. Use nuts, peanuts or dried fruit. Bake on trays at 225 C 10-12 minutes.

Finnish rolls for Rosa

Rosa enthusiastically checks..."Are they ready"?

How do they taste

The quark adds a nice texture giving the roll creatures a taste of delicacy. Rye ruis with flakes of barley ohra and oat's -The full taste. Makes it easy to keep poppin em in.

The outside of the bread rolls are firm and have a thin crunchy chewy texture. -The doucing of water does the trick.

My Snake is!!! Arggggh...Out-of-the-oven!!

My special bread roll sämpylä snake from my Rosa

Daddy enjoys eating this with freshly cut tomatoes or Edam cheese.