Recipes · Dessert
Bread soup
leivasupp
A sweet, spiced dessert soup of dried rye bread and dried fruit, served cold with whipped cream.
- Makes
- 6 small bowls
- Hands-on
- About 30 minutes
- Start to finish
- 3–4 hours, plus chilling
- Oven
- None, a pot on the hob
Leivasupp sounds odd in English and tastes wonderful: dark, sweet and sour at once, thick, with plump raisins and a spoonful of cream on top. It began as a way to use every last crust, and it is still the dessert I connect most with my grandmother’s kitchen.
Use real sourdough rye. The sourness of the bread balances the sugar; with a soft, sweetened loaf the soup turns flat and sticky.
Method
- If the bread is not properly dry, toast the pieces in a low oven first; the soup comes out darker and less pasty. Break the bread up, cover it with the water and leave it to soak for 2–3 hours, until completely soft.
- Bring it to a simmer and cook gently for 10 minutes, stirring often. Press it through a sieve, or blend it until smooth.
- Return it to the pot with the sugar, dried fruit and cinnamon. Simmer for another 10–15 minutes, until the fruit is plump and the soup coats a spoon. Add a little water if it gets too thick.
- Take it off the heat, remove the cinnamon and sharpen it with lemon juice or cranberries. It should taste of bread first, then sweetness, then a little sour.
- Chill it and serve it cold, with a spoonful of whipped cream on each bowl.
Notes
- It thickens a lot as it cools. Loosen it the next day with a splash of water or apple juice.
- I dry the ends for leivasupp in the oven after a bake, in the falling heat. A paper bag of them in the cupboard means soup is always one evening away.