Perunarieska (Finnish Potato Flatbread)

Finland’s quick potato flatbread: mashed potato, an egg and barley flour patted thin, pricked and baked hot, to eat warm with butter.

Untested: not yet made in this kitchen. It is here for the Flatbreads pages and is adapted from the source named in the Notes.

Ingredients

• 2 cups (5 dl) mashed potato
• ½ teaspoon salt, if the mash is unsalted
• 1 egg
• 2 cups (5 dl) barley flour, plus more for patting out
• 2 tablespoons milk, if needed to loosen stiff mash

Directions

1. Heat the oven to 225 to 250 °C (440 to 480 °F) and line baking sheets with baking paper.
2. Mix the mashed potato, salt, egg and barley flour together. If the mash has set firm, loosen it with a little milk.
3. Lift the dough onto the paper in about 12 heaps, pat each into a thin round with floured hands, and prick them all over with a fork.
4. Bake about 15 minutes; the tops may brown lightly. Eat warm.

Notes

Source Adapted from “Perunarieska”, a recipe tested in the Martha kitchen of the Finnish Martha Organisation (Martat, martat.fi). The metric volumes are theirs (5 dl is a little over 2 US cups); the salt and milk amounts here are estimates, as the source says only “salt, unless the mash is already salted” and “a little milk”. The page tags the recipe dairy-free, but its milk suggestion, and a nutrition basis of mash made with light milk, mean it is only dairy-free if the mash is.

Another version Valio’s perunarieska uses more wheat than barley, pats the dough 3 to 4 mm thick, and bakes at 250 °C for 10 to 13 minutes until spotted golden-brown; Valio serves them with munavoi, egg butter, and notes they are a use for leftover mash.

The bread In much of Finland rieska means a thin bread made without yeast or sourdough, from barley, oats or potato. The Flatbreads Europe page (/breads/flatbreads/europe/) covers the northern flatbreads.

The photo The photograph is filed as rye and potato rieska; which breads are which is not recorded, though the small golden rounds look like the potato ones.