I had a dear Estonian friend named Toomas Lapp, and except for his regular visits to me and Helena, he was also a regular in my restaurant. Toomas knew that I loved a good rye bread, but complained bitterly about the quality of South African rye flour, it was incredibly bland and too light in colour. Bearing this in mind, Toomas promptly brought me some Estonian rye flour, about four different loaves of Estonian rye bread and an exquisite book on Estonian rye breads (which was unfortunately too authentic - it was all written in Estonian!).
From this point forward, I developed a passion for a dark, rich, and luxurious rye bread. Toomas passed away in June this year, I was heart-broken. With his kind and gentle soul he was to me what a demi god would be. My passion for a good rye bread is still with me and I will make a wonderful sour dough rye bread in the near future!
The name of the Estonian bread book is Koduleivaraamat and the author is Kaia-Kaire Hunt: I wonder if I could persuade her to come and teach us South Africans how a real rye bread is made...
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