Iceland Rye Bread -- "Baked" (well, actually, steamed) in a Geothermal Hot Spring

 We followed a set of phone directions that I was sure were taking us on a dead end, but were actually correct, for a rather unusual adventure -- “baking” bread by burying a pot of dough in a geothermal spring. Before and after pix with our fabulous guide whose name sounds like “Philip” but actually uses some of those exotic Icelandic characters that look like elven runes that I don’t have on my phone. 

Here’s the bread pot being dug out of its geothermal “bakery.”

The hot spring here is boiling at a few spots in the center and 80C at the coolest spots.

It’s always a bit of a surprise when the tightly-wrapped bread pot is dug up and opened; will it have risen perfectly, nice and rounded? If it was too hot that day in the thermal, the bread might have risen too quickly then collapsed, if too cold you’d get a wet brick. This loaf promises to be perfect.

The bread warm enough to melt the local butter, served with a bit of smoked trout from the lake.