Knekkebrød (Crispbread)



picture of Norwegian crispbread

This thin, semi-hard Norwegian quickbread, crunchy in texture and reminiscent of crackers, goes at least back to sixth century Sweden, where it was known as Knäckebröd, and can be relied upon to remain relatively fresh for a long time. In ancient times, it would be stored indoors near the ceiling, and brought down when needed, but is best kept in an airtight container. It can be used with any meal, and is good with butter, jams, fruit compotes, and many other coverings. Try it with gravlax, cheese, brunost, yogurt, fruit spread, just fruit itself, egg salad, sliced boiled egg, cold cuts, pickled herring, dips, hummus, babaganoush, or whatever else you fancy.

The recipe is very amendable to substitutions; e.g., try other seeds and flour types.



Makes two sheet pans, approximately 30 breads.

Ingredients:

Materials:

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 325°F (160°C). Cover two sheet pans completely with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, combine honey and warm water, and whisk to combine.

In a large mixing bowl, mix together rye flour, oats, wheat bran, seeds, and salt. Slowly add in honey-infused water, stirring until a wet paste forms. Let stand for a couple of mins., so flour and oats can soak up more of the moisture, and you get the right consistency.

Pour half of mixture over one of the sheet pans, and spread evenly and thinly, to the very edges. You can use back of a spatula, or take plastic wrap over top of mixture, pressing down with your hands or a measuring cup, and spreading to get an even thickness across the sheet pan. Do the same with rest of the mixture and other sheet pan.

Place both sheet pans in oven. Bake for 10 mins., then remove from oven, and carefully cut into 15 rectangles (or smaller sections, if you wish) per baking sheet. This will make it easier to separate them, when they are fully baked.

Place sheet pans back in oven, and bake for another 50-60 mins., alternating top with bottom one once, through the cooking time. Occasionally, open oven door to release steam. Check knekkebrød towards end of cooking time, and look for them being dry and brittle, with light browning on edges.

When finished, break breads apart gently, and let them cool completely on a wire rack. Store in a tight plastic or tin container, and they should last several weeks.


1 Cups, tablespoons, and teaspoons are as defined in US Customary Units, not to be confused with differing British imperial, "legal", "coffee", Commonwealth of Nations, Canadian, Latin American, Japanese, Russian, or Dutch defintions — further proof that everyone needs the metric system.



Collected and re-published at http://linuxmafia.com/~rick/recipes/knekkebrod.html by Rick Moen <rick@linuxmafia.com> on Nov. 17, 2022. Individual recipes are free from copyright. Share and enjoy!

Recipe lightly adapted from https://northwildkitchen.com/knekkebrod/, the estimable Nevada Berg's site, North Wild Kitchen, featuring the food, outdoors, and people of Norway.

Image was © 2006 by Cymydog Naakka, who released it into the public domain, and, for any jurisdiction where that is not legally possible, granted anyone the right to use this work for any purpose, without any conditions, unless such conditions are required by law. My thanks for Cymydog Naakka's generosity.