Thursday, December 08, 2011

Swedish Crisp Bread with Caraway

knackebrod1

Here's something you absolutely must make for your Christmas smorgasbord, if you want it to be authentically Swedish. Crisp bread is definitely a must. You can vary the spices, but caraway is one of my favorites - it will go very well with christmas ham or sharp cheddar.

This is a pretty basic recipe, and you can use it as a base to play with. Feel free to add other seeds if you prefer! The one piece of equipment that you might not have is a knobbly rolling pin, a kruskavel. It looks like this. Not absolutely necessary to have, but it does help here.

The traditional shape is large rounds with holes in the middle - the holes are actually for storage, because these were traditionally hung on a stick, from the ceiling.

Swedish Crisp Bread with Caraway

25 g fresh yeast
500 ml (2 cups) tepid water
2 tsp salt
600 ml (2,4 cups) coarse rye flour
600 ml (2,4 cups) wheat flour
2 tsp caraway seeds, bashed in a pestle and mortar
2 tsp sesame seeds
2 tsp linseed

Crumble the yeast into a bowl and add some of the water. Stir until the yeast is dissolved, then add the rest of the water, and all other ingredients. Mix by hand or with a machine until the dough starts to form. Add extra flour if it's too sticky. You don't have to knead it much, just enough to get a proper dough that holds together. Remove the dough to a clean bowl, cover and leave to rise for one hour.

Shape the dough into a large, thick rope and divide into 15 pieces. Roll out each piece into rounds, using a lot of flour so it won't stick. Roll it as thinly as you can (the crisper it will be!) and finish by doing a few rolls with a knobbly rolling pin, a "kruskavel". If you don't have one, prick the dough all over with a fork. Use a small glass or a cookie cutter to remove a hole from the middle of the round.

knackekatt
Or use cookie cutters - I couldn't resist making a cat.

Place directly on a baking sheet and bake at 200°C (that's for a convection oven, use 225°C in a regular oven) for 10-12 minuter. You have to turn them after half the time or they will burn.

Recipe in Swedish:
Knäckebröd med kummin

2 comments:

Cupcakesfluffan said...

Måste verkligen testa att göra mitt eget knäckebröd, verkar så gott :-)

christmas meal delivered said...

I definitely want it to be authentically Swedish so this is exactly what I am looking for.

Thank you for this and on behalf of everyone here who appreciates your blog a holiday toast to you and your family...

Wishing you more happiness
Than all my words can tell,
Not just alone for Christmas
But for all the year as well.

Brodie