Swedish crispbread, the noisiest bread ever, has been crunched for 250 years. In the past its long life made things easier for housewives as they only had to bake once or twice a year. Today, people on the look-out for a healthy diet delight in its rich source of fibre.
Its lasting qualities were proved in the Fourties when a tin containing crispbread was found in the Stockholm attic of the Schumachers bakery after the owners death. It had been baked in 1897 exclusively for André the explorer and his north Pole trip in the hot air balloon Eagle. The ill fated expedition didn’t last very long, but the bread in the attic that the baker Schumacher had kept as a memento was still edible after almost 50 years!
Knäckebröd
Recipe for 12 round cakes
50 g yeast
0,5 L lukewarm water
1 L rye flour (or oatmeal)
400-500 ml wheat flour
1 tsp salt
Dissolve yeast in water and add the rest of the ingredients. Let dough rise for 40 mins. Roll out as thinly as possible, cut round cakes and place them on a tray. Prick cakes with a knitting needle, golf peg or similar. Leave to rise for 30 mins. Bake at minimum 250 degree celsius for 3-4 mins, turn the cakes over and bake for another 2-3 mins.
Source: “Things Swedish” by Mari Hemming
Generally people don’t bake crispbread themselves any more, we buy it in the store. There is a lot of different brands, shapes and taste to buy. We often buys the heartshaped “Leksands knäcke”, see our photo.
I haven’t tried to bake the recipe above on my own – yet. We eat a lot of crispbread, its really yummy, the crispy feeling is kind of addicting. Its suitable to eat together with the dinner meals and especially soup.
Or just as a snack meal in the night with some good stuff on it. You can put almost anything on top… Like Dagwood, famous for his super-duper sandwiches, in the good old comic Blondie. I feel really connected to him, as he loves food too 
Something really yummy is to put on some creamy potatoes au gratin (with onion and garlic) left overs from the dinner, in the middle of the night after a party or something nice like that.
The Swedish crispbread is one of the typical swedish edible things that we Swedes really long for when we’re away from home.
Writing about it made me hungry as usual…
Be aware.. do NOT eat it in bed before going to sleep… then you just can forget all about sleep!!!!
Hm…yes, you’re so right Miss Ass. Lifecruiser. Actually that is one of the pranks often performed to newly wedding couples, to spread crispbreads crumbs in their bed
Don’t know anything about that!! Not married!! *lol*
Someone tried to do that to Dirtman and I on our wedding night, not realizing we had reservations at a local hotel before taking off on a week-long honeymoon road trip.
When the perpetrators found out we’d left, they called my in-laws and told them and my poor father-in-law cleaned it up before we got home.
Not sure how amused I would have been when we got in at 2 a.m. in the morning…
I tried these when I lived in London a few years back and really liked them. Haven’t been able to find anything close since I moved back to the States so thanks for the recipe.
Louises last blog post..Maryland Crab Cakes Recipe
Whoooo does that sound good! I wish I could find some around here!
aithnes last blog post..CJ
[...] to awaken a lot yesterday, upon attempting to follow up with Mrs.Lifecruiser’s recipe for Swedish Cripsbread. Inspired, because i just happened to have a lot of spare rye flour in the [...]
It’s THE best. I usually have them with that extra potatoe, sliced and with leek on the top. Mmmmmm …
Hi! I found this recipe in a book about Sweden, and tried it this afternoon… I was a bit upset that the dough did not mix well, it was very crumbly and dry, even after I added some more water, so I left it and came back to it a while later. It was still hard but a bit more workable, and managed to roll it out, cut into rounds and bake it, but much longer than the recipe calls for. I’m still not convinced about the texture, I was aiming for a WASA-like bread as I love it but can’t get it where I live. This was more like a Leksands knäcke. I’ll have to see if it dries enough. Flavor good, though… It’s also odd that the flours are measured in liquid units, go figure!