Category Archives: bread

Rosemary and Seasalt Crackers

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baking

I just celebrated a big thing in both M’s and my life with a mingling and eating party in our garden. One of the treats was my own version of Alice’s Knäckebröd. I made them into crackers and added rosemary and sea salt. We served them with my Elderflower Gravlax, but they are just as good as snacks! We also discovered that they were excellent with Västerbotten Ost (one of the best cheeses in Sweden) topped with fig marmalade.

(for many many crisp breads)

first
25 grams fresh yeast
1 tablespoon honey
200 ml (almost 1 cup) yogurt
400 ml (1 2/3 cup) water
600 ml (2 ½ cup) rye flour
about 600 ml (2 ½ cup) all-purpose flour

and later
100-200 ml ( ½ – 1 cup) all-purpose flour for rolling the breads
about 2 tablespoons caraway seeds
dried Rosemary
flaky sea salt

Warm the yogurt with the water to 37°C (100°F). Dissolve the yeast in some of the warm yogurt mixture. Add the rest of the liquid and blend in honey, rye and all-purpose flour. The dough will be quite sticky. Cover the bowl and keep at room temperature in a non-drafty area overnight or for at least 6 hours.

Roast the caraway seeds in a dry pan and crush them finely in a mortar. When the dough is ready,  work in the all-purpose flour. Continue to work the dough on  the countertop until the dough is smooth. Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F).

Divide the dough into 15-20 equal parts. With your fingers crush some rosemary and flaky sea salt into each part and roll them into balls. Use a rolling pin and some all-purpose flour to roll out every ball of dough very thinly. Using a cookie cutter or a sharp knife, cut into approximately 5 cm (2 inch) shapes. Place as many as you can fit on a greased baking tin. Bake the crackers for about 5-10 minutes in the middle of the oven. Depending on your oven you may have to turn them around to get nice all around color. When finished let the breads cool on an oven rack or a clean table. Keep the crackers in sealed containers.

Knäckebröd (Swedish Crisp Bread)

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knackebrod
One of my food memories from school was when one guy threw a slice of ”knäckebröd” (Swedish crisp bread) up in the air. The sandwich got stuck with its buttered side up on the ceiling, and I mean really stuck. No one seemed to pay any attention or tried to get the bread down. In fact it would have been a project by itself as the dining room was like a ball room with very high ceiling. Hm, I wonder if it still up there!

This recipe is by Alice at Brax on Food (freely translated by me).

twelve crisp breads
25 gram yeast (I used  ½  package of ¼ oz Active Dry Yeast)
1 tablespoon honey
200 ml (almost 1 cup) yogurt
400 ml (1 2/3 cup) water
600 ml (2 ½ cup) rye wholegrain flour
600 ml (2 ½ cup) wholewheat flour
1 tablespoon caraway seeds
2 teaspoons salt
and
100-200 ml ( ½ – 1 cup) regular flour for rolling the breads

Prepare the yeast depending on which yeast you are using. When the yeast is ready, blend it with honey, yogurt, water, rye and the wholewheat flour. Cover the bowl and keep at room temperature in a non-drafty area for at least 6 hours.
Roast the caraway seeds in a dry pan and crush them finely in a mortar. Blend in the salt and wholewheat flour. When the dough is ready, work in the wholewheat flour/caraway mixture. Add some of the regular flour to make a smooth dough. Divide the dough in 12 equal parts and roll them into balls. Preheat the oven to 225°C (435°F). Use a rolling pin and some regular flour to roll out every ball of dough into a thin round cake, approximately 1/8” (3 mm) thick. Place as many as you can fit on a baking tin and nibble the breads with a fork (or you can use a special rolling pin with small knobs). If you want to, you can make a hole in the middle with a small ”snaps” glass. Bake the breads immediately for about 8-10 minutes in the middle of the oven.  When finished let the breads cool down on an oven rack. Keep uneaten ”knäckebröd” in a sealed container. (Hanging on a broom stick will make them dusty).

See also my recipe for Rosemary and Seasalt Crackers

Rye Bread with Linseed

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baking 3

I have been so good this summer making my own bread and jams. Unfortunately this great habit only lasted for 3 months!

100 ml (½ cup) linseed
some water
3 tablespoons olive oil
500 ml (just over 2 cups) kefir or yogurt
50 gram (1 ¾ oz) fresh yeast (or other)
2-3 tablespoons roasted and crushed caraway seeds
200 ml (7/8 cup) roasted sunflower seeds
1-2 teaspoons salt
1-2 tablespoons dark syrup
400 ml (1 ¾ cups) rye flour
300 ml (1 1/4 cup) wholegrain rye flour
about 700 ml (3 cup) wheat flour

Soak the linseeds in some water. Heat up kefir and the olive oil to 37° C (almost 100° F). Dissolve the fresh yeast (or follow the description on the package) with some of the warm kefir mixture. Add the rest together with salt, syrup, caraway seeds, sunflower seeds  and the soaked linseeds.

Start to work in the rye flour and the wholegrain flour. Finally you add as much of the wheat flour as you can until the dough is smooth and doesn’t stick to the edge of the bowl. Cover the dough with a towel and let rise for one hour in a warm and draft-free place.
After about an hour or two, when the dough has doubled in size, place it on your counter top and knead in more regular flour until flexible and firm. Form two loaves and place them on a baking tin. Cover and let rise for 30 minutes.

Bake in the oven for 45-60 minutes at 175-200° C (350-400° F) depending on what kind of oven you are using. When the bread is done place the baked breads on a rack and cover. I know it can be hard to resist new baked bread, but they should rest for at least a half day so the taste can develop to its best.

Magnus Kefir Bread

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for one loaf

250 ml (1 cup) unbleached wheat flour
100 ml (0.4 cup) coarse wheat flour
150 ml (0.6) rye flour
125 ml (½ cup) crushed rye seeds or oat seeds
50 ml (¼ cup) carrots
50 ml (¼) chopped sunflower seeds
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon bicarbonate soda
500 ml (2 cups) kefir or yogurt)
2-3 table spoons molasses or dark syrup

Mix the dry flours together with bicarbonate, salt, sunflower seeds and carrots. Carefully mix everything with kefir and molasses. The dough should be sticky. Poor it into a greased baking tin. Bake it for about 1 hour and 40 minutes at 175°C (345 F).

This bread is great with my east village herring and vodka.

See also my post about How to Make Kefir.