Our first trip to Norway was the start of a Knekkebrød addiction — a crisp bread made from rye flour. Norwegians eat them for breakfast, lunch or snacks, usually topped with cheese, egg or fish. Most restaurants serve them with whipped butter as something to nibble while your food is being cooked. They became one of my favourite parts of eating out in the evening!
I’ve worked through many iterations of this recipe but I’m finally at a point where it’s ready to share. I usually make a couple of baking sheets on a Sunday and we eat them through the week. They are healthy, filling, packed full of goodness and best of all, eating them reminds me of happy times in Norway.
Ingredients
- 75g rye flour
- 50g porridge oats
- 50g oat bran
- 50g sesame seeds
- 50g sunflower seeds
- 25g whole flax
- 25g milled flax *
- 25g pumpkin seeds
- 1/2 – 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 – 1.5 cups warm water
* 50g of milled or whole flax (instead of 25g each) will still work if you don’t have both.
Supplies
- 2 baking sheets (approx 40cm x 30cm)
- Silicone baking mats or baking parchment *
- Spatula
* I’ve had zero luck finding a baking paper that doesn’t stick so I recommend using silicone baking sheets instead.
Knekkebrød recipe
1. Measure out the dry ingredients
Measure all the dry ingredients into a bowl and stir well to combine.
2. Add water
I normally use closer to 1 cup of warm water and I recommend doing this part slowly or the mixture will be too wet. You want everything to stick together but still be spreadable — more like wet soil than soup. This photo isn’t the most appetising but it gives you an idea of what to aim for:
3. Let to rest
Leave the mixture rest for 10 minutes. It will thicken slightly as the flour absorbs the water. If it’s too thick to spread, add a splash more water and stir.
4. Spread on baking sheets
This takes some getting use to but does get easier with practice. I usually space 6 dollops of the mixture out on silicone lined baking sheet. Then smooth it out to around 3mm thick — starting with the first dollop and joining them all together. It takes a few minutes but it’s worth the extra care for a thin and crispy cracker.
5. Bake
Bake in an oven preheated to 140c (fan assisted):
- Bake for 10 minutes.
- Take the trays out of the oven and score lines along the crackers.
- Place back in the oven and bake for 20 minutes.
- Rotate trays and cook for another 15-20 minutes.
Check back 10 minutes after rotating the trays in case the Knekkebrød start to brown too quickly. Depending on how much water you added, they might need a little longer than 15-20 minutes.
6. Leave to cool
Leave the crisp breads to cool on a wire rack, then snaps them into smaller pieces along the score lines.
7. Enjoy
Thinly sliced cheese, cream cheese with cucumber and egg mayo with sweet pickled onions are my favourite toppings.
If you find any great topping combinations, I’d love to hear about them.
Troubleshooting
- Baking paper sticks to the bottom: turn the crackers and stuck parchment over and cover them with a tea towel while they’re still warm (trapped steam can help loosen the paper).
- Crackers browning too quickly: turn the oven down and flip the crackers over.
- Crackers not crisp: use less water and cook
Thanks to the Norwegian influence in our home, it’s usually butter and cheese for us – but it’s my favorite breakfast/lunch!
You can’t go wrong with butter and cheese 🙂 Unless it’s the brown cheese, I never warmed to that.