Knäckebröd

Knäckebröd is Swedish crispbread. It is a thin, flat, very dry bread, usually made from wholegrain rye flour, water and salt, and baked until it snaps. It tastes nutty and a little sour, and it is crunchy rather than soft. Because it holds almost no water, it is shelf-stable and keeps for months.

How to use it

Swedes eat knäckebröd every day, most often like an open sandwich:

• Spread with butter and top with cheese, sliced egg, cucumber, ham or kaviar, a sweet smoked fish roe spread.
• Spread with messmör, a sweet whey spread.
• Serve it with soup, pea soup in particular, or with pickled herring on the smörgåsbord.
• Break it into pieces as a snack with cheese.

There are many kinds: thin and thick, rye or wheat, plain, with seeds, and round with a hole in the middle. The hole goes back to when the bread was baked a few times a year and stored on a pole near the ceiling.

Substitutes

Outside Sweden, rye crispbreads are sold in most supermarkets, often near the crackers. Other good swaps are rye crackers, seeded flatbread crackers and Norwegian flatbrød. Water crackers or other plain crackers work as a base for toppings but lack the rye taste.

To make a simple seeded crispbread at home, mix 1 dl (100 ml) each of rye flour, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds and flax seeds with 1 teaspoon salt, ½ dl (50 ml) oil and 2½ dl (250 ml) boiling water. Spread it very thin between two sheets of parchment paper and bake at 150°C (300°F) for about an hour, until fully crisp. Cut it into squares while warm.

How to store it

Keep it in a closed tin or bag in a dry cupboard. If it goes soft, crisp it again in the oven at 150°C (300°F) for 5 minutes and let it cool.

In recipes

Recipes may call it knäcke or hårt bröd. Crumbled knäckebröd is sometimes used as a crunchy topping or in place of breadcrumbs. Most crispbread contains rye or wheat, so it contains gluten. Gluten-free versions are made from seeds and oats labeled gluten-free.