Knäckebröd
Knäckebröd is not bread in the usual sense — it is baked until completely dry. The aim is not a crumb but the removal of water, which is what lets it keep for weeks. Hence two moves that look strange: it is rolled very thin and then pricked with hundreds of holes, through which steam escapes instead of doming the dough.
Your own work in that: 20 min.
- Dough 15 min
- Resting 45 min
- Rolling and pricking 20 min
- Baking (4 batches) 72 min
- Drying out 20 min
Step by step
0 / 6 doneKnead a firm dough
Mix both flours with the yeast, salt and caraway, add the lukewarm water with the honey and oil and knead for 8 minutes. The dough should be firm, not sticky — a wet one cannot be rolled thin and tears when moved.
Ingredients: 300 g rye flour · 150 g bread flour · 280 ml water · 5 g dried yeast · 1 tbsp honey · 10 g salt · 3 tbsp oil
Work in the seeds and rest
Knead in the seeds and leave the dough, covered, for 45 minutes. This short rest is not meant to raise it — knäckebröd stays flat anyway. The point is to relax the gluten so it can be rolled very thin without shrinking back.
Ingredients: 80 g mixed seeds · 1 tbsp caraway · 1 tsp sea salt
Roll very thin
Heat the oven to 200°C. Divide the dough into 20 balls and roll them directly on sheets of baking paper, 5 to a sheet, into 15 cm rounds 2 mm thick, even all over. Rolling on paper is the simplest way to move rounds this thin onto a tray.
Ingredients: 300 g rye flour · 150 g bread flour · 280 ml water · 5 g dried yeast · 1 tbsp honey · 10 g salt · 3 tbsp oil
Two millimetres, even all over.Cut a hole and prick it densely
Cut a hole in the centre with a shot glass and prick the whole round with a fork, densely, every centimetre. The holes are functional: steam escapes through them instead of doming the dough, so it stays flat and dries evenly.
Ingredients: 300 g rye flour · 150 g bread flour · 280 ml water · 5 g dried yeast · 1 tbsp honey · 10 g salt · 3 tbsp oil
Hundreds of holes — the steam needs a way out.Bake in batches at 200°C
Dampen the rounds lightly with water, scatter with sea salt and bake in batches, one sheet to a tray, for 15–18 minutes, until the edges begin to curl and the surface turns matt; the four batches take about 70 minutes in all. The rounds will still be slightly soft in the middle — normal at this stage. Move the baked ones to a rack.
Ingredients: 80 g mixed seeds · 1 tbsp caraway · 1 tsp sea salt
Dry out in the switched-off oven
After the last batch turn the oven off, put all the rounds back in (on two trays or racks, they may overlap a little), wedge the door open with a wooden spoon and leave for 20 minutes. This is the actual drying: the last of the water leaves slowly, without scorching. A finished piece snaps rather than bending.
Ingredients: 300 g rye flour · 150 g bread flour · 280 ml water · 5 g dried yeast · 1 tbsp honey · 10 g salt · 3 tbsp oil
Door wedged open — the last water leaves slowly.
Before you start
A month in a tin
Fully dried knäckebröd keeps a month in an airtight tin and does not stale, because there is almost no water in it. If it softens after a week it was not dried enough — give it 8 minutes at 150°C and it will be crisp again.
The hole in the middle
Not decoration but a trace of the old storage method: the rounds were threaded onto a pole below the ceiling, where the air in the cottage was driest. Unnecessary now, but it is what makes knäckebröd look like knäckebröd.
What to put on it
Classically: butter, smoked salmon, dill and lemon. Or blue cheese with honey. The bread is neutral and faintly earthy from the rye, so it carries anything — its job is crunch, not flavour.
