Swedish Knäckebröd
My immediate reaction to anything stressful happening is to want to bake, so when we got some bad, albeit expected, news in the Liseuse household this morning, I reached for the baking books. Add to that the fact that the challenge this month, right here, is yeast and you have me at least knowing which section of the bookshelf I wanted to be in. So, I ate my breakfast and flicked through a few books, before landing on Baking, by Martha Day. This book has a huge number of bread recipes, and I’ve been bookmarking them off and on for a while. I didn’t want to make anything that I would have to make a starter for, or leave to rise, however, because the aim of baking today was to occupy my mind.
Which meant I saw the recipe for Swedish Knäckebröd and my eyes widened. Yeast, no starter and no rising time necessary. As far as I can tell, the only problem with them is that they defy my limited photography skills, so the pictures don’t make them look that appetising!
Ingredients:
1 lb/450g rye flour
1 tsp/5 ml salt
2 oz/50g butter
¾ oz/20g fresh yeast
9 fl oz/275 ml lukewarm water
3 oz/75g wheat bran
Method:
1. Lightly grease two baking sheets. Preheat the oven to 230°C/450°F/Gas Mark 8.
2. Mix the rye flour and salt in a large bowl. Rub in the butter, then make a well in the centre.
3. Cream the yeast with a little water, then stir in the remainder. Pour into the centre of the flour, mix to a dough and then mix in the bran. Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for 5 minutes until smooth and elastic.
4. Divide the dough into eight pieces and roll each one out on a floured surface into an 8 inch/20cm round.
5. Place two rounds on the prepared baking sheets and prick all over with a fork. Cut a hole in the centre of each round, using a 1½ in/4cm cutter. I don’t own a cutter that small, so I cut mine out with a knife which is why they are somewhat less than round or neat.
6. Bake for 15-20 minutes - until golden and crisp. Transfer to a wire rack to cool and bake the rest of the crispbreads.
