Knækbrød is a traditional danish crisp flatbread. Literally, knækbrød means something like break bread or breaking bread. Well, it breaks easy and tastes just as good as it breaks. Normally knækbrød is served with butter, cheese, jam, or similar as a snack in the afternoon. And even though it is a bread recipe knækbrød doesn’t belong to the famous danish bread tradition known as smørrebrød. This is entirely different.
Here you have the traditional danish recipe.
Knækbrød recipe
Ingredients
- 1 dl oatmeal
- 1 dl sesame seeds
- 1 dl flaxseed
- 1 dl sunflower seeds
- 1 dl pumpkin seeds
- 3½ dl wheat flour
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 2 tsp. salt
- 2 dl water
- 1¼ dl oil
Instructions
- Turn the oven to 200 ° C (or 390 ° F)
- Mix all the dry ingredients together. Spare a bit if you prefer of some or all of the seeds to sprinkle on the top of the knækbrød.
- Add the wet ingredients, and knead, or stir it all into a uniform, slightly sticky dough.
- Divide the dough into two equal sized doughs.
- Roll out each part thinly between two pieces of baking paper. It must be rolled out so that it roughly fits a regular size baking tray.
- Place the rolled out dough with baking paper on the baking tray and remove the top piece of parchment paper.
- Cut the dough into rectangles, squares, triangles, or however you want to form it with a sharp knife or with a pizza cutter.
- Sprinkle with seeds if you have spared some.
- Put the knækbrød – crispbreads – in the oven for approx. 15-20 minutes, until they have a golden glow and are thoroughly baked.
Other info on knækbrød
It may happen that knækbrød – the crispbreads – “stick” together again during baking, but it is relatively easy to crack or cut them apart while it is warm. However, they may get a little crooked from it, lack corner here or there or have an extra overhang. But don’t worry about it. It just proves that they are really homemade, and it certainly does not affect the taste.
Store the crispbreads in a cake tin with a tight-fitting lid.
This recipe is for inspiration. If you do not have the types of seeds available mentioned in the ingredients then some others you would rather use. It can easily be changed. You can also add fewer grains if you think, however, it may then be necessary to add more flour so that the dough does not become too sticky again.
Also see our other danish recipes like frikadeller or brunede kartofler.
