Knækbrød
This Christmas I’ve been making my own Scandinavian seeded crispbread, also known as ‘knækbrød’ (pronounced ‘kah-neck-broad’). I’m a huge fan of artisan crackers such as Line’s Knækbrød, but… sometimes one doesn’t want to spend $9 on crackers. Have no fear though, because knækbrød, or my iteration of it, is very easy to make.
It’s made from seeds, flour and oats and a bit of water and oil, and you can add a few aromatic spices for a bit of ‘wow’. In the last year, I have just started buying Maldon sea salt flakes, after reading the value it adds to finishing a dish both in taste and in texture (thank you Samin Nosrat, author of ‘ Salt Fat Acid Heat’), and if you have it, or have needed an excuse to buy it, now is your chance.
I’d serve these crackers with pretty much anything deemed worthy to be eaten on a cracker: cheese, pate, cheese, cream cheese, smoked fish. more cheese, even butter and jam. They’re pretty moreish so I’m often pecking at them on their own too.
Ingredients:
100g rolled oats
100g rye or wheat flour
50g each of flaxseeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds
25g poppy seeds (You have to ask for them at supermarkets as opiate fiends have started abusing the seeds by making ‘poppy seed tea’. Well I never. You could try black chia seeds instead, they’re easier to find.)
3/4 tsp salt
50ml neutral oil
150ml warm water
Optional extras to make the crackers extra:
1 tsp caraway seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/4 tsp dried chilli flakes
Flaky sea salt for topping
Method:
Preheat oven to 180C/160C (fan bake).
Add the dry ingredients (except flaky sea salt) in a large bowl and stir to combine evenly.
Add oil and water to the dry ingredients and stir until all the liquid is incorporated into a sticky dough.
Divide dough into three portions. Roll out each portion of dough between two sheets of non-stick baking paper as thin as you can.
Remove one layer of baking paper and patch any holes you make. You can score the rolled out dough to help with breaking the crackers after they’re baked (I often forget to do this and just have rather rustic shaped crackers instead). Transfer rolled out dough on baking paper to a baking tray. Repeat steps 4 and 5 for remaining dough.
Sprinkle flaky sea salt if using over rolled out dough and then transfer baking trays to oven. Rotate trays through oven every 10-15 minutes for a total of 30 minutes. My oven is a bit temperamental and so I have to turn my trays around half way through to get even browning.
Remove trays from oven when crackers are golden or after 30 minutes. Transfer to cooling racks and leave to cool down completely. Break crackers into pieces and store in an air tight container.