If you are a sourdough bread baker, you know that feeling of tossing out a portion of your starter ever time you feed it and thinking, "I wish there was some easy way I could put this to good use!" This Sourdough Rye Crispbread (or Knäckebröd in Swedish) is a simple, resourceful and very Scandinavian solution to that dilemma. With only 4 ingredients, including that leftover starter, you have everything you need to create homemade rye crispbread that is sure to become a household staple. You may may never buy crackers or pita chips again!
What Is Crispbread?
While crispbread might seem like just a large round cracker with a hole in the center, Scandinavians see it as another form of bread and serve it for breakfast, lunch, dinner and as a snack in between meals. It is often made with rye flour but can also include wheat, oats or barley and/or a variety of seeds such as flax or sunflower.
Crispbread in Scandinavia
Crispbread was traditionally made only twice a year and stored on a long pole hanging near the ceiling, hence the hole in the center of each piece. When you were ready for another crispbread, you could simply climb up, slide one off the pole and give it a little dust off. While this storage method is very charming, modern day Scandinavians are more likely to opt for an airtight container to keep their crispbread fresh AND dust-free.
Scandinavians eat a lot of crispbread, Swedes boasting the highest consumption, closely followed by Norway. Crispbread is Sweden’s second largest export (just behind vodka), and on average, Swedes consume over 450 slices of crispbread per year!
What Should I Eat with Crispbread?
Crispbread makes an excellent base for just about anything and everything. For breakfast, think butter and and jam or a sliced hard-boiled egg, or maybe cream cheese and homemade pear compote. For lunch, how about a piece of crispbread piled high with creamy chickpea salad or dipped into Roasted Beet Hummus? And as an easy and delicious accompaniment to your Nordic supper, serve it buttered along side a cozy soup or stew. It’s perfect for dipping.
Tips and Tricks for Perfect Crispbread
Making your own crispbread is incredibly easy and enjoyable once you get the hang of it. I've got a few tips and tricks to help ensure crispbread success everytime:
- Roll your crispbread thin. PAPER thin. When you think it’s thin enough, keep rolling. You will get a much more crisp final product when you take the time to roll it out as thin as you possibly can. You can also expect your crispbread to expand slightly when baked so it will not be quite as thin as when it went into the oven.
- Use a pizza cutter to even out the edges if necessary. Don’t worry if your crispbread is more amoeba-shaped than round. Simply use a pizza cutter to even out the edges. Or leave your crispbread amoeba-shaped! That’s rustic and charming, too. The more you make your own crispbread at home, the better you will become at rolling out the dough.
- Roll a kruskavel (a notched rolling pin) over the dough round a few times or poke it all over with a fork. This helps keep it flat and ensures maximum crispiness. If you enjoy Scandinavian baking and want to start making more of your own crispbread and flatbread, I highly recommend investing in a kruskavel of your own. It’s an invaluable tool for the Nordic baker.
- Roll your dough directly on a piece of parchment paper. This eliminates the need to transfer the dough round from the counter to a baking pan. It also makes it easier to roll the crispbread really, really thin. If you are not already doing so, it’s worth checking out your local bakery supply store for a large box of baking parchment paper. It is so much more affordable that buying a small box of it at the grocery store.
- Cut a hole in the center of your crispbread using a round biscuit cutter. Not just because it’s charming and traditional, but also because the center is the last part of the crispbread to crisp up. Creating that hole in the center creates extra edges and helps prevent the dreaded soggy crispbread. Go ahead and leave the little rounds in place while the crispbread bakes.
- Sprinkle on some sea salt flakes before baking. This adds an irresistible salty crunch to your crispbread.
- Bake until golden brown and crisp. DO NOT remove your crispbread from the oven too soon. This leads to sogginess. You want to make sure your crispbread is crispy all the way through.
- Allow the crispbread to cool completely on a wire rack prior to storing. Moisture is the enemy of good crispbread. Make sure that it is thoroughly cooled before placing in an airtight container.
I hope you give this Easy Sourdough Rye Crispbread a try! It's sure to become a household favorite and part of your weekly baking routine. If you don't keep a sourdough starter but would like to, I've got instructions for creating your own sourdough starter right here. And if you want to make crispbread without a starter, please give this Rye and Oat Crispbread a try! And please share your experience with this recipe in the comments below! I always love hearing from you.
Recipe
Easy Sourdough Rye Crispbread (Knäckebröd)
Ingredients
- 1 cup about 8 ounces discarded sourdough starter
- ¼ cup unsalted butter room temperature
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 cup dark rye flour plus more for rolling
- flaky sea salt such as Maldon for sprinkling on top
Instructions
- Combine sourdough starter, butter, fine sea salt and rye flour in a medium bowl. Mix and knead together with your hands until a cohesive dough forms. Wrap dough tightly in plastic wrap and place in the fridge until well chilled, 2 hours or up to 1 day.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Remove dough from the refrigerator and tear off a piece that is about 2 inches in diameter. Using your hands, roll the piece of dough into a ball and place on a piece of parchment paper. Flaten slightly into a disk shape with your palm.
- Sprinkle dough round with flour and roll with a traditional rolling pin until it is VERY thin circle, about 8 inches in diameter. Sprinkle with additional flour as necessary to prevent sticking.
- Using a 1 ½ inch biscuit cutter, cut a hole in the center of the dough round, leaving the circle in place while the crispbread bakes.
- Sprinkle with flaky sea salt. Transfer parchment paper to a rimmed baking sheet and bake for 10-16 minutes or until crispbread is golden brown and crisp. Do not remove it from the oven too early! No one likes soggy crispbread.
- Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Repeat with remaining dough. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to two weeks.
Robert Queberg says
Hello Kristi,
I am eating some "store bought" crisps right now. That started thr recipe hunt.
I started baking sourdough rye bread for a Prussian neighbor down the road, about 15 years ago.
I had eaten a lot of home made bread (Thanks Mom), but never rye. Yum! Up to this point, the re-proofin
starter was used to make dog crackers. Starter water starterand a rolling pin. They both run in opposite directions with their prizes. Now I may teach them about sharing with Dad.
Thank you for the guidence,
Kristi says
Thanks, Robert!
Marcia says
This sounds super good! Can I add seeds to it also? Sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, poppyseeds, etc? That would be just incredible!
Kristi says
Hi Marcia,
Thanks for your question! I don't see why not! Some other readers have just sprinkled seeds over the top but I think you could just include them right in with the dough also. Please let me know if you give it a try. If you want an all seed version, definitely check out the gluten-free seed crackers (Norwegian Crispbread) on my site. Also a great recipe and VERY seedy!
Kristi
Kris says
I used a tortilla press to first flatten out the rounds -- awesome! Take a ball of dough, squish it in the tortilla press (lined with parchment paper of course) and then another few swipes of the specialized rolling pin with the bumps from my grandmother) -- perfect. The tortilla press helped make a more uniform "round" shape, less amoeba, and was faster.
Jessica says
Thank you! Made these as per recipe without adjustments - only oven times. Leksands/Fazer isn’t available where I live & the freezer doesn’t need another discard.
Riki says
Very tasty! I forgot about them in the fridge for 4 days but they were totally fine! I floured generously and rolled into a rectangle and cut across for simple crackers. Excellent with cream cheese and cucumber as another comment suggested.
Laura says
I grew up with my Swedish grandmother's "hardbread". This recipe is better! I made it four times last week. I find it becomes more golden and crisp if I add 2 Tb brown sugar into the dough. My favourite batch: I substituted 1/2 C oat bran for 1/2 C of the rye flour.
Thank you so much!
Kristi says
Hi Laura,
So glad you enjoyed it! And I love your idea about the brown sugar. Totally giving it a try! Thanks so much for your feedback.
Kristi
JJ says
I made a half batch of these today (having left the dough in the fridge overnight). So good! Really crispy and the perfect base for some cream cheese and cucumber slices. I pressed some seeds onto a few of them and that also worked well. Thanks for an easy and great way to use discard and happy Midsummer!
Kristi says
Hi JJ,
So glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for taking the time to leave me a note. It's so nice to have something yummy to do with sourdough discard, right?
Kristi
Sven Yonson says
Turned out very nice. I'm going to try a proofing stage next time to try to give it a little more air in the crumb - like Siljans.
I was going to share a photo as suggested above , but I don't see a way to do that.
Kristi says
That's so great! I sometimes proof it overnight in the fridge which turns out really well. A little more sour in flavor. Thanks so much for checking back in! I so appreciate your feedback.
Kristi
Sven Yonson says
I'm going to make this tomorrow! Question though - as my starter is bubbly, measuring by volume isn't very accurate. The recipe says 1 cup, about 8 ounces - is that 8 ounces of weight or volume? If by volume, do you have an idea of what the weight is, approximately?
Kristi says
Hi Sven! That’s 8 ounces by weight. Can’t wait to hear how it turns out!
Kristi
Kristi says
Thanks for the feedback! I'm so glad you enjoyed the crispbread. And it's always nice to have something easy to make with that starter discard. Enjoy your week!
Kristi
Patricia Swanson says
Hi Kristi,
I took your suggestion and made these crisp bread with the discarded sour dough starter. I had been making the other recipe on your site with the oat flakes added. So, I have some rye flakes that I put into the other breads, so put about 1/4C into these crisps. Really tasty. I just cut mine into rectangles so that I don’t have so much re-rolling of dough to do. They turn out great. Thanks for all the great recipes.