Discover the thin and crispy Norwegian Flatbread

Norwegian Flatbread is an old food tradition with roots back to the middle age. It is made without yeast and it includes different flour types depending on the traditions in various regions. The dough is rolled out very thinly and it is traditionally cooked on a hot stone or a “takke”, a big iron heated plate.

The biggest advantage of this bread is that it can be stored for several months! Traditionally they were made in huge batches once or twice a year and then stocked in a “stabbur”, a special farm shed for food storage. A “stabbur” is made out of wood with small or no windows in order to be cool in summer and not too cold in winter and it is elevated from the ground with stone or wooden pillars to keep the mice away. In addition to flatbread also cheese, butter, jam, dried fish and meat used to be stored in these sheds.

As I don’t have any hot stone, nor a “takke”, I use the flattest frying pan I have (the one I use for pancakes). You can use any frying pan you have available. I inspire from a recipe by Berit Nordjore that I change a bit to adjust for the flour I have available and I also add some flake salt when rolling the dough but this is optional.

It is a bit time consuming to cook these, so my advice is to close the door to your kitchen, put on a sound book or some music and relax while enjoying the process…:-) The result is a crispy, light-textured bread which is lovely together with soups and stews!

THE TIPS TO SUCCEED

1: Keep the heat at medium and cook the bread slowly. If the temperature is too high then it might burn before it gets crispy.

2: Use a lot of flour on the table and turn the dough frequently to avoid it from sticking.

Let’s get started

Ingredients

In Norwegian cooking, we often use ml rather than grams when measuring dry ingredients. It is not a mistake! 🙂 This is how lots of Norwegian recipes are built, so just follow the measure in ml and it will work perfectly!

This recipe makes around 30 breads, depending on the size you make.

Mix 1

• 250 ml Oatmeal
• 350 ml Water

Mix 2

• 500 ml Whole-wheat flour
• 500 ml All-purpose Flour replace with white whole wheat flour if you have it
• 250 ml Spelt flour
• 125 ml Boiled Water

Mix 3

• 500 ml Whole Milk
• 2 tsp Salt
• 300 ml All purpose Flour

When rolling and cooking the Flatbread

• Flake salt
• Spelt flour
• Whole wheat flour

How to do it?

Mix 1

Start by placing the oatmeal and water in a small saucepan, cover and let it simmer until the water has absorbed.

Mix 2

Place the various flours in a bowl and add the boiling water. Mix it and let it rest for 30 minutes. The mixture is still quite dry, it is just adding humidity to the flour.

Mix 3

Bring the milk to boil, add mixture 1 and mix well using a whisk.

Add mixture 2 and the salt, mix well and add the all-purpose flour until the dough is workable (the measure of 300 ml is an indication).

When rolling and cooking the Norwegian Flatbread

Mix wheat flour, spelt flour and a bit of flake salt (optional) in a bowl and use it generously on the table and the rolling pin to avoid the dough from sticking.

Take a small portion of the dough (a big tbsp) and roll it as thin as you are able to without it tearing.

Place the rolled out dough delicately in a dry medium heated pan using a long spatula. Once a light brown color forming underneath the bread, you can turn it. Touch the bread with your spatula to check that it has gone crispy before to remove it to cool down.

I recommend using a small brush to brush away flour from the dough during cooking and I also advise you to empty the pan of the remaining flour between each bread.

Store the bread in an airtight box.

How to serve the Norwegian Flatbread?

The Norwegian Flatbread is delicious together with soups and stews. I recommend you to serve it with a “Lapskaus” or meat and vegetable stew, available on the blog.