Norwegian Crispbread - Historic Foodways

Time to add another recipe to our files here. This one comes to us from Historic Foodways. This is a recipe adapted by Mary Inghram from Flatbreads and Flavors; A Baker's Atlas. Though this recipe calls for cooking in an oven, it could probably be easily done prior to an event and brought with me, or I could try it over the fire in the same way we cook a pie over the fire. Should be interesting to try. Here is a link to the recipe. And here is the recipe itself:

Adapted by Mercy Ingraham from
Flatbreads and Flavors: A Baker’s Atlas
by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid
page 340

According to Mercy , “What was spectacular was the dough I saved from the same recipe done 3 weeks earlier. It was a thousand times more flavorful and moist.” Mercy suggests that the dough should be made 2-3 weeks in advance of cooking the flatbread. “It was wonderful!”


Norwegian Crispbread

1 cup oat flour
1 ½ teaspoon salt
1 cup light rye flour
1 ½ cups warm water
1 cup hard unbleached wheat flour, Oat flour or barley flour for kneading
1 cup barley flour


1. Mix flours together in a large bowl. Stir in warm water and form the dough into a ball. Turn out onto a work surface generously dusted with flour. Knead with well-floured hands, working the dough gently until it gains elasticity and loses it stickiness. Continue kneading for 5 minutes longer. This will develop the gluten in the wheat and rye flours and make rolling out a pleasure.

2. Let the dough rest for 10 minutes covered with a towel. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

3. Divide the dough into four. Flour your work surface and each piece of dough generously, and flatten each piece with the palm of your hand. Cover three of the pieces with a towel. Working with the fourth, flatten it further with your palm into a rectangle about 6 to 8 inches across. Then start rolling it out, working from the center outward into a rectangle the size of your baking sheet and less that 1/8 inch thick. Trim off the edges to make a neat rectangle and transfer it to an ungreased baking sheet.

4. Using a knife or pizza cutter, cut the dough lengthwise into 1 ½ inch wide strips. Then cut the strips crosswise in thirds. If your oven is large enough to accommodate two baking sheets at once, roll out and cut another piece of dough. Place the baking sheet(s) in the center of the oven, and bake for 5 to 10 minutes, depending on how thin the flatbread is. You will see the crispbreads separate from each other as they curve away from the hot surface; start checking them after 5 minutes—once you see them starting to brown, they’re done. Transfer to a rack to cool.

Roll out and bake the remaining dough. Store the completely cooled flatbreads in a well-sealed plastic bag or a cookie tin.