Rye Crispbread

As a starter for an upcoming Scandinavian dinner we're hosting, I wanted light starters. I'm a fan of the Knäckebröd I first encountered at Ikea and wondered if I could make it at home. We tried a couple recipes -- the first with yoghurt was a bit flat, the second alarmed me as it lacked yeast -- and liked the latter. While it didn't have the lofty layers of those Ikea disks, they were really tasty, crunchy, earthy and honest.  We devoured them all over a couple days.

Sadly, I've lost that recipe (cue song "MacArthur Park") so will have to re-create it.

Nigel Slater's recipe looks the most straight-forward so let's start there. I found a variation on his using sourdough that had appetizing image but I'll just use my standard direct yeast method here. I have a few more under References below if I want to tweak this one.

Makes 2 residential sized half-sheet pans when rolled about 2mm thick

• 400 g rye flour 
• 4 g fine sea salt 
• 10 g dry yeast 
• 350 ml water, room temperature

Combine the ingredients in a stand mixer and knead a bit with a dough hook; you can mix and need it hand, too. Rye's not got much in the way of gluten so you're looking to combine rather than develop white-bread style structure.

Cover and let rise in a warm place for an hour; it'll rise a bit but not nearly as much as a conventional bread dough, just a little puffed.

I chose to make rectangles out of these and got OCD about the shapes. Set a Silpat or parchment on the counter that will fit your baking sheet. Set two straight-edges on either side: their depth will determine the thickness of the crispbread (I used two L-shaped carpenter's squares about 2mm in thickness). Place the dough on the Silpat and cover with cling film. Roll out evenly, moving excessive dough to voids, and saving truly extra dough for another sheet. If you like, you can add coarse salt, caraway, sesame or other seeds and roll gently one final time to press them in.

Rolling to thickness with rulers as guides

Scoring with fluted pastry cutter

Use a fluted pastry cutter (or pizza wheel) to cut the dough into rectangles, but don't separate. Into each, dock (poke holes) with a skewer, nail or whatnot. I got crazy and built a little wooden block with small nails in the pattern of my initials, mirror-image reversed: the nail heads imprint each rectangle with my initials in the correct orientation; it makes for fast work too. If the dough is too wet and sticky, dust with some rye flour -- spreading it very thinly with a soft pastry brush.

The branding stamp, letters mirror-imaged

Docking the dough with the stamp

Transfer the Silpat and its dough to a baking sheet and bake at 200C/400F. Depending on thickness, it could take 15-30 minutes until crisp.

Let cool and store in an air-tight container.

I top these with home made gravadlax, smoked herring, and other good things. They're hard to resist just nibbling with no topping too; the rye's an enticing flavor.

2014-04-30 Lower hydration, give some rise

When I first made them, the dough was too wet: 350ml/400g gives 87% hydration: the cutter gummed up. The crackers were a bit thin and... crackery, rather than that Ikea-style half-cracker/half-bread.

So I made them again with 75% hydration. After rolling out the dough, scoring and stamping, I let it rise about 30 minutes to give some lift and texture. It helped: the dough didn't stick when scored and stamped, and the crackers had a bit more texure. Next time I'll let it rise even longer.

2014-05-02 Mixed flours, low hydration, more rise

The rye flour I'm using right now is quite coarse, so I'm mising 300 g Rye with 100 g King Arthur AP flour, again 75% hydration (300g water); first rise of 90 minutes, then 45-60 minutes after rolling, scoring and cutting.

References

QuetzalGirl's Rye Crispbead

This one uses butter and no yeast.

http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=95976

2 c. dark rye flour

2 Tbsp. butter 

1/2 tsp. salt 

3 oz. (6 Tbsp.) water

Rub the butter in to the flour and stir in salt. Stir in the water and mix to a firm dough. Divide dough in to two halves. Knead each half lightly on a floured surface. Roll each half out thinly in to about a 9" square. Cut into 3" squares and put on lightly greased baking sheet. Prick each square well. Bake at 390 for 10 to 15 minutes or until edges just begin to color, but do not let them brown. Cool slightly on the baking sheet then transfer to wire racks. 

SWEDISH CRISP BREAD FROM LOTTA JANSDOTTER

This one has yeast and a mix of flours

http://www.sweetpaulmag.com/food/swedish-crisp-bread-from-lotta-jansdotter

1 package dry yeast

2 cups lukewarm water

1/2 tablespoon salt

1 tablespoon fennel, crushed or 1 tablespoon anise seed

3 1/2 cups coarse rye flour

1 1/2-2 cups wheat flour

RYE CRISPBREAD RECIPE

No yeast!

http://www.painlesscooking.com/cracker-recipes.html

1 ¾ Cups rye flour
1 ½ Cups whole wheat flour
½ Teaspoon salt
½ Teaspoon finely ground caraway
2 Pinches freshly ground fennel
½ Cup warm water
3 Tablespoons warm buttermilk
3 Tablespoons sunflower oil
Oil for brushing

Bread and Milk and Blackberries

http://www.breadandmilkandblackberries.com/2011/12/swedish-rye-crisp-bread-with-caraway.html

This was one I looked at, it mentioned a special rolling pin but I improvised. It's now blocked and I can't find a cache, but other references to it mention an overnight rest, which I don't recall doing, so maybe it's not "the one":