Icelandic cooking, recipes and food

This bread relies on fermentation for both rising and sweetness. I have not tested this recipe. 2 kg. rye flour 1 litre of water or a 1:1 mixture of water and whey 1 tsp salt Put the rye flour into a large bowl. Warm the water and add the salt and then add the water to the rye flour and mix well together. Turn out onto a floured table and knead until smooth and free of cracks. Rub a little bit of cooking oil on your hands and form the dough into a loaf. Put the loaf into a well-oiled container - Icelanders often use tins, but a cooking pot or a casserole dish may be used as well. It has to fit inside another, larger container. The dough must not fill the container as it will rise (the genius who wrote the recipe book unfortunately does not say by how much). Put a damp cloth on top of the container and leave to rise in a warm spot overnight. When the dough has risen, put baking paper on top of it and then close the baking container (with a lid, or if that‘s not available, with a...

Here is a third flatbread recipe. 500 g potatoes, cooked, peeled and cooled 250 g rye flour (or more, if needed) The amount of rye flour depends on how much moisture there is in the potatoes. Start with the given amount and add more if necessary. Mash the potatoes until smooth, or process in a food processor (take care not to over-process, or they may turn gummy). Knead the rye flour into the potatoes until you have a stiff, dense dough. Whole wheat flour may be mixed in with the rye flour. Roll out the dough into thin, round cakes. Dry-fry the cakes on a griddle or electric hotplate until browned with small burnt-looking spots. Links to the other recipes: Most commonly used recipe Luxury recipe

Twice-baked bread keeps well and is good in all kinds of sweetened soups, like Sweet Soup , Crowberry Soup , and Cocoa Soup . 250 g flour OR 100 g bread or all-purpose flour and 100 g whole-wheat flour t tsp baking powder 1 tbs sugar 1/2 tsp ground cardamom 75 g butter or margarine 100-150 ml milk Sift together the flour, baking powder and cardamom and add the sugar. Add the softened butter or margarine and rub into the dry mix until the mixture is crumbly. Add the milk, no more than needed to make the dough stick together. Knead until smooth and roll up into sausage shapes. Cut into even-sized pieces and roll into balls. Arrange on a greased cookie sheet and bake at 180°C until light brown. Remove the buns from the oven and cool until they can be handled, then cut in half, put back on the cookie sheet and dry in the oven at a low temperature. Serve with the above-mentioned sweet soups or with coffee.

There is already one recipe for flatbread on this blog, but I came across another one that I thought would be interesting to post for comparison. The first recipe, which is the basic, traditional recipe, is just rye flour, salt and water, but this one is more elaborate, and would most likely have been made only in richer households, since it contains three types of flour, The use of a raising agent should also mean lighter bread. 200 g whole-wheat flour 200 g bread or all-purpose flour 200 g rye flour 4 tsp baking powder 1 tsp salt 450-500 ml milk Mix together all the dry ingredients. Bring the milk to the boil. Add the milk to the dry mix, stirring it in with a wooden spoon while it is too hot to touch and then knead it. When fully kneaded (smooth and even), divide into 10 pieces. Flatten and cut out into round pieces to fit the size of the skillet. Prick and bake on each side until the bread looks dry.

These little rye bread "cakes" are made to be served with milk soups or hot milk. Make sure you use the sweet Icelandic type of rye bread and not the Danish or German style unsweetened pumpernickel bread. 250 g rye bread, finely crumbled or grated 75 g sugar 100 g butter or margarine Mix together bread and sugar and gently brown in the butter in a frying pan until it begins to harden. Press into egg cups or miniature muffin tins to cool. Serve with sweet milk soups or hot milk.

While technically they are everyday pastries, I think kleinur deserve to be included in the Christmas fare. I have added a second recipe for those who do not have access to hartshorn powder. In many homes in Iceland a large cooking pot lurks in a kitchen cupboard. Its sides are black with burnt-in fat, and a guest might wonder what the monster is used for. Occasionally, in some homes as often as once a week, this pot will be pulled out from its hiding place and put to good use for frying doughnuts in. It is not unusual for a doughnut-maker to make a double or even triple recipe in one session. Twisted doughnuts are not a specifically Icelandic phenomenon, but neither are they as common in other countries. Making these delicacies is time consuming and hard work, and therefore the batches are usually large to save time and effort. Don't try this if you have never deep-fried anything before, as the frying fat must be very hot, and certain precautions must be taken to avoid ...

My mother invented this dish. It can be served as a cold main dish or as an entrée using small portions. Herring on rye: Slices of sweet, dark rye or pumpernickel bread Marinated herring (about one fillet for each slice of bread) Thin slices of sweet apple (about one medium Red Delicious for each 6 slices of bread) Sliced banana (about one medium banana for 2 slices of bread) Sliced hard-boiled egg (about one egg for each 2 slices of bread) Sauce: I am not going to give exact measurements for the sauce, as I never make it the same way twice: Mayonnaise (about 1 1/2 tbs for each slice of bread, more if you're a sauce fancier) Honey Mild or medium hot curry powder mix* Cream (optional, see instructions) Mix together mayonnaise and honey until well blended. The result should have a mild taste of honey. Add curry powder to taste. (If you need a recipe to follow, use one for gravlax sauce, leave out the mustard and replace the dill with curry powder). If sauce is thick, add some cream o...

The word "skonsa" (the singular form of "skonsur") is the same word as "scone" in English. We Icelanders use the word to refer to a kind of thick pancake. The taste is similar to American breakfast pancakes, but we serve them differently. We usually cook them on the same kind of skillet as we use to make the delicious Icelandic pancakes. 250 g bread flour 4 1/2 tsp baking powder 1 tsp salt 2 tbs sugar 40 g margarine, melted 250 ml milk 2 eggs Mix together the dry ingredients. Add the eggs and melted margarine, and thin with milk. Stir until smooth. Pour on a greased skillet and fry on both sides at low temperature. Cakes should be like thick pancakes. -serve cold with any kind of topping that is good with bread: cheese, slices of meat, salads, etc. -make a sandwich-cake: make a mayonnaise/sour-cream based salad (shrimp, tuna, egg, salmon, etc.), and layer with whole pancakes. (More on sandwich-cakes later). -serve warm like American pancakes, with butt...

This is my own recipe. It's basis is a simple recipe for pizza crust that I got from a home economics cookery book, but it ended up as something completely different. Enjoy! 300 ml flour 1/2 tsp coriander 100 ml wheat germ (optional) 1 tsp garlic powder 2 1/2 tsp dry yeast* 2 tsp paprika 1/4 tsp salt 1 1/2 tbs water, lukewarm 1/2 tsp curry powder, mild 1 tbs vegetable oil Mix together dry ingredients, including yeast and spices. Add oil and water and mix well. Knead until the dough is well mixed and no cracks are visible on the surface. Stand in a warm place for 40 minutes to 1 hour to rise. Knead again and roll out into an oblong shape. Thin the edges. Filling: diced ham cheese (I recommend Gouda) Cottage cheese (optional) Mix together ham and cottage cheese and put in the centre of the dough oblong. Sprinkle grated cheese over the filling. Fold the edges of the dough over the filling and press edges together. Brush with vegetable oil and sprinkle with grated ch...

Fried leaf breads. The top two have patterns made with a leaf-bread cutter, the third is hand cut: My father's extended family usually gather together at the beginning of December to make Laufabrauð , spending a whole day kneading, cutting and frying, before sharing a festive meal. There are usually 12-15 of us working together, turning out a couple of hudred of these flat, decorated breads in one day. The bread gets divided evenly between the families, who take it home and store until Christmas. This year’s gathering is tomorrow, so here is a recipe and I will try to remember to take photos to post. These deep-fried, thin wheat breads are traditionally cut with intricate decorative patterns, and are mostly eaten at Christmas. The tradition of making Laufabrauð has its roots in the northern part of Iceland, but has spread all over the country. Many bakeries now sell ready-made Laufabrauð, or pre-kneaded and cut dough that only needs decorating and frying, but nothing beats making ...

My mother sometimes makes this delicious bread. We usually eat it while it's still hot out of the oven, with butter and cheese. 500 g flour OR 400 g flour and 100 g whole-wheat flour 6 tsp baking powder 1 1/2 tsp sugar 300-350 ml milk, OR a mixture of water and milk 1 1/2 tsp salt milk or egg for brushing Sift together the dry ingredients, and add most of the milk. Knead until smooth, adding milk as needed. Form into a loaf. Make shallow cuts into the top of the loaf. Brush the loaf with milk or beaten egg. Bake immediately. Bread should be baked on the lowest rung in the oven, at 175°-200°C, for about an hour. It will be crusty and tastes best while warm. It's very good with butter and cheese, but I prefer to eat it with just butter.

Thriftiness is a strong trait in many older Icelanders, especially the generations that were born before World War II. Everything had to be used up, and throwing away edible leftovers was considered criminal. This thick soup is one way of using up bread leftovers and crusts. Recipe serves 5.   200 g rye bread or assorted bread leftovers. Must be at least half rye bread. 1,25 l water 2 tbs raisins OR 4 prunes 1 tbs orange marmalade (optional) 6 slices lemon, OR orange/lemon zest OR a cinnamon stick 2-3 tbs sugar 100 ml cream, whipped Soak the bread in the water overnight, or until the crusts are soft. Purée (use a blender if you have one) and cook on low for 1 hour. Add the raisins, lemon slices and sugar and cook for about 10 minutes more. Serve warm with whipped cream. Recipe translated from Helga Sigurðardóttir's recipe book Matur & Drykkur ", Mál og Menning, Reykjavík, 1986 (1947).

This is the last of the Þorri recipes. Rúgbrauð is great topped with butter and cheese, or with home-made lamb pâté (recipe will be posted later). Serve it well buttered on the side with poached fish, or Danish style with cold pickled herring (recipe will be posted later). Eat it with sliced hangikjöt or ham or spread it with cream cheese, and if there is anything left, use it to make bread soup . The brown slices at the front of this photo are rye bread. Also included are sections of flat bread, and in the background are jars of picked herring, in curry sauce, in vinegar, and in tomato sauce. 600 g sugar 400 g whole wheat flour 2 kg rye flour 1 tsp salt 50 g dry yeast 1,5 l milk Mix the ingredients together and knead well.         To cook in used milk-cartons: Half-fill each 1 liter carton, pressing well to avoid air bubbles in the bread. Stand on the bottom of the oven and bake at 100°C for about 12 hours. To cook in loaf pans: Press ...

Flatbread, cut into wedges and  sandwiched with hangikjöt. Yet another food you are likely to find on the Þorri buffet. This traditional bread is delicious with butter and a slice of hangikjöt (smoked lamb). 500 g rye flour 1/2 tsp salt 250-300 ml boiling water Mix the salt and the rye flour. Add some water and knead. Dough should be fairly soft. Roll out thin and use a small plate to cut even sized breads. Prick all over with a fork and bake on top of the stove at medium to high temperature. For authenticity, do not use a griddle or skillet, but put the cakes directly onto the cooking plate (this is both smelly and smoky). Cook on one side until it begins to look dry, then turn over. The bread should have some slight burn spots here and there. Good with slices of cold meat, such as hangikjöt, ham, or lamb pâté, and delicious slathered with butter. Someone contacted me with a couple of tips for making flat bread: -If you make the flat bread in the traditional way, there will ...