Tunnbröd is a traditional Swedish flatbread that is thin, soft, and typically round – or they can be dried and eaten as a large cracker. It is made from a mix of whole wheat, white wheat, and sometimes barley flour, and can include ingredients like water, salt, and sometimes a touch of fat. Also often spiced with a fragrant mix of anise and fennel seed. Tunnbröd is versatile and can be enjoyed with various toppings or fillings, making it a popular choice for sandwiches in Sweden. While visiting my friends in Sweden over midsummer, I would always warm a couple of these, slather with butter, and top with sliced boiled egg or cloudberry jam. The simplest and best breakfast.
While not necessary, (you can make do with a fork), it’s fun to track down a Swedish kruskavel, which is a rolling pin with small spikes or dots on its surface, traditionally used to create perforations or patterns in the dough of tunnbröd. This helps the bread cook more evenly and prevents it from puffing up during baking. The small dots also contribute to the distinctive texture of tunnbröd. The use of a kruskavel is a traditional technique in Swedish cuisine for making this type of flatbread.
When I make this bread, I use purple barley berries from Hayden Flour Mills in Phoenix, Arizona. We have a mill, so we grind this into flour just before mixing the dough. Just like coffee, wheat and other grains will have the most flavor if you grind them just before using them. In this recipe, purple barley tastes nutty, fresh, and kind of sweet.
Purple barley, rich in vitamins, minerals, and essential nutrients, outshines lentils in zinc, surpasses wheat in fiber, and exceeds white barley in B Vitamins. Harvested effortlessly due to its loosely connected outer hull, this hulless barley retains most of its bran, endosperm, and germ, making it one of the most nutritious grains on earth.
Discovered in Tibet nearly a century ago, this unique purple barley variety was introduced to the United States and preserved in a seed vault for decades. Luckily, interest in heritage grains has grown recently, resulting in increased availability of delicious and unique grains such as this one.
Adding fennel seed and anise makes for a delicious and unique bread for savory applications, or leave this out if you’d like to top these breads with jam or fruit.
Add a dough hook to your mixer. To the mixer bowl, add flours, yeast, salt, and sugar. If you would like to add the spices, add these now too. Stir to blend.
Add water, yoghurt, and 1 tablespoon of the melted butter, and begin mixing at a low speed.
When the dough starts to come together, increase the mixer speed to medium and allow it to knead the dough for 6 minutes. The dough should come away from the side and bottom of the ball and ‘follow’ the dough hook around the bowl. If it’s still sticking a few minutes into the knead, add 1 tablespoon more of flour, repeat if necessary.
Grease a bowl with a little butter or oil. Transfer the dough into the bowl, cover, and let rise in a warm spot for 1 hour, or until doubled in size.
Once doubled, move the dough to a clean, un-floured countertop and divide into the number of flatbreads you want to make.
Add a scant teaspoon of oil to a cast iron skillet and begin to heat up over medium.
Use a rolling pin, and roll from the center to the outside edges to create a circular bread. Flour your rolling pin, but don’t worry about flouring your surface – if it sticks to the surface, it will help you stretch it out! Every so often, peel it off the counter and place it back down facing a different way to ensure you are rolling it out evenly. Roll out each flatbread to just under 1/4 inch thick.
Here, you can use your kruskavel (see notes above), or simply use a fork, and poke holes across the entire surface of your dough. You want the fork to press fairly firmly into the dough, as this will prevent it from puffing up like a tortilla.
The fat in the dough should make it relatively easy to peel off the counter, but use a dough scraper or the edge of a knife to help you lift if it is a little stuck. Wipe the pan with a paper towel to ensure there aren’t any pools of oil (keep the paper towel). Place the flatbread onto the hot cast iron surface, and cook for about a minute or until brown spots start to appear. Flip, and repeat on the other side.
Remove to a plate, and immediately brush with melted butter and sprinkle with flaked sea salt.
I often turn the heat down at this stage, to make sure the cast iron isn’t getting too hot. Wipe with the oily side of the paper towel, and then repeat with the remaining flatbreads.
These breads are best eaten immediately, or, if you would like to store some place them in a ziplock bag as soon as they are cool enough to handle (should still be warm, as the trapped steam in the bag will keep them soft for at least a day).
Ingredients
Directions
Add a dough hook to your mixer. To the mixer bowl, add flours, yeast, salt, and sugar. If you would like to add the spices, add these now too. Stir to blend.
Add water, yoghurt, and 1 tablespoon of the melted butter, and begin mixing at a low speed.
When the dough starts to come together, increase the mixer speed to medium and allow it to knead the dough for 6 minutes. The dough should come away from the side and bottom of the ball and ‘follow’ the dough hook around the bowl. If it’s still sticking a few minutes into the knead, add 1 tablespoon more of flour, repeat if necessary.
Grease a bowl with a little butter or oil. Transfer the dough into the bowl, cover, and let rise in a warm spot for 1 hour, or until doubled in size.
Once doubled, move the dough to a clean, un-floured countertop and divide into the number of flatbreads you want to make.
Add a scant teaspoon of oil to a cast iron skillet and begin to heat up over medium.
Use a rolling pin, and roll from the center to the outside edges to create a circular bread. Flour your rolling pin, but don’t worry about flouring your surface – if it sticks to the surface, it will help you stretch it out! Every so often, peel it off the counter and place it back down facing a different way to ensure you are rolling it out evenly. Roll out each flatbread to just under 1/4 inch thick.
Here, you can use your kruskavel (see notes above), or simply use a fork, and poke holes across the entire surface of your dough. You want the fork to press fairly firmly into the dough, as this will prevent it from puffing up like a tortilla.
The fat in the dough should make it relatively easy to peel off the counter, but use a dough scraper or the edge of a knife to help you lift if it is a little stuck. Wipe the pan with a paper towel to ensure there aren’t any pools of oil (keep the paper towel). Place the flatbread onto the hot cast iron surface, and cook for about a minute or until brown spots start to appear. Flip, and repeat on the other side.
Remove to a plate, and immediately brush with melted butter and sprinkle with flaked sea salt.
I often turn the heat down at this stage, to make sure the cast iron isn’t getting too hot. Wipe with the oily side of the paper towel, and then repeat with the remaining flatbreads.
These breads are best eaten immediately, or, if you would like to store some place them in a ziplock bag as soon as they are cool enough to handle (should still be warm, as the trapped steam in the bag will keep them soft for at least a day).