Sunnmøre is the Norwegian region in which I was born and raised. Located on the north-western coast, it’s an impossibly beautiful part of the country, decorated with majestic mountains, gorgeous, big fjords, and beautiful valleys scattered all over the area. Geiranger, one of Norway’s most popular tourist destinations, is also located here.
There is such a rich food history in Sunnmøre, and the interest for local, organic, and artisan products have skyrocketed and now there are an incredible array of high-quality food producers offering everything from jams, vinegars, and sauces, to biscuits, organic flours, and oats, mustards and spice mixtures to mention just a few of the selections from home.
While this blog post is about bread, Sunnmøre is most famous for its incredible cake culture (think bløtkake, marsipankake, kvæfjordkake, nøttekake, tropisk aroma. I have covered them all here on the blog).
If you get invited to a confirmation, wedding, or another major party here, don’t think there will only be one, or even TWO elaborate-looking cakes on the table. Most likely there will be at least seven or eight, and I have witnessed up to TWENTY-FIVE different cakes on a table at once.
You can safely say the Sunnmøre locals love their desserts!
But I digress…back to bread!
The people of Sunnmøre are also known for their love of bread, much like the rest of their fellow Norwegian countrymen. I grew up with a mom who would make homemade bread on a regular basis.
I loved coming home from school (which was only a stone’s throw away, by the way, I could walk to my grade, middle and high school in anywhere from 30 seconds to 3 minutes), smelling that yeasty, sweet bread smell, knowing I would have some delicious open-face sandwiches in store.
Her mom had shown her how to make these special dark rye and whole wheat flour-based breads that tasted so fresh and from the region, and it was this memory that was sparked in me about a week ago when I received a truly special artisan-made Norwegian apron from Hovden Formal Farm Wear.
This small company specializes in making traditional old school Norwegian work shirts called busseruller, and is run by an amazing fellow Norwegian woman, Ingvill Kaasin Montgomery, who like me, is an ex-pat and an entrepreneur. You can read all about her and her beautiful creations in my blog post from yesterday here.
What we think of as “bread” today (i.e. loaves, was not bread for most people in the countryside in the old days in Norway and was predominantly a city phenomenon until the mid 19th century.
“Bread” was actually a crispbread, what Norwegians today call “flatbrød”. This was often referred to in Norwegian as “stump” or “kake”.
The flatbread was usually made in huge batches and could last up to a year, stacked up on top of each other, until it was time to make bread again. Part of the reason why breads were made super thin and flat like this, was to avoid mold forming on the bread.
People’s everyday “bread” was in fact porridge, made out of barley, rye, or oats, as this was extremely filling, made with readily available ingredients, and not expensive.
Wheat flour, of which most modern breads are made today, was not at all common back then. There is a word in Norway called “hvetebrødsdager”, which relates to the period after people get married, where no obligations have to be met, but the couple will go just relax and spend time with each other.
Hvetebrød is Norwegian for wheat bread, and so the meaning behind this is that it’s a special, luxurious occasion, much like baking with wheat was back in the old days.
My sister Agnes reminded me of Sunnmørsbrød a few weeks back when she sent me a photo of her weekend activities in the kitchen. She is an amazing and seasoned baker, and she inspires me weekly with her creations, as she too, is very interested in bringing back old traditional recipes.
The bread recipe in this post is loosely inspired by one she sent me, and I’m happy to say the bread came out perfect!
The amazing thing with this bread, is you don’t have to let the dough rise twice so it’s quicker to make. The dough gets rolled out immediately after kneading and shaped into loaves, and it needs resting only once.
As always, play around with baking time, but 45-50 min should do it at 400°F. They should be crispy on the outside, soft and light on the inside, and gorgeously brown on top.
Whenever I bake, I like to use organic flours, and sometimes even sprouted flours too, for maximum health benefits. This is a typical hearty Norwegian bread, with a crispy crust and soft and moist on the inside.
Honestly, my favorite way of eating it is straight out of the oven with just a nice, thick layer of (vegan) butter, but of course, you can freeze these breads easily and they hold up really nicely without crumbling.
SUNNMØRSBRØD
1 packet dry fast-rising yeast (about 2 1/2 tsp)
About 5 cups lukewarm water
3 tbsp rapeseed oil (or other vegetable oil)
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup or light syrup
1 tbsp salt
2 1/4 cup (300 grams) whole wheat flour
2 1/4 cup (300 grams) rye flour
1/2 cup (100 grams) old fashioned oats
8 1/4 cup (1,000 grams) all-purpose flour
Pour the yeast, water, rapeseed oil, sugar, and maple syrup into a bowl of a stand mixer and let sit for about 5 minutes until yeast starts to bubble.
Meanwhile in a separate bowl, combine the rye and whole wheat flours, oats, and salt. Fit the stand mixer with a dough hook and add the flour mixture to the liquid yeast mixture and combine well.
Then add the all-purpose flour and knead the dough for about 10 minutes until you have a smooth dough. Pour the dough onto a clean, lightly floured work surface, divide into three equal pieces and roll out to loaves.
Place in three 2 quart loaf pans (or you can just place them in free form on a lightly oiled baking sheet which I did for two of my loaves) cover with a towel and place in a slightly warm area for about 1 hour. You can see the difference in shape/appearance of the loaves baked in a pan and the loaves just placed loosely on a sheet. I kind of prefer the latter, and not a ‘perfect looking’ bread myself 🙂
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400°F.
Brush the top of the loaves with melted vegan butter, and bake for about 45 minutes.
Let cool on a rack but not too long—because warm bread with butter is the BEST!!
Freeze any loaves you and your family don’t devour immediately! 😃
Ingredients
- 1 packet dry fast-rising yeast about 2 1/2 tsp
- About 5 cups lukewarm water
- 3 tbsp rapeseed oil or other vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1/4 cup maple syrup or light syrup
- 1 tbsp salt
- 2 1/4 cup 300 grams whole wheat flour
- 2 1/4 cup 300 grams rye flour
- 1/2 cup 100 grams old fashioned oats
- 8 1/4 cup 1,000 grams all-purpose flour
Instructions
- Pour the yeast, water, rapeseed oil, sugar, and maple syrup into a bowl of a stand mixer and let sit for about 5 minutes until yeast starts to bubble.
- Meanwhile in a separate bowl, combine the rye and whole wheat flours, oats, and salt. Fit the stand mixer with a dough hook and add the flour mixture to the liquid yeast mixture and combine well.
- Then add the all-purpose flour and knead the dough for about 10 minutes until you have a smooth dough. Pour the dough onto a clean, lightly floured work surface, divide into three equal pieces and roll out to loaves.
- Place in three 2 quart loaf pans (or you can just place them in free form on a lightly oiled baking sheet which I did for two of my loaves) cover with a towel and place in a slightly warm area for about 1 hour. You can see the difference in shape/appearance of the loaves baked in a pan and the loaves just placed loosely on a sheet. I kind of prefer the latter, and not a ‘perfect looking’ bread myself.
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400°F. Brush the top of the loaves with melted vegan butter, and bake for about 45 minutes. Let cool on a rack but not too long—because warm bread with butter is the BEST!!
- Freeze any loaves you and your family don’t devour immediately!
Thank you again for your blog posts! I always learn something about my Norwegian heritage. Though I’ve never been, it is on my bucket list to visit Norway!
Thanks for posting this. I love making bread and family is from nw Norway, so it’s perfect! Keep up the good work.
Thanks for posting this recipe. Are you using dark rye or light rye flour? Thanks again!
Hi Irene! I used dark rye, which I prefer, but you can easily sub light rye if you like. Thanks for stopping by and hope you’ll enjoy the bread! 🙂 Sunny
I don’t think that 1 ¼ C of flour weighs 300 g unless you really pack the flour. Is 300 g correct?
Hi there! You are so right, I realized I hadn’t updated my conversions, it’s updated now and should be 2 1/4 cup (not 1) and the remaining flour measurements have been adjusted too. Thanks so much for catching this! I typically weigh everything when I bake in grams, and even after 20+ years adjusting to “cups” is hard for me. I’m getting better, lol! Hope you will try my recipe out and thanks again for your comment!
How long can you freeze this bread?
Several months for sure!
Thanks for reminding me of this recipe. My grandmother, who was from Archangel, Russia used to bake bread weekly virtually identical to this one. Once out of the oven, she would lightly sprinkle it with water and then cover it with about 3 towels. Eating it warm with some butter was the best treat!
Happy New Year!
Oooh that sounds so good, Irene! I find that the cuisines of Russia and Norway have many similarities… thanks for your comment and so happy you found and stopped by my blog! ❤️
I enjoyed your post. I am from Sunmore also but have been in the US since I was 6. I remember when we moved here Mama said where is the real bread. We never ate store white bread. My parents always said that is not real bread.
Hi Turid. Glad to hear you enjoyed my post and happy to «meet» a fellow Sunnmøring! Hope you’ll continue to follow along here as I’m sure to post more recipes from our region. Thanks again for stopping by!
Hi sunny ☀️
I would like to learn the sunnmøre dialect – would you know someone who could be interested to help me with that? I can share my own language which is french from Canada. Let me know if yourself, could you be interested to share your language with me 🙂
Annie
Hi, Sunny. Thank you for this beautiful and informative site!
This bread looks and sounds delicious, but I think there are some words missing from the instructions? It says to combine the rye and whole wheat flours, oats, and salt in a separate bowl and let them sit for about 15 minutes…and then this mixture is never mentioned again.
Should one combine these ingredients in a separate bowl, add them to the wet ingredients in the stand mixer, and THEN let it sit for fifteen minutes? And then add the white flour, etc.?
Thank you!
Hi India, and thanks for your kind note! I realize after reading that the instructions for the bread was awkwardly explained so I edited it – I hope it makes sense now, please let me know if anything is still unclear. Thanks again and happy baking! 🙂
Thanks so much for the clarification! I will try the recipe and report back.
You’re welcome and look forward to hearing how the bread came out for you!
Having spent a lot of time in Hareid and Ulsteinvik over many years (first visit in ’67) bread with butter and cheese is my staple over there! I am anxious to try some of your recipes. Two of my Uncles had bake shops in Hareid…one each side of town lol. So many beautiful and delicious cakes, breads, buns etc. I’m happy to see it with ingredients I recognize. Thank you!
Hi Janyte! How fun that you have relatives in Hareid and have spent time there! Which were the bake shops I wonder if some of my relatives there know your uncles! 🙂 Thanks for your kind note and hope you’ll try out the Sunnmørsbrød!
I look forward to making this bread. I lived in Norway for three years and loved all the bread I bought there. There was one around the holidays, Julebrod maybe? It was a dark bread, a little sweetness to it. I would love to be able to make that one.
Hi Jane, thanks for your comment – I agree that Norwegian bread is something special! I look forward to hearing how this recipe comes out for you. If you want to try to make julebrød too, I have a recipe for that as well here: https://arcticgrub.com/norwegian-julebrod-part-2/
Happy baking! Sunny
My husband is allergic to rye. Can you substitute flours, and how much?
Yes, you can substitute any other whole grain flour like whole wheat, or oat – in equal amounts.
Do you make Yula kale?.
Hi there, yes, I do! Here’s the link to my recipe:
https://arcticgrub.com/norwegian-julebrod-part-2/
Hope you will try it out! It’s always a hit in my house 🙂
What a wonderful tasty bread. The texture was spot on as were your directions. We ate it hot with loads of butter (so good!) and then later used it for roast beef sandwiches. Thanks for sharing this.
Hi Debbie,
Wonderful to hear you were happy with my bread recipe! I appreciate the kind comments and hope you will continue to enjoy the bread in the future! Sunny 🙂
I plan to make this recipe soon, can it be baked in a Dutch oven covered then uncovered to make it with a crusty surface. I’m thinking of dividing in half and making 2 large loves.
Your thoughts please.
Thanks
Chris Larsen
Hi Chris, I’ve never tried baking it in a Dutch oven so couldn’t be sure of the results… maybe make half the recipe and try it out? I can’t see any big reason why it wouldn’t come out although would have a different look, obviously. Good luck and let me know if you try it out!
Didn’t make it in a dutch oven, but did place the loves on a large baking sheet pan. Turned out great. Any suggestions for freezing the loves. I have them wrapped in plastic wrap presently.
Thanks for the update, Chris and glad the breads turned out well for you! Yes, wrapping them in plastic and also then in a ziplock bag is how I freeze them – works great!
The bread is tasty. But I could get no crispy crust. Tried baking longer, but still kind of pale. I did a milk wash. Ideas to crisp up outside? Too much/not enough kneading £
Hi Janyte – hard to say why you didn’t get a crispy crust. I usually just brush the top with water and it comes out perfect every time. How long did you knead the bread for and where did you bake it in the oven (middle/lower rack etc)? Sometimes depending on your oven you have to raise the temp a bit or bake it a little longer.. Happy to hear it was tasty though and better luck on the crust next time!