Rúgbrauð: Icelandic thunder bread

Delicious Rúgbrauð: Icelandic thunder bread made multigrain flours include rye. Sweetened with molasses and moistened by buttermilk.

 Iceland

It is a beautiful Nordic island country marking the juncture between the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge formed as result of volcanic action. Capital city Reykjavík, highest populated area in whole Iceland .

It is almost the size of Kentucky and ⅔^rd of population stays in its capital city Reykjavik.  If you are in Britain, you can catch flight to Reykjavik on Friday evening and spent the weekend there in Iceland and come back before week day’s start. 

During the Midnight Sun is in sort of a permanent state of sunset. The sun never fully sets and travels horizontally across the horizon throughout the night.

While in Arctic summer, sunset was at midnight and sunrise was at 3am.

The Arctic summer sun provided 24 hours a day of light, with as much as 6 hours daily of "Golden light". Once the sun had set it wouldn't even get dark enough for the stars to come out, and they don't start to reappear until August.

I know if sun treats you like this during summer, then he will play hide and seek during winter months making you depressed, bored etc.

Icelandic Foods

Just like it scenic beauty, Iceland has its own food culture, they eat plenty of sea food  thanks  to its island, and also eat lamb as they are abundant and busy grazing the grasses of the plains and valley.

Hardy vegetables such as cabbage, turnip, rutabaga, and potato are grown in green houses.
And the remaining vegetables and fruits are imported into the country. The winters are long and harsh, and fruits and vegetables are grown only for few months in a year .  

Most sturdy grain rye is prominent in their breads, pancakes etc.

According to an article in  serious eats about Iceland, when in Iceland you will be asked these questions.

Did you eat Rúgbrauð: Icelandic thunder bread/ hot spring bread? Did you eat Skyr?

Their cheese which looks like yogurt, they love to add it in everything, dip, dessert etc. I try to find one here, and I got one version from Whole foods, and it is more like a sour cream.

Their hotdogs are usually made with lamb meat. Also read that their smoked salmon is best.  

Icelanders like to snack dried fish, especially haddock with butter on the top.

They also tend to eat birds, whale and even fermented shark. After eating fermented shark they drink their national drink Brennivín. 

Nicknamed "black death," the caraway-flavored schnapps is reminiscent of Aquavit . I also read they make very thin pancake, very see through version. pönnukökur, which is rolled up with sugar, jam etc. Iceland has its own cookies most famous is Air cookies While searching for a recipe to try,

What is Rúgbrauð: Icelandic thunder bread ?

I found that Rúgbrauð: Icelandic thunder bread is the most commonly tried recipe, there are other recipes that you can find here . I am a bread loving person, so decide to try this bread.

Brought Skyr from the store, even though recipe I adapted says it is sweet bread, I reduce the amount of molasses and used rye flour, bread flour and white whole wheat flour along with butter milk, yeast and salt. 

 I read that this bread is baked in hot springs for long hours. First I thought I will try with pressure cooker without putting weight on; but then I decided to bake it in steam filled oven with a water bath.

I baked this bread for 1 hour and 30 minutes until it registered internal temperature of 200 °F. It is brown color bread taste delicious.My husband told me he likes the bread as such not with skyr.

I too find the same way. My kids enjoyed this bread also. Traditional way to serving is to well-butter on the side with soðning (plain boiled fish), or with cold pickled herring on top.

Eat it with sliced ham or spread it with cream cheese, and if there is anything left, use it to make bread soup.

If you like rye bread, then give it a try, I think it taste more like Boston brown bread .This bread has long shelf life; you can store it for month. I don’t think it going to last that long.  

Ingredients to make this delicious bread?

White whole wheat flour

Bread flour

Rye flour

Molasses

Buttermilk

Yeast

salt

Instructions to make Rúgbrauð: Icelandic thunder bread

In a kitchen aid bowl mix all the ingredients first and form a soft supple dough.

After the dough reaches the rim of loaf pan bake the bread.

Print Recipe

5 from 3 votes

Rúgbrauð: Icelandic thunder bread

Delicious Rúgbrauð: Icelandic thunder bread made multigrain flours include rye. Sweetened with molasses and moistened by buttermilk.

Prep Time20 minutes mins

Cook Time1 hour hr 30 minutes mins

Fermentation time1 hour hr

Total Time2 hours hrs 50 minutes mins

Course: Breakfast, Brunch

Cuisine: Icelandic

Keyword: Bread Recipes, Icelandic Thunder bread, Rugbrauo

Servings: 9 servings

Calories: 251kcal

Equipment

• Loaf pan

Ingredients

• 1.6 cup 167g rye flour
• 1 cup 150g White whole wheat flour
• 1 cup 160g Bread flour
• 11/2 teaspoon 6g Instant yeast if you are using active dry yeast, you must proof the yeast with 1 teaspoon sugar and ¼ cup luke warm water
• 1 teaspoon 6g salt
• 1 teaspoon 6gbaking soda
• ⅓ cup molasses
• 2 cup 460g buttermilk

Instructions

• In a bowl of kitchen aid stand mixer, add flours, salt, baking soda, yeast. Blend together molasses and buttermilk and add to flour yeast mixture with gradual mixing.
• Mixture will be fairly thin, more like a cake batter than bread dough.
• Transfer the batter into a lightly greased pan ( I used 9x13 inch loaf tin) and smooth the top. Set aside for 60 minutes covered with plastic wrap and a damp towel. You may or may not see any yeast activity at this time.
• By the end of 60 minutes, preheat oven to 360F. In the lower rack of your oven place a roasting pan filled with hot water for about half while the oven is preheating. This will create a hot steamy oven.
• Bake, uncovered, for about an hour and half or it register an internal temperature of 200F or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. Run a knife around the edges to loosen, let sit for just a couple minutes, and then turn over onto a cooling rack.
• Once it is cooled completely cut the pieces and brush with warm butter and enjoy.

Notes

This recipe is adapted from this blog Iceland bound which in turn an adapted from Almar Grímsson’s recipe and also from Nanna Rögnvaldardóttir’s Icelandic Food and Cookery

If you are using active dry yeast make sure to proof the yeast before making to the dough.
You can also bake this bread in crock pot, I haven’t done this

Make sure to fill the roasting pan with half full of water so that steam will retain through the entire baking. If you find water is low add more hot water.

Nutrition

Calories: 251kcal | Carbohydrates: 48g | Protein: 10g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 6mg | Sodium: 445mg | Potassium: 421mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 12g | Vitamin A: 88IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 105mg | Iron: 2mg

Tried this recipe?Mention @nidhinikhil or tag #zestysouthindiankitchenrecipes!

Swathi

This is Swathi ( Dr. Ambujom Saraswathy Ph.D) from Zesty South Indian Kitchen who loves to explore cuisines from all over the world. Whenever possible I try to to give an Indian touch to several of the world cuisine, and has weakness for freshly baked bread.  All the recipes you see here are created by me and approved after taste-test by my family.