April 7, 2015
posted by Haley
34 Comments
A quintessential traditional Norwegian recipe: A thin, crispy, very slightly sweet flatbread that is good eaten plain, with butter or as a part of a Scandinavian-style appetizer spread.
Did I ever tell you about that time that I auditioned for a Norwegian reality show?
A few years ago, a friend and I sent in an audition video for Alt for Norge. This show casts Americans with Norwegian ancestry who have never been to Norway.
The cast members are put into all sorts of fish-out-of-water scenarios – with a Norwegian twist:
- Memorizing Norwegian words and phrases
- Trying traditional Norwegian foods
- Learning Norwegian folk dances
- … and more
I didn’t get on the show, but I did have a heck of lot of fun creating my audition video (we even made up our own version of the Norwegian national anthem!).
I hope to someday go to Norway and visit Singsås, the town where my family came from some 140 years ago.
But in the meantime, I am going to enjoy some more homemade Norwegian foods.
Norwegian Flatbread (Flatbrød)
In my quest to make all the Norwegian recipes I grew up eating, flatbread was on the top of my list. This is a food my family has eaten around Christmas for as long as I can remember.
Flatbrød is more like a cracker than a bread. It’s slightly sweet and nutty, thanks to the whole wheat flour.
Here are some ideas for how to enjoy flatbrød:
- Eat plain or with butter
- Serve with orange marmalade alongside a warm bowl of soup
- Serve with white cheddar cheese slices and apples
- Serve withNorwegian Ski Queen cheese (Gjetost) – This cheese goes GREAT with apples because it has an irresistible caramel flavor
If you’re really into Norwegian customs, consider making a batch of this flatbread and serving it on the 17th of May/Syttende Mai (Norwegian Constitution Day).
The trick to making good flatbread is to roll out the dough as thin as possible. Then it’s more cracker-like and packs a good crunch.
Why do I love making traditional Norwegian recipes? They don’t contain exotic spices or ingredients. And for the most part, they’re not bursting with flavor.
But they are delicious in their simplicity.
The recipes I am featuring are traditional recipes that Norwegian immigrants brought with them when they came to Minnesota/South Dakota/North Dakota and other areas in the late 1800s.
These people made great use of what they had – lots of dairy, flour, eggs, potatoes, and rice. I’m having a blast recreating some of these classic recipes, and I hope you will give them a try in your own kitchen!
In the meantime, stay in touch on Instagram for extra recipes, money-saving tips, and other inspiration.
More Traditional Norwegian Recipes
- Rømmegrøt (a lightly sweetened pudding/porridge)
- Rømmegrøt bars
- Rice pudding (risgrot and riskrem)
- Norwegian potato dumplings
- Norwegian sweet soup
- My Norwegian grandmother’s meatball recipe
- Swedish meatballs
- Lutefisk
- Open-faced sandwiches
- Almond kringler
- Rosettes
- Pepperkaker (spiced sugar cookies)
- Almond cake
- Cranberry-orange almond cake
- Norwegian krumkake cookies
- Norwegian sandbakkelse cookies
- Kringla cookies
- Norwegian goro cookies
- Lefse (made in a frying pan!)
- Norwegian Christmas bread
- How to make Norwegian egg coffee
- How to assemble a Scandinavian snack board
Yield: 8 large rounds
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
I prefer my flatbread to be thin and crispy, so I roll it out as thin as possible. Norwegian flatbread is traditionally served with butter, as a side to meat and potato-based meals. For special occasions, it may be served with cheese or jam.
Ingredients
- 1 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 1/3 cup all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 3/4 cup buttermilk, room temperature
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, sift together flours, baking soda, and salt. Add vegetable oil and mix well.
- Add buttermilk. Knead dough for a minute or so on a well-floured surface.
- Preheat oven to 350F. Cover dough with a damp paper towel when not using. Take approximately 1/4 cup of dough, roll it into a ball, and proceed to roll it out with a rolling pin on a floured counter top. I like my flatbread very thin and crispy, like a cracker. Place rounds onto a cookie sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until flatbread is lightly browned and crisp.
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posted by Haley on April 7, 2015 (updated December 19, 2023)
34 Comments Leave a Comment »
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34 comments on “Norwegian Flatbread Recipe (Flatbrød)”
Leave a comment »
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Eileen — Reply
I think it’s really interesting to explore your heritage via food! And you have to love the ability to eat your research. 🙂 These flatbreads sound so easy and tasty — I would be eating lots of them, torn into bite-sized pieces, with big bowls of soup.
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bristol plasterer — Reply
Hmm these look delicious, thanks for posting up this recipe, looks quite simple to make.
Simon
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Arlene — Reply
Thanks for publishing this recipe. My Mom used to make flatbrod
to serve with lutefiske–yummy. Her favorite way to cook it was
on the cooktop of our old wood stove!-
Haley — Reply
You’re welcome! Thanks for sharing your tradition 🙂
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Bonnie Torgerson — Reply
Sweet memories, I loved our old wood stove. Brings back a simpler way of life.❤️
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Muzhik — Reply
I was introduced to Norwegian Flatbread when I worked at North Dakota State University in Fargo, ND during the mid-80’s (along with rummegrot — yum!) My only concern is using oil in the recipe. While it no doubt improves the flavor, I think the oil would keep it from being stored for months or years without going bad.
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Haley — Reply
Hello! Perhaps the oil would do that, but I can’t imagine a scenario where I wouldn’t eat this flatbread within a couple of weeks!
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Kaitlyn — Reply
This recipe looks great but I was wondering how many servings this yields?
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Haley — Reply
Hi Kaitlyn,
I don’t have an exact yield, but it’s a lot. Enough to feed 5 or 6 people easily.
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Michelle — Reply
I love it!
I would totally audition too. I still have family over there and some have coem to visit, but I have never been and I would love to. Heck- I want to MOVE there.
I bought a Krumkakke iron off Ebay a few years ago and it has become our Christmas tradition. I asked if they had them when I went to Disney and the lady at the counter said they had been trying to talk Disney into adding it to the menu. Thanks for this recipe, we live in TX so anything flatbread is a tortilla and I would rather stick to my heritage. Can these be made with kefir in place of buttermilk you think?
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Haley — Reply
Hey Michelle!
You should totally audition… making a video is a blast, and I’m sure getting on the actual show would be the experience of a lifetime!
As for the kefir substitution, I *think* it would work. Definitely let me know if you try.
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salome2001 — Reply
being coeliac, i trried these with half buckwheat flour and half plain gf flour mix. Needed an additional 1/2 tspn xanthum gum and some extra buttermilk to help it stick together. Brushed a little oil on them and some rock salt . Really good.
Photo taken for son’s “Viking meal” project!!-
Haley — Reply
Viking meal – LOVE it! Sounds like a fun school project. Glad they turned out with all the substitutions.
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Virginia — Reply
Can flatbread be frozen to bring out at Christmas?
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Haley — Reply
Yes!
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Lori k Meares — Reply
Has anyone used powdered buttermilk? I am having trouble finding any liquid this year.
Lori. Oklahoma
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Nancy — Reply
I grew up in North Dakota and have eaten alot of Flatbread…my grandma always had it in her kitchen…I loved it but haven’t had it for many years…I have tried to find it in grocery stores where they have some foods from other countries but have had no luck finding it. I have even looked at Ikea which is Scandinavian and they have a little restaurant at the front of the store…they sell some food products to take home and I thought for sure I would find it there but no luck there either. I have even looked online to find it to no avail…but now I came across this website as I was looking for coffee make with egg…I was telling my friend I remember my mom making coffee that way so I wanted to look it up to see if I was remembering right…if there really was such a thing or had I imagined it! But I found all kinds of pages about it and even the recipes how to make it! So it really was a thing…and now here I find flatbread…I thought my grandmother bought it at the store..almost positive she did…but maybe she made it at home as well…not sure… I never knew there was a recipe for this…so my searching the internet this morning has proved to be very productive! Am going to look on Instagram for your page as well….Thank you so much for sharing your Scandinavian heriitage….I am 100% Norwegian..Grandparents from both sides came from Norway in the late 1800s! Very interesting find here today! Thanks again…going to check out some of your other recipes here that you shared..the Norweigian meatballs…yum!! Mom always made those…with gravy….
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Haley — Reply
Awesome, Nancy! Glad you found some recipes that remind you of your Scandinavian heritage! Thanks for your nice comment 🙂
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Patty Collins — Reply
I have been looking everywhere for this recipe. My grandmother full blooded Norwegian. My mother was too and I am half. I only remember this flatbread and loved to eat it when I was young. Thank you so much. We lived in South Texas. The grandparents lived in Minnesota my mother was always sick and Doctors told grandparents they had to move and moved to a community called Normanna. Then moved to Beeville.
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Haley — Reply
Wonderful! So glad this recipe reminded you of our grandparents & mother!
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Haley — Reply
Wonderful! So glad this recipe brought back good memories!
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Matthew S — Reply
I fondly recall making flatbrød (flatbread) wife my mother every year before Thanksgiving. It was such a treat and was usually made into a gift canister for loved ones that visited us for Thanksgiving or Christmas. We spent an entire day making flatbread and eating them as well. My two other brothers loved moms flatbrød so much my mother had to hide it to prevent it from being eaten up before the holiday festivities. We of course cooked ours on a flat top skillet as did our ancestors. My mother would tell us stories passed down of great women joining together to make flatbrød and baking it on this enormous steel disc with a fire under it. It was a prized woman who could roll out a flatbrød 6 foot in diameter and get it very thin and bake it. This recipe is very much like hers but using a flat iron will get you a nice toasted flatbread. I may try the oven method but the flat iron is so tasty it will be difficult to not use it. Thank you for sharing this recipe it is one of the best tasting of Norse old school style foods still made today.
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Brita — Reply
We’ve always used both a flat iron (lefse griddle) and oven when making flatbrød. We start out cooking it on the griddle, and then once it starts to brown we transfer it to the oven to make it extra crisp.
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Denise — Reply
Wow yes. I have memories of grandma’s flatbread. She must’ve used something with a texture to roll it out because it came out with a sort of imprinted marking. Grandpa always claimed that he stamped on it with his boots to flatten it! Fond memories.
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Haley — Reply
Love that! I know there are special rolling pins that make square designs. I wonder if that’s what she had?
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Tom Kelsch — Reply
I used my wife’s Norwegian grandmothers’ lease rolling pins, (they are grooved), and can get the flat bread very thin and crispy! Her grandmothers’ recipe called for lard instead of oil. Being of German and Irish ancestry I have learned some of the Norwegian recipes that you mention. I enjoy helping to pass that tradition down to our children and grandchildren.
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Pam — Reply
We traditionally have what we have always made and called flopra(flatbrod) and lutefisk for Christmas Eve dinner, steaming the bread before layering with mashed potaoes, lutefisk, peas and melted butter. Roll or fold it up, the Norwegian Taco, cutlery required.
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Barbara Carroll — Reply
My great aunts made flatbread every year – it was our favorite !!! I cannot imagine they used oil. I noticed someone else mentioned lard and that sounds more like what they would have used. They also had a huge wood stove in their kitchen and I thought that was what made the flatbread so delicious. Would love to have their stove now. Thank you for posting the recipe. I was hoping someone would have one.
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Haley — Reply
Thanks for your comment! It brings back such good memories!
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judy erickson — Reply
Our flatbread called for 2 cups flour and 1 cup cornmeal. I haven’t seen any recipes like that. Thin, crispy and delicious! Norwegian heritage.
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Melissa Bekkum — Reply
Can I cook this on my lefse griddle?
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Haley — Reply
That should work!
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Janet Kylstad Coulon — Reply
I just made a double batch of this for a Norwegian men’s group. How do you store yours? My grandmother had a bunch of big tins for hers. My aunts used huge tupperware containers. I don’t have either. I’m afraid to put them in freezer bags. But it’s humid today so I feel like they need to be be sealed. What do you recommend?
Of course, my biggest problem is to not eat it all before I get it to the dinner tomorrow night. 🙂
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Deb — Reply
Our family uses graham flour rather than wheat flour which gives a lightly sweet flavor. Back in the day flatbread was made with lard, now we use Crisco type shortening.
