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 piece 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 other 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 is 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 home made 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 expat 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 country side in the old days in Norway, and was predominantly a city phenomena until the mid 19th century. “Bread” was actually a crisp bread, what Norwegians today call “flatbrød”. This was often referred to in Norwegian as “stump” or “kake”. The flat bread 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 every day “bread” was in fact porridge, made out or 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 of 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 min-50 min should do it at 400 degrees – 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 luke warm 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. Meanwhile in a separate bowl, combine the rye and whole wheat flours, oats and salt and let sit for about 15 minutes. Then add the all purpose flour and with a dough hook, start kneading the dough for about 10 minutes. Pour the dough onto a clean, lightly floured work surface, divide in 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 form and the loaves just placed losely on a sheet. I kind of prefer the latter, and not a ‘perfect looking’ bread myself 🙂
Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees. 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 and 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 so much for checking out my blog post, Ramona! And let me know when you book that flight to Norway! 😀 Happy baking and hope you will stop by again here soon!! Sunny x
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 Annie,
Apologies for the late reply, I was updating my site and some comments weren’t visible or I wasn’t alerted. I would be curious as to why you want to learn the Sunnmøre dialect, that is such an interesting request! I would typically say yes but unfortunately my time is so limited these days, that I won’t be able to commit to these lessons. If you have specific questions I can answer via email I’m happy to oblige. If I can think of someone who would be interested, I will certainly keep you in mind! Thanks so much for visiting my site and wishing you luck in your quest to learn my dialect! 🙂
Thanks for posting this. I love making bread and family is from nw Norway, so it’s perfect! Keep up the good work.
Thanks so much for stopping in Bette, so glad you liked the post! Cheers from a fellow bread lover (it’s in the Norwegian blood, lol)! 😀
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!
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!