• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
✮ The Food Dictator ✮

The Hirshon Icelandic Steamed Dark Rye ‘Thunder Bread’ – Dökkt Rúgbrauð

October 11, 2019 by The Generalissimo 1 Comment

219
SHARES
FacebookTwitterPinterestRedditWhatsappYummly
Light Dark Dark Light
()
The Hirshon Icelandic Steamed Dark Rye 'Thunder Bread' - Dökkt Rúgbrauð
Rúgbrauð Image Used Under Creative Commons License From nannarognvaldar.com

My Citizens! As the most private of Generalissimos (#armypun), I am very reticent about sharing details of my private life – however, in the interests of oversharing, I shall now offer you a most intimate glimpse into my happiest and certainly most eventful few days!

My honeymoon nearly 10 years ago to Iceland was a truly unmatched experience – I took my new bride in January during the depths of the Nordic Winter to see the Northern Lights! It was during this sojourn that we experienced all too intimately the unique joys of the legendary Icelandic dark bread – rúgbrauð (roogbrayth).

We discovered this unassuming small loaf of sweet dark bread at the local supermarket, where after one taste I was instantly captivated! Rúgbrauð is small, only the dimensions of a medium-sized paperback book. Thinking nothing of it, I scarfed down the entire loaf over dinner! A few hours later, my new bride and I settled in to spend our first full night together in wedded bliss…

…It did not go entirely to plan.

What I didn’t know at the time was the nickname for rúgbrauð amongst in-the-know Icelanders. It’s hverabrauð…in English, this roughly translates to “thunder bread”.

How it acquired this evocative and oh-so-accurate monicker is due to the fact that there is a TON OF FIBER in each tiny loaf of rúgbrauð thanks to the use of dark rye flour. It’s so sweet and soft and SMALL, I innocently ate the whole thing blissfully ignorant of the explosive, gas-laden intestinal horror to come.

Not how ANY man wants to spend his wedding night – but looking back, it IS rather funny although my wife still shudders every time I share this tale of gastric woe. Now – all that said, if you simply limit yourself to a few slices of rúgbrauð, you’ll be perfectly fine and it is beyond delicious – I just wish it came with a warning sticker for ignorant tourists!

My many Icelandic friends always laugh hysterically when I share this with them – they are a darkly humorous people who like me enjoy a decent bit of schadenfreude.

As noted on icelandfoodcentre.com:

It’s good, it’s sweet, it’s there on the side, never the main ingredient. Always the bass player, never the singer. Always the bridesmaid, never the bride. You get the idea. Rúgbrauð is a popular bread to eat with other food, it’s sweetness counters sour, smoked or bland food. It can also be a vessel for sliced smoked lamb or pickled herring.

Through the centuries rúgbrauð has been the most popular bread in Iceland. Why? Because the rye grains were cheap. We didn’t have any rising agent, so all rúgbrauð were made from sourdough. Before it was cool. Sourdough is of course when the dough is naturally fermented and then a pinch of the dough is used to make the next loaf.

Households didn’t have ovens until the start of the 20th-century, so until then it was cooked in pots over stove embers from the evenings cooking. Sugar wasn’t really used or any other sweeteners – instead, it relied on the low heat and long baking time to produce the sweetness. With the invention of the electric oven and the availability of rising agents, people have been using sugar or syrup to shorten the baking time. In just a few decades, everyone starting using sugar in their rye bread.

Since the turn of the last century, the popularity of rye bread has declined. This is evident in the annual import of rye around the year 1900: somewhere between 40-60 kilograms per person. Today it’s only about 3 kilograms per person. White processed flour rules Iceland now, I’m afraid.

You’d think a rye bread would be healthy, right? Well, not rúgbrauð. It’s very sweet with a helluva lot of sugar in it. Lyle’s Golden Syrup to be precise. It has some whole wheat or all-purpose flour so it’s not all rye, despite the title. It has some salty salt.

It has some bicarbonate of soda for the rise unless you make a sourdough, and then some súrmjólk or AB milk. What’s a súrmjólk, you ask? it means sour milk. It’s a thick sour milk. AB milk is sort of like súrmjólk but soured with probiotic bacterias by the name of Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacterium bifidum. 

As a TFD side note, there are MANY types of dairy products produced in Iceland – this interesting article goes into them in detail.

Now, as we are going for a full traditional implementation of this bread: be advised that in Iceland, that means slow-cooking in the boiling steam from a geothermal vent! Yes, dökkt rúgbrauð is traditionally baked in the ground using natural steam heat!

To mimic this cooking method at home, the bread is cooked at a low temperature for an unusually long time, at least 7 ½ hours and sometimes up to 10! Don’t be tempted to open the oven and peel off the foil while this is baking. It is meant to steam, and if you check on it while baking then all of the steam will be released. If you’re worried that it won’t be done, just bake it a little longer.

Spread with some of the best butter on Earth – from the pristine cows of Iceland, of course! You can buy Icelandic butter here. If unavailable, use Kerry brand Irish butter instead. You will also need a surprising non-native Icelandic product to make rúgbrauð – Lyle’s Golden Syrup from the UK!

Somehow, probably from British whalers stopping over in Iceland in the 19th century, this canned sweetness of the Gods became a staple in Icelandic cooking. You can buy it here. Proper dark rye flour can be purchased here and blackstrap molasses (an optional TFD addition, but helps to achieve the right color) can be bought here. Since the soured cultured milk used to make this in Iceland isn’t available on these shores, I specify a good brand of cow milk kefir instead.

Citizens, despite my unfortunate first meeting with rúgbrauð, please do not let that put you off from trying this delectable treat – just don’t eat the entire loaf in one sitting and you’ll be charmed by the unique delights of this Icelandic staple! Try it thickly spread with butter and a slice of smoked salmon for a truly unmatched starter! It is also fantastic with the curried, creamy and cheesy fish stew known as plokkfiskur.

Battle on – the Generalissimo

Print
clock clock iconcutlery cutlery iconflag flag iconfolder folder iconinstagram instagram iconpinterest pinterest iconfacebook facebook iconprint print iconsquares squares iconheart heart iconheart solid heart solid icon
The Hirshon Icelandic Steamed Dark Rye 'Thunder Bread' - Dökkt Rúgbrauð

The Hirshon Icelandic Steamed Dark Rye ‘Thunder Bread’ – Dökkt Rúgbrauð


★★★★★

4.3 from 6 reviews

  • Total Time: 0 hours
Print Recipe
Pin Recipe

Ingredients

Units Scale
  • 3 cups pumpernickel flour
  • 1 1/2 cups whole wheat or all-purpose flour
  • 2 1/2 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 tsp/ kosher salt
  • 750 ml (a bit less than 3 1/4 cups) kefir
  • 3/4 cup Lyle’s Golden Syrup
  • 1/4 cup blackstrap molasses (Optional TFD change – if not using, replace with Golden Syrup)

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 200 °C.
  2. Combine the dry ingredients.
  3. Add kefir, molasses and golden syrup (pro tip: coat the inside of the measuring jug with oil for easy pouring of the syrup and molasses).
  4. Mix the ingredient and transfer to a small loaf pan. Don’t let the dough wait for long, otherwise, it might start rising. Cover with aluminum foil.
  5. Bake for 30 minutes, then lower the temperature to 100 °C and bake for 7 more hours. Remove to cool and enjoy.
  • Prep Time: 0 hours
  • Cook Time: 0 hours
  • Category: Recipes

Nutrition

  • Calories: 880.41 kcal
  • Sugar: 25.17 g
  • Sodium: 972.0 mg
  • Fat: 7.71 g
  • Saturated Fat: 4.29 g
  • Carbohydrates: 181.81 g
  • Fiber: 3.8 g
  • Protein: 21.26 g
  • Cholesterol: 25.24 mg

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @thefooddictator on Pinterest, Instagram or Facebook and hashtag it #TFD

How useful was this post, Citizen?

Click to rate My Recipe, Citizen - 5 hearts are ALWAYS appreciated!

Average rating / 5. Vote count:

No votes so far! Be the first to rate this post.

As you found this post useful...

Follow us on social media, Citizen!

We are sorry that this post was not useful for you!

Let us improve this post!

Tell us how we can improve this post?

Related posts:

The Hirshon Mexican Shrimp Cocktail - Coctel de Camarones
The Hirshon Medieval Egypt Fried Fish with Sumac Sauce - سمك محشي
The Hirshon Georgian Grape Pudding - ფელამუში
The Hirshon Northern Irish "Yellow Man" Candy
The Hirshon Indian Lucknowi Lamb Raan - सिकंदरी राँ
The Hirshon Alaska Chicken
Amish Mashed Potatoes
The Hirshon Sichuan Dan Dan Noodles - 担担面

Filed Under: Recipes Tagged With: Bread

About The Generalissimo

The myth of the Generalissimo is far more interesting than the reality.

Previous Post: « The Hirshon Northwest Territories Akutaq – ‘Eskimo Ice Cream’ – ᐊᑯᑕᖅ
Next Post: The Hirshon Finnish Meatballs – Lihapyöryköitä »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Theodor Gunnarsson

    October 15, 2019 at 4:12 PM

    Hverabrauð does not mean thunderbread. This name thunderbread has to do with a mith that rúgbrauð causes people to fart a lot. Hverabrauð means a rúgbrauð being baked by burying the dough in a warm hot spring. A hot spring is called “hver” in Icelandic. Hver (a hot spring) + brauð (bread)=hverabraðuð.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe rating ★☆ ★☆ ★☆ ★☆ ★☆

Primary Sidebar

➤ Citizens – Please Support TFD Nation!

Donate to Help TFD!

⇔ Search, And Ye Shall Assuredly Find!

✮ Citizens ✮

TFD currently has a total of 1,363 posts and 1,159,134 words written since December of 2014! Add your voice to My 50,000+ dedicated readers, comment on My recipes and thus become an active member of TFD Nation! Looking for a particular recipe? Search for it in the box above or via the category tags below - there are THOUSANDS of the finest in world and historic recipes here!

❧ TREMBLE Before Our Categoric Zeal!

Appetizers (145)Beef (143)Beverages (24)Bread (111)Cheese (64)Chicken (132)Chinese (121)Chocolate (16)Condiments (262)Dessert (166)Drinks (23)Duck (20)Egg (47)Fish (56)French (56)Game (30)Georgian (34)Indian (60)Italian (58)Jewish (84)Lamb (73)Manifestos (1)Pasta (90)Pork (147)Salad (40)Sandwich (42)Seafood (84)Shrimp (53)Soup (109)Spices (12)Tofu (7)Turkey (15)Veal (18)Vegetables (108)

✺ Click to Follow Us Across Social Media!

Facebook   

    instagram

☥ TFD SPEAKS!!!

https://www.thefooddictator.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/TFD-Avatar-Cold-Open-FINAL.mp4

 Enjoy TFD’s Mellifluous Podcasts, Citizen!

Listen on Apple Podcasts

© 2023 · The Food Dictator is abjectly served by WORDPRESS

✮ The Food Dictator ✮
Manage Cookie Consent
Citizens!

Be advised that as an enlightened Dictatorship here at TFD, we are indeed on the side of right when it comes to protecting the privacy of TFD Nation!

We do use technologies such as cookies to store and/or access device information, solely to improve your browsing experience and to show personalized ads.

Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions - trust us, we really ARE on your side!

YOUR LOYALTY IS NOTED! 🎖️
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}
348
SHARES
FacebookTwitterPinterestRedditMailYummly