By Maya Schimelfenyg
Along the plate boundary where the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates meet sits Iceland, a country characterized by its volcanic landforms and abundance of geothermal energy. There are many uses for the energy generated by geothermal activity, from providing homes with electricity, to heating sidewalks for snow management, but did you know that this resource can also be used to bake bread? As it turns out, Icelanders figured this out centuries ago, and ever since then have been baking rye bread by burying it in the earth.
Dense, hearty rye bread is traditional to many cultures around the world, like pumpernickel bread from Germany, or borodinsky bread from Russia. Iceland, too, has its iteration of this staple baked good, and while rye bread is not unique to Iceland, the Icelandic method for preparing it certainly is.
Originally called hverabrauð (hot spring bread), the Icelandic iteration of rye bread is traditionally cooked in the ground, where the boiling sands from nearby geothermal hot springs create the perfect conditions to cook bread. The boiling temperature slowly cooks the bread over the course of 12-24 hours.
The Boiling Sands of Iceland are a true natural wonder.
Today, this bread is also known as rúgbrauð (rye bread), as it is not always cooked in the ground. If you happen to live near the boiling sands of a hot spring, then consider yourself lucky. If, like me, you do not have easy access to a nearby hotspring, and you want to try making this delicious bread, this is how you can make it at home in an oven. Although it is not technically hverabrauð, since it is not baked in the ground near a hotspring, I have found that the ovenbaked rúgbrauð is almost just as good.
The result is a rich, hearty rye loaf, with a slight sweetness from the molasses. Rúgbrauð is good on its own, with smjör (butter), or as the base for smoked salmon lox.
(The following recipe is translated from Salt Eldhús Blog, and adjusted to make one loaf of bread.)
Recipe
Makes 1 loaf
Ingredients
- 230g Gwenyn Hill Farm Rye flour (you can use light or dark rye)
- 130g Gwenyn Hill Farm whole wheat or all purpose flour
- 1.5 tsp salt
- 1.5 tsp baking soda
- 500ml buttermilk or soured milk (sour milk by adding one lemon to 500ml of milk
- 175g Molasses or golden syrup
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 212F, or 194F if you are using a convection oven.
- In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients.
- Pour in the buttermilk and the molasses, and stir everything together with a whisk.
- Grease a pullman loaf pan or any bread pan that has a lid. You can also use a regular bread pan covered with foil if you don’t have either.
- Pour the batter into the pan and cover it, either with a lid, or with foil. The pan should be roughly half full, if it is too full you may risk overflow while the bread cooks.
- Place the pan in the middle rack of the oven, so there is ample airflow around the pans.
- Bake for 10 to 11 hours, preferably overnight so you have warm bread in the morning!
- Allow the bread to cool for 20 to 30 minutes (it will still be warm on the inside). Slice, and enjoy!
Maya Schimelfenyg is a senior at UW-Madison majoring in International Policy with a certificate in Organic Agriculture.