Laufabrauð (or leaf bread /snowflake cake) is an essential part of the Icelandic Christmas feast and fun to make if you fancy indulging in a little culinary tradition.
Today, families still gather together to make Laufabrauð , carving designs into the flat cakes with knives or a special flatbread cutter called a kleinuhjól, which is a bit like a pizza cutter.
The beautifully decorated cakes can be traced back to 1736 where they started out in North Iceland as a way to distract from the bland taste of the dough due to flour shortages! Now the cakes are a little tastier and served buttered with the traditional festive hangikjöt or smoked lamb.
There are lots of ways to decorate the bread, with some of the most traditional including Northern Lights, Winter Flower and Farmer’s Cut.
If you want to have a go, here is the basic recipe…
Ingredients:
8 cups flour
¼ cup sugar
1½ tsp baking powder
Dash of salt and caraway
2 cups milk
1/3 cup butter
1.) Heat the milk, butter and caraway in a saucepan without letting the mixture boil.
2.) Add this to the dry ingredients in a mixer and blend together.
3.) Knead the dough by hand and roll into a long sausage before wrapping in a tea towel.
4.) Let the dough rest and then cut the sausage into about 40 small pieces, approximately 3cm wide and flatten with a rolling pin.
5.) Using a knife or kleinuhjól cut these into circles.
6.) Carve your pattern (traditionally leaf shaped cuts are made but there are a variety of patterns, or you can invent your own!)
7.) Now place the raw leaf bread in lard or oil (traditionally sheep fat was used) and flip once to fry evenly until the cake is golden.
8.) Before the cakes cool too much press them on some tissue to drain out the excess fat or oil with a special tool called a laufabraudshlemmur, which is like a wooden board with a handle.
9.) Serve buttered with hangikjöt, boiled potatoes, red cabbage, peas and sweet béchamel sauce – the traditional Icelandic Christmas feast!
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Watch this audio slideshow on how to make laufabraud (“leaf bread”), traditional Icelandic Christmas bread served with hangikjöt, smoked lamb. These are round, thin and crisp unsweetened cakes, which are decorated with triangular cuts in all sorts of patterns. A few weeks before Christmas families across Iceland gather to make laufabraud.
Today, families still gather together to make Laufabrauð , carving designs into the flat cakes with knives or a special flatbread cutter called a kleinuhjól, which is a bit like a pizza cutter.
The beautifully decorated cakes can be traced back to 1736 where they started out in North Iceland as a way to distract from the bland taste of the dough due to flour shortages! Now the cakes are a little tastier and served buttered with the traditional festive hangikjöt or smoked lamb.
There are lots of ways to decorate the bread, with some of the most traditional including Northern Lights, Winter Flower and Farmer’s Cut.
If you want to have a go, here is the basic recipe…
Ingredients:
8 cups flour
¼ cup sugar
1½ tsp baking powder
Dash of salt and caraway
2 cups milk
1/3 cup butter
1.) Heat the milk, butter and caraway in a saucepan without letting the mixture boil.
2.) Add this to the dry ingredients in a mixer and blend together.
3.) Knead the dough by hand and roll into a long sausage before wrapping in a tea towel.
4.) Let the dough rest and then cut the sausage into about 40 small pieces, approximately 3cm wide and flatten with a rolling pin.
5.) Using a knife or kleinuhjól cut these into circles.
6.) Carve your pattern (traditionally leaf shaped cuts are made but there are a variety of patterns, or you can invent your own!)
7.) Now place the raw leaf bread in lard or oil (traditionally sheep fat was used) and flip once to fry evenly until the cake is golden.
8.) Before the cakes cool too much press them on some tissue to drain out the excess fat or oil with a special tool called a laufabraudshlemmur, which is like a wooden board with a handle.
9.) Serve buttered with hangikjöt, boiled potatoes, red cabbage, peas and sweet béchamel sauce – the traditional Icelandic Christmas feast!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Watch this audio slideshow on how to make laufabraud (“leaf bread”), traditional Icelandic Christmas bread served with hangikjöt, smoked lamb. These are round, thin and crisp unsweetened cakes, which are decorated with triangular cuts in all sorts of patterns. A few weeks before Christmas families across Iceland gather to make laufabraud.