Small Flat Breads

Description

During the Viking Age, bread was usually baked in the form of flat cakes on embers, directly on the stone slab or on so-called frying pans, flat plates with long handles that were held over an open hearth. There were also occasional vaulted baking ovens for larger leavened breads.

The higher you were on the social ladder, the finer bread you ate. Flat breads were often used as plates to eat from. The sauce from what you ate was then absorbed by the bread and eventually you could sink your teeth into the bread - if you were still hungry. In the cases where the bread was eaten as a plate, the bread was of a coarser kind.

Ingredients

Flour
Liquid - whey, water or milk
Any seasoning

Steps

Coarsely ground wheat flour is kneaded with so much liquid that it becomes a cohesive and not too wet dough that easily slips from the fingers. Seeds from plantains, beech, chopped nuts or finely chopped fruit (apples and rose hips are particularly suitable) can be mixed into the dough. Salt and honey in the dough also gives a good taste.
The liquid can be whey (after cheese making) which is particularly good, but it is also possible to use water, buttermilk or regular milk. The dough is then formed into walnut-sized balls that are pressed into flat small loaves.
Larger potsherds or flat stones are then placed on the embers. These are preheated in the fire. The flat breads are placed on these baking sheets. You can also bake the bread in a frying pan. If this method is used, the bread is baked over an open fire. The loaves should be turned often and are ready when they sound hollow when you tap them with your fingernail.