Knäckebröd

Crispbread[a] is a flat and dry type of bread, containing mostly rye flour. Crispbreads are lightweight and keep fresh for a very long time due to their lack of water. Crispbread is a staple food and was for a long time considered a poor man's diet.[citation needed] Finland and Sweden have long traditions in crispbread consumption. The origin of the crispbread came from the earlier spisbröd 'stovebread' which was a similar but thicker kind of bread. These breads were baked from at least the sixth century in central Sweden. They were usually hung above the stove to be dried. Traditional crispbread in Sweden and western Finland is made in this tradition with the form of a round flat loaf with a hole in the middle to facilitate storage on long poles hanging near the ceiling. It may also have been a way to keep the rats away from them. Traditionally, crispbreads were baked just twice a year: following harvest and again in the spring when frozen river waters began to flow. The slim crispbread that is common today originated in eastern Värmland. Sweden's first industrial crispbread bakery, AU Bergmans enka, began its production in Stockholm in 1850. Rectangular Knäckebrot was first manufactured in Germany in 1927, and has remained popular and readily available there ever since. Crispbread in the household is most common in Sweden ; in Sweden 85 percent of households have crispbread at home, while in Germany it is 45 percent and in France 8 percent.

Source: Wikipedia