Bran Crispbread

Servings: 6 large crispbreads (they keep for weeks in an airtight tin)

Ingredients

• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, softened
• 1/2 cup hot water (boiled, not hot from the tap, and slightly cooled)
• 1/2 cup buttermilk or runny whole-milk yogurt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon fine salt
• 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more as needed
• 2 cups wheat bran

Instructions

1. Put the butter in a large bowl and pour the hot water over it.
2. Whisk in the buttermilk, baking soda, sugar and salt.
3. Mix the flour and wheat bran together in another bowl and then add to the buttermilk mixture, stirring with a wooden spoon until it comes together into a soft, collected lump. If the dough feels too loose, add a bit more flour.
4. Knead the dough lightly — not so much as to develop the gluten, just enough to form it into a ball.
5. Transfer to a bowl, cover tightly, and refrigerate for at least two hours, and as long as overnight.
6. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Have two large baking sheets at hand.
7. Divide the dough into six equal pieces.
8. Dust the countertop lightly with flour.
9. Pat the first lump of dough into a disk and rub the top with flour.
10. Using a docked or smooth rolling pin, roll the dough with a light touch, lifting and rotating as you go to make sure it clears the countertop, until it reaches the size of a large modern dinner plate.
11. Flop the dough in half, swiftly transfer it to one of the baking sheets, and unfold it.
12. Bake the crispbread for 10 to 12 minutes, flipping it over once, until the edges just threaten to brown. The surface should look dry but will remain pale; these crispbreads aren't so much baked as dried.
13. Transfer the baked crispbread to a rack to cool and repeat with the remaining balls of dough.
14. When all of the crispbreads have been baked, turn off the oven, spread the crispbreads across the two baking sheets, and put them back in the oven with the door propped open to let steam escape for about an hour, until crisp and brittle.
15. Cool the flatbreads completely and store them in a dry tin or a cake carrier, where they will keep for a very long time.

Notes

This recipe for Norwegian bran crispbread comes from Amy Thielen's friend Bruce Engebretsen and is in her cookbook "Company: The Radically Casual Art of Cooking for Others," published by W. W. Norton & Company.