History

Rye grew where wheat could not, so dark rye bread became the everyday loaf of Iceland. The most famous version, hverabraud, is baked by burying a covered pot in hot geothermal soil near hot springs and leaving it for up to 24 hours, producing a moist, almost cake-like loaf. It is served sliced thin with butter, smoked lamb or pickled herring. In Reykjavik you find it at Cafe Loki and the old bakeries, and even as a rye-bread ice cream.

Common allergens: Gluten

Make it at home

Yield 1Hands-on 20 minTotal 8 hrDifficulty Easy

Ingredients

  • 400g dark rye flour
  • 200g plain flour
  • 100g rolled oats
  • 200g dark molasses or treacle
  • 100g golden syrup
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp fine sea salt
  • 1 tsp caraway seeds (optional)
  • 500ml buttermilk
  • Butter for greasing a tall lidded tin (a coffee can or proper rugbraud tin)

Method

  1. Heat oven to 100C. Grease a tall lidded tin or a 1L coffee can generously with butter.
  2. Mix rye flour, plain flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and caraway in a large bowl.
  3. Warm the molasses, golden syrup, and buttermilk in a pan over low heat until just runny; do not boil.
  4. Pour wet into dry and stir to a thick batter. Tip into the tin; do not fill more than two thirds.
  5. Seal tin tightly with the lid or with two layers of foil and string.
  6. Bake at 100C for 7 hours; this slow steam-bake is what gives rugbraud its dense, dark crumb.
  7. Cool completely in the tin (overnight is best). Unmould, slice paper-thin with a serrated knife.
  8. Serve with cold salted butter, smoked lamb (hangikjot), or a slice of cheese and pickled herring.

Tip from the editors. If you want to mimic the geothermal hverabraud method without a hot spring, bake in a tightly sealed Dutch oven inside a 100C oven; the steam loop is what gives the bread its signature wet crumb.

Where to eat rugbraud (geothermal rye bread)

Rugbraud (geothermal rye bread) in Reykjavik

Cafe Loki ★ 4.2

Nordic$$101Daily 08:00-22:00

Family-run Icelandic kitchen across from Hallgrimskirkja on Lokastigur serving meat soup, fermented shark and rye-bread ice cream from 8am to 10pm daily.

Why locals love it: Most visitors photograph Hallgrimskirkja and leave, missing the small cafe opposite that serves the city's most accessible traditional Icelandic plates.

Tip: The easiest place to try rye bread with mashed fish and rye-bread ice cream. Walk-in only.

Lokastigur 28, 101 Reykjavik

Sandholt ★ 4.4

BrunchBakery brunch$$ISK 2,500 to 4,500101Daily 07:00-18:00Walk-in

Sandholt on Laugavegur serves an all-day bakery brunch in Reykjavik, with shakshuka, sourdough toasts and savoury waffles by the pastry counter.

Order: The shakshuka, or sourdough toast piled with eggs and cheese.

Tip: The pastries come straight from the bakery in the same room. Arrive early at weekends to beat the queue.

Laugavegur 36, 101 Reykjavik

Bernhoftsbakari ★ 4.4

Bakery$101Daily from 07:00Walk-in onlyTraditional Icelandic pastries

Bernhoftsbakari, founded 1834, is Iceland's oldest business, a Reykjavik bakery now run by the fifth generation and stocked with snudur and kleinur.

Order: A snudur, the Icelandic cinnamon bun, or a twisted kleina doughnut.

Tip: Iceland's oldest continuously operating business, on Klapparstigur. The traditional pastries are the draw.

Worth the queue: Snudur cinnamon bun

Klapparstigur 3, 101 Reykjavik

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