Skolebrød

Skolebrød, a classic Norwegian treat. When visiting Tromsø I was blown away with how magical the place is. I can genuinely use the word magical, it was somehow mystical, beautiful and unreal all at the same time. Visiting in the winter months means there is very little sunlight, what you do get it a stunning pink haze of light and then darkness, not a UK darkness when everything is coming to a close for the day, just an absence of sunlight that doesn’t stop anyone from going about their daily tasks. I was lucky enough to experience the northern lights whilst I was there which was simply breath taking. Another experience I am glad to have had whilst in this exceptional place was Skolebrød, a bizarre sweet bread dough, filled with vanilla custard, topped with icing sugar and coconut. At first glance this custard bread available in every café we came across seemed a little strange. It didn’t seem like the type of thing you have with your morning green tea or in other cases your Coffee. I decided to give it a go to find out why everyone in Norway was so obsessed with them. I am so glad I did, the taste was something else. Not being a massive fan of sweet treats I would normally reach for savoury when possible but this beauty covered everything; sweet, savoury and bread! What more could a boy ask for.

Recently I have wanted to try more sweet breads, or pudding breads as my partner insist on calling them. He reminded me of our experiences in Norway and those amazing Skolebrøds that we loved so much and asked if I would make some. Thinking hey, how hard can it be I searched the internet for a recipe. After finding one I got my ingredients together and set to work. I prepared and mixed everything as instructed, as I kneaded the dough I knew that something was wrong. It was incredibly dry, almost flakey, I was certain it was going to fail. Throwing caution to the wind and doing something I rarely do, I tried to figure it out myself with… well to be honest with complete guess work. The result I am amazed to say was perfect, the resulting Skolebrød was like a memory lightning bolt to the head. I had by chance recreated the perfect Skolebrød recipe and am now lumbered with requests from my partner, friends and work colleagues to make them on a regular basis.

Give them a go yourself!

Recipe