Viking Bread Recipe

What did the Vikings eat? How did they cook? What sort of flavours did they add to their food? We’re in the depths of learning all about the men for the north, the Norsemen or Vikings and decided to cook some of their staple foods. So one of them was bread. This recipe is one that I found in an old teaching book and is similar to Norse Soda Bread. So here you go a Viking Bread Recipe to cook with kids.

What did the Vikings Eat

Before we get to the recipe a little about what the Vikings ate and also about bread.

The Vikings ate a very varied diet, they kept farm animals like Pigs, Cows and Chickens so meat, eggs and milk were commonly used in their dishes.

They also hunted and because of being sea faring people they ate a lot of fish either from the sea or rivers where they lived.

Along with the meat they had a healthy diet of fruit and vegetables. Root vegetables and leeks were very common. An interesting fact, the carrots grown weren’t orange like we get today but instead either purple or white!

Fruit was picked wild and would have included many of the fruits that we can grow easily and eat in our gardens in the UK, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries and blueberries.

They also collected honey from bees and used this to sweeten food as no sugar was available.

Grains were grown, harvested and then ground to flour. Barley, Rye, Oats and in warmer areas wheat were grown. The barley (along with hops they found in the wild) were used for making beer whereas oats, rye and wheat for flour to make bread.

Viking Breads

Bread was a staple of the diet, however, depending on where you lay in the village hierachy is what type of bread you ate.

The slaves would eat flatbreads cooked on a griddle-type pan over a fire and use it similar to a plate. It would absorb the liquid from the stew and make it softer to eat.

a loaf of bread made using a Viking recipe for part of a history unit on a baking tray lined with non-stick paper

Whereas, this bread which is slightly risen due to the bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) in it would have been for the richer Vikings. The bread would have been torn and dipped into the stew or served with homemade butter and honey or jam for a sweeter dish.

Viking Bread Recipe

As I said above this bread is one for the richer Viking, the Chiefs of the villages. It is very similar to our Irish Soda Bread recipe in the fact that it doesn’t use any yeast in it. However, after having baked the 2 we love the oaty taste and texture of this one of the Irish soda bread.

Ingredients for making bread like a Viking

The recipe at the bottom of the post has everything in grammes (just scroll down further), however, we measured out our ingredients and below you will see them in cups.

girl measuring out ingredients for a recipe in the home kitchen
  • 5 cups plain (all purpose flour)
  • 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 3/4 cups of oats
  • 2 cups of warm water
  • Oats to sprinkle on the top

How to make Viking Soda Bread

Start by putting all of the dry ingredients in a bowl and mix together.

dry ingredients for making historical bread recipe in a bowl

Add in the warm water and use a wooden spoon (just like a Viking) to stir the ingredients to start to form a dough.

mixing the water into dry ingredients for Viking bread in a bowl with a wooden spoon

When you can’t stir any more turn it out onto a surface and knead with your hands until firm.

kneading a Norse Soda bread on a granite board in the kitchen for a History Unit Study on Vikings

Place on a lined baking tray and into an oven.

Viking bread in the oven to cook

With the bread on the tray in the oven switch it on to 180C (fan assisted) and set the timer for 45 minutes.

Once cooked, remove let cool and a little and then enjoy!

a torn piece of Viking bread with butter and honey on straight from the oven for lunch as hands-on History Topic

We served ours with butter and honey, but you could try making a stew like our sausage and bean casserole to cook with kids and dipping the bread in that to soak up the liquid.

Love cooking with history then why not try our Mayan Hot Chocolate Recipe to do with your kids.

Free Printable Viking Recipe

Viking Bread Recipe Printable

Would you like a printable recipe card for this recipe for Vikings? Then head to our store and get your FREE Viking Recipe Card.

Viking Books to Read

We have included affiliate links to some of the products and resources as an associate we may earn from qualifying purchases.

If you are looking to read some books whilst studying the Vikings although you will find more in our book list (coming soon!) here are 3 that we have been reading and enjoying together.

We love the DK Eyewitness books and the Viking one is our go-to book for the topic with great information.

Whilst learning about the Vikings we’ve been reading about the Norse Myths with the beautifully illustrated Usbourne book.

Along with the previous two I have really enjoyed our read-aloud book Beowulf the Michael Morpurgo version as it’s written to be read with and by children.

More Viking Activities to Do

Looking for more ideas to do whilst studying the Vikings how about trying these.

DIY Wooden Runes for Kids to make

Make your own Runes – these are easy to make with a set of wood slices and great to learn about the language that Vikings (and Anglo-Saxons) used to write with.

Viking Bread torn on a wooden bread board made as part of a history unit study on the Vikings

Viking Bread Recipe

Cerys Parker
A fun recipe for cooking with kids whilst learning about the Vikings. This is similar to the bread that would have been eaten by the chief of the village and tastes great with either stew or butter and honey.
3.87 from 15 votes

Recipe Video

Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Total Time 1 hour
Course bread
Cuisine Viking
Servings 8 people
Calories 411 kcal

Equipment

  • Bowl
  • Wooden Spoon
  • Scales
  • Baking Tray

Ingredients
  

  • 800 g plain flour
  • 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 100 g oats
  • 450 ml warm water
  • Oats to sprinkle over the top

Instructions
 

  • Put the dry ingredients in a bowl and mix with a wooden spoon.
    dry ingredients for making historical bread recipe in a bowl
  • Add in the water and using the spoon stir until a dough is made.
    mixing the water into dry ingredients for Viking bread in a bowl with a wooden spoon
  • Turn out onto a surface and with damp hands knead the bread until it is smooth.
    bread dough smooth after kneading on a granite worktop
  • Place on a lined baking tray, sprinkle with the handfull of oats and into a cold oven.
    oats sprinkled on the top of a loaf of viking bread ready to go into the oven
  • Set the oven to 180C (fan assisted) with a timer for 45mins and cook.
    Viking bread in the oven to cook
  • Allow the bread to cool a little and then serve.
    loaf of viking bread cooling on a baking tray lined with non-stick paper

Notes

If you wish instead of making a large loaf you can split into smaller rolls and bake for 30 – 35 minutes instead until cooked and golden.

Nutrition

Serving: 8peopleCalories: 411kcalCarbohydrates: 85gProtein: 12gFat: 2gSaturated Fat: 1gSodium: 433mgPotassium: 152mgFiber: 4gSugar: 1gCalcium: 23mgIron: 5mg
Keyword Viking Bread, Viking History Unit, Viking Recipes, Viking Unit Study
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

More History Units

Looking to explore more hands-on history with kids then check out some of our History Units which are packed with activities to do together as you learn about different periods in time.

cave painting of 2 animals on sand stone text reads Hands-on History Stone Age Unit Study

Start history chronologically with a unit on the Stone Age -> click here to view our Stone Age Unit Study.

Pinterest Image for FREE Printable Viking Breead Recipe Card and bread made with the recipe

10 Comments

  1. This looks so great. One question, has anyone tried it with GF flour? I’m actually in need of a yeast free and dairy free recipe. so this is is perfect but I’m wondering if I can make it GF, without it imploding or turning into a brick. ?

    1. I’m sorry I haven’t. But when I next have some GF flour I will give it a try.

  2. Suzanne C says:

    How do you convert 180c with fan to fahrenheit with no fan?

    1. Hi – I found this chart and it suggest that 180C in a fan oven would be 400F in a none fan oven. I hope that helps.

  3. susan wardale says:

    we made this for my sons viking party, it went down realy well we made the buns as well as bread as we had a stew .thankyou again we used wholemeal flour still worked well. its now a firm favourite when making stew and soups. thankyou

    1. I’m so glad that they all enjoyed it and what a great idea to use wholemeal flour.

  4. Do you have a source for bicarb soda in the early medieval age? I’m a reenactor and my area is food history. I’ve had a quick look but the earliest reference to bicarb soda I can find is in the 1700’s. Thanks in advance

    1. I don’t this is as close as we could get for educational purposes to something similar that would work in a classroom and home education.

  5. Hello! We were hoping to make this recipe tonight for a Viking project but there is an error – is it 5 cups (which is 600g) or 800g of flour?!
    Many Thanks!

    1. Hi, 800g is correct, when we made the recipe using our set of cups to convert for a US audience we measured it as 5 cups (may have to check that we have US cups and not UK cups as replaced them recently).

3.87 from 15 votes (14 ratings without comment)

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