Hverabrauð means "hot spring bread," and that is exactly how it is traditionally baked: a sealed pot of rye batter is buried in the black geothermal sand near an active hot spring, where boiling water seeping up through the ground turns the sand into a natural, round-the-clock oven. Dug up about 24 hours later, the bread is dark, dense and faintly sweet. Today the clearest place to see it happen is Laugarvatn Fontana, a geothermal spa on the Golden Circle, where a baker buries and unearths a fresh pot of bread every day for visitors to taste, still warm, with butter.
This is a different recipe from the everyday, oven-baked rúgbrauð most Icelandic homes bake: there's no yeast, just baking powder, milk and a full cup of sugar, closer in spirit to a steamed brown bread than a sourdough loaf. You won't get Fontana's actual hot spring, but a very low, very slow home oven gets remarkably close.
Makes 1 loaf · Prep 15 minutes · Bake 8–10 hours (24 hours if baked in geothermal sand)
Ingredients
- 2 cups (about 250 g) rye flour
- 1 cup (about 150 g) plain (all-purpose) flour
- 1 cup (200 g) sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 500 ml (2 cups) milk
- Butter, for greasing the pot or tin
Preparation
- Preheat the oven to a very low 100°C (210–220°F) — barely warm to the hand, which is the whole point.
- Whisk the rye flour, plain flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together in a large bowl.
- Pour in the milk and stir until you have a smooth, thick, pourable batter with no lumps.
- Butter a tall lidded pot, a large coffee tin, or a loaf tin, and pour in the batter.
- Cover tightly with a lid or a double layer of foil.
- Set a tray of water on the oven's lower shelf for moisture, then place the covered pot on the middle shelf.
- Bake low and slow for 8–10 hours, until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.
- Let the bread cool completely in its pot or tin before turning it out — it firms up as it cools, and slices best the next day.
Chef's tips
- Resist raising the oven temperature to speed things up — the long, gentle, even heat is exactly what a hot spring provides, and it's what makes the texture work.
- A tall, narrow pot or coffee tin gives the traditional rounded loaf shape; a regular loaf tin works just as well.
- This bread is dense and only barely rises — don't expect sourdough-style oven spring.
- Bake it overnight so it's cooled and ready to slice by breakfast.
Variations and substitutions
- Flavour: a spoonful of golden syrup or treacle stirred into the batter adds a deeper, more caramel note.
- Flour: if rye flour is hard to find, substitute half of it with wholewheat flour.
- Container: any heatproof, tightly lidded vessel works, from a Dutch oven to a large tin can.
What to serve with it
Slice it thick and serve it the Icelandic way: buttered, with a piece of harðfiskur or smoked salmon on top, or alongside hangikjöt and a bowl of soup. See more in our breads and baking collection.
Storage and reheating
Wrapped well, the loaf keeps at room temperature for about a week and actually improves after a day or two of resting. Slice and freeze for up to 3 months; thaw slices at room temperature or toast them straight from frozen.
Hverabrauð FAQ
How is hverabrauð traditionally baked?
A sealed pot of batter is buried in geothermal sand near a hot spring or geyser, where heat and steam rising through the ground slow-cook it for about 24 hours. At Laugarvatn Fontana, on Iceland's Golden Circle, visitors can watch a loaf being dug out of the sand each day.
Is hverabrauð the same as rúgbrauð?
Related, but not identical. Rúgbrauð is the everyday dark rye bread baked for hours in a regular oven, with recipes that vary from home to home. Hverabrauð refers specifically to bread baked with geothermal heat, usually from a simpler, sweeter baking-powder batter like this one.
Can I really taste the difference from geothermal baking?
Icelanders describe hot-spring bread as slightly smokier and earthier, a product of the sand and the very long, gentle heat. A home oven baked low and slow gets you very close, if not quite identical.
Sources
The home-oven method and quantities follow the recipe shared by Laugarvatn Fontana, the geothermal spa that bakes hverabrauð in the sand daily.
About Sigrún Ólafsdóttir
Sigrún grew up baking rúgbrauð with her grandmother in Akureyri and has spent the last decade collecting recipes from kitchens all over Iceland. She writes Icelandic MAT's recipes, one dish at a time.