History
1817. Anna and Jon-Olof started a bakery
Jakobs Karin the elder taught the secret of crispbread to her daughter Jakobs Karin the younger. Who in turn taught it to her daughter Anna.
1929.
Anna Karlsdotter, Karin’s daughter helped with the baking on the farms in the village and also sold bread to the Touristhome in Leksand. Anna was an enterprising and talented businesswoman. In 1929 she started a Crispbread bakery with her husband Jon Olof (Jon-Olle) Olsson.
The first bakery is a very simple facility with a wood-fired oven in a converted outbuilding on the farm where they live. The very first bread is a Spiscrispbread, slightly coarser than today’s crispbread.
Together, Anna and Olle had five children who all started their working life in the bakery.
1942. A new time and a new name
After a fire destroyed the entire bakery, Jon Olof handed over management to his son Martin. Martin had worked in the company since his youth. He started his career by building a new bakery on a plot strategically located land near the railway and with its own water supply. There is an underground water vein with fresh and clean spring water.
Baking in the bakery almost doubled that year and Martin marked the beginning of a new era by changing the name of the company from J.O Olsson’s Spisbrödsbageri to Leksands Knäckebröd.
1946. Own mill
Martin’s younger brother Gunnar worked in the bakery as a young man. He eventually became head baker, a position he held for 30 years. On Gunnar’s initiative, Leksands Knäckebröd built its own mill in 1946.
1952. Line 2
Ten years after Leksand Knäckebröd’s new bakery building was completed, it was doing so well that the capacity had to be doubled by adding another bakery line, line 2.
1964. Brown baked bread and a new brand
The brown baked bread came about when Martin took care of ‘failed’ cakes that had been a bit over-baked. It was sold in the bakery stall to the people of Leksand, who liked it for its special taste. Seeing the high demand, Martin launched Brungräddat as a new product this year. At the same time, the Dala horse became our new symbol on all packaging and advertising, replacing the previous silhouette of Leksand’s church.
1979. 50th anniversary and line 3
Just in time for Leksand Knäckebröd’s 50th anniversary, the third bakery line was built. When it started, 2700 tons of bread were baked in the bakery. This expanded the bakery’s market beyond Dalarna, including the Norrland coast and Stockholm.
1981. The fifth generation takes over
Martin Joon passed the leadership to his son Rune. Under Rune’s leadership, Leksands Knäckebröd built two more bakery lines and doubled its production.
1987. The triangular bread – a success
Times change and by the 1980s more and more Swedes were living in small households. For them, the packages of round cakes were too big. We therefore simply cut the round cakes into triangular portions that were packed in smaller packages. And the triangular bread was a success.
1989. Line 4 and squared crispbread
We built a fourth baking line and a new grain silo. At the same time, we launched Rundrut, which over the next five years became Leksand Knäckebröd’s greatest success of all time. Rutbröd was already baked in the 1920s by Anna and Karin and now the tradition is back.
1998. Line 5 and 20 percent of the market
We launched rektangular pieces of crispbread, which quickly became a success. And it turned out that we had to expand the bakery further and line 5 was added.
1998. Fäbodknäcke and Christmas crispbread
This year we launched Fäbodknäcke. The inspiration for this bread came from our baker Land Alice Gustafsson and her living chalet Skallskog. Growing up, baking crispbread was part of her daily routine. Alice worked with us at Leksands Knäckebröd for many years before she retired.
2000. Mini-Rut – children’s favorite
The Mini-Rut was launched this year and is a variant of the large round squares. It is a square piece of bread with small squares. It’s easy to break into bite-sized pieces to add to soups and yoghurt or to put directly into your mouth.
2003. Healthy triangles and labelled rye
The market demanded coarser bread, so we launched the Grova and Four Grain triangular cripsbreads.
We cleaned up among our bread varieties and redesigned the packaging.
2005. Sixth generation takes over
After 24 years as CEO, Rune Joon handed over the leadership to his son Peter, who has been with the company since his teenage years. He is the sixth generation Joon to take over.
2009. Bagarns Bästa – three new triangular breads
We launched three new varieties that we call the Baker’s Best. Three of our talented bakers, Håkan, Jan Olof and Rolf, who have developed the new flavors. All three are experienced bakers with a passion for authentic crispbread. With Bagarns Bästa, their wish came true – they each got to compose their own bread.
Health trends have benefited the crispbread market. Demand is growing all the time and this year we sold more than ever.
2013. When pizza came to Dalarna
Swedes have loved pizza ever since it was introduced in Stockholm in the 1960s. In Dalarna, of course, we make our own version. The Crispbreadpizza quickly became a success. First as an exciting health option, then as a popular movement. The crispbreadpizza made its way into Swedish homes and is now available in countless variations. Both quicker varieties that are great for snacking and more luxurious ones like the ones Lisa Lemke made for us.
2013. Historic news
We have now baked something completely new for us. Tre Kullor is very different and modern crispbread. Here we combine our history and baking traditions with the very latest. We bake a thin crispbread called Tre Kullor. The name Tre Kullor comes from the former tourist home in Leksand. Anna, my grandmother’s mother, sold her first crispbreads there and they later became one of the bakery’s first major customers.
Tre Kullor is a crispy, thin bread that is baked in a new part of the bakery where the dough is set by hand and baked on bakingsheets in real pastry ovens. There is a lot of craftsmanship and feeling to make it taste really good. Initially, it was available in Chanterelle and Lingonberry, Pumpkin and Sunflower, Nettle and Buckwheat.
2016. Tre Kullor first with organic
This year we are launching our first organic bread. There are two new additions to the crunchy Tre Kullor thinbread. One with sun-dried tomato, barley and oregano. The other with dinkel, quinoa, oats and flaxseed.
Both the bread and the packaging of Tre Kullor are handmade.
2017. At last, all-Swedish organic crispbread in round cakes
The bakery is a leader in eco-friendly baking, with heat recovery since the 1950s and a fossil-free bakery since 2013. We are now launching the first crispbread made from 100% KRAV-labeled Swedish organic rye flour. The bread is the first organic crispbread with the Från Sverige label. Leksand’s Organic Crispbread is baked according to family recipes like all our crispbreads.
After many years of searching for a Swedish organic rye that meets our high quality requirements, we finally found the right one and can now finally proudly launch Leksands Ekologiska. The bakery has always worked with respect for the environment and is careful to source the raw materials from nearby locations in Sweden.