Tag Archives: whole grain

January 15th, 2017

Moist Whole Wheat Rolls

Saftige Vollkornbrötchen (1)The moment I took the Luftikusse from the oven my never resting mind started to muse about a whole grain variant. And it needed just Michas comment to sent me straight to the kitchen to try it.

Whole grain flour needs more water then white flour, that is a well known fact. And the psyllium  hulls can bind a lot of water, too. Nevertheless I was surprised by the amount of water I needed to reach the right consistency when I prepared the dough. At the end there was more water then flour in the dough. It yielded good rolls but I found the amount of water a bit to much, anyway. And so I changed the recipe, using less water and bit of sugar beet syrup to break the slight bitterness of the bran.

And with this second try I was happy. They have a nice, moist crumb and stay fresh for a long time. They are not as airy as their siblings but a delicious, more healthy variant. The right roll for a healthy lunch break!

 

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July 10th, 2016

Spelt & Seed Sandwich Bread

Dinkel-Körner-ToastThis Sandwich bread is a readers wish. But I needed two rounds, until I was really satisfied. In the first Variant I had a boiled soaker with whole spelt flour and seeds, but this added to much liquid to the dough. This resulted in a very instable crumb. The recipe needed adjustments!

The bread (in both tries) is a pure spelt flour with 30 percent whole grain flour and amixture of flax seeds, sesame and sun flower seeds for an extra nuttiness. The preferment is a biga made from whole spelt flour. This has many advantages: the whole grain flour has enough time to soak up the liquid, a biga helps to strength the gluten network and it adds complex flavour nuances, too. As every sandwich bread this bread needs a fully developed gluten network, and spelt is a sensible. So it is needed to keep a close eye on the dough to find the perfect spot.

At the rerun of the recipe I used a bit mashed potato for fluffiness and a soaker with an only moderate amount of water. This makes the dough recognizable firmer, the dough is easier to handle and the fluffy crumb gets enough stability. So what was my lecture of this day? Sometimes less (water) is more!

 

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April 3rd, 2016

Whole Grain

Volles Korn (2)It makes me always happy to get my hands into flour and I enjoy it  very much when I have the opportunity to bake more then one kind of bread. This weekend I baked busily as I wanted to have a selection of bread for the “Schwarzmarkt” – the non-commercial food swap market which took place today. I prepared breads with different seeds, breads with oats and whole grain breads.

The whole grain bread is moist as I added some butter and a hot soaker to the dough. And a long, cold proof and the whole grain variant of my sweet starter build a complex flavour and the oven spring is very good and the slashes opend in a nice way. To archive slashes which open nicely and form nice “ears”, these things has proved themselves: a sharp nice (of course), cutting in a shallow angle and a slash in slight crescent shape.

 

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February 13th, 2016

Irländer

Irländer (1)

Oliver asked in December if I had a recipe for a aromatic bread with 90% rye. The orignal bread named “Irländer” is a whole grain bread baked with sourdough only and is originated in Mannheim. As I easily get stomach problems when eating to much rye, I always need someone to share a rye bread with. And so it took some time until a weekend I know that I would see my parents and my sister. Shared with three, the amount of rye bread left for me is perfectly 🙂

This bread has a moist crump and stays fresh for a long time. A so called “aroma stück” and sourdough makes the bread aromatic and the “aroma stück” buffers the acid peaks of the sourdough very well. A very harmonic bread.

 

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February 8th, 2016

Twin Bread

Zwillingsbrot (1)I had a nice email exchange with a reader some time ago. She just had started her own sourdough starter and had some questions about it. One was how to replace the bought dried sourdough with her own one. She mailed me the recipe and I adjust it so that it is sole leavend by sourdough. To ensure that the sourdough is strong enough, it is fed twice. I although added a soaker for seeds, to ensure they can take up enough water. As I changed much of the handling as well, add the end there are just the same ingredients but a complete different recipe. But it is worth while as it yields an aromatic, moist bread with a well balanced mild soudough flavour.

As the bread is bake as two loaves set next to each other it is a great bread to be shared with friends. A Bread where one half looks like a twin of the other half. A real ”twin bread”!

 

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January 24th, 2016

Gaufres de liège with sweet Starter (Whole Spelt variant)

Vollkorn Lütticher Waffeln (1)Tired, but happy I look back on the last week. Tired because I came back very late Sunday night just to leave again on early monday to morning to a mass spectrometry training in Frankfurt. Luckily there was not as much snow as forecasted and all trains were in time. Thinking on the bread festival in Berlin makes me still smiling, as it was such a good experience. I’m very happy that I met some of my Readers there!

My short stop at home I used to freeze some bread I brought with me from our baking marathon (Spelt seelen and Wheat and rye bread). So our freezer was still well filled when I came home end of week. So there was no need for baking, but some of the starters demanded some feeding. So what to do with the left overs? As I keep part of my sweet starter on whole spelt flour at the moment I decided to bake my beloved gaufres de liège in a whole grain variant. Some Tonkabean in the dough added some slight marzipan and vanilla notes to the nutty and a bit tarter flavour of the whole spelt flour, rounding the aroma very nicely.

I enjoyed them very much together with a cup of black tea. They were a perfect treat for a relaxing weekend!

 

 

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November 14th, 2015

Seeded Whole Wheat Bread

Vollkorn-Saatenbrot (1)

This week was laborious and exhausting. And add this twelve hour workdays I was happy about the nourishing whole wheat bread that was waiting for me in my lunchbox in the breaks. A soaker made of seeds, nuts and whole wheat flour keeps this bread long moist and fresh while a wheat sourdough adds the desired flavour.

As whole wheat sourdough tends to develop more acidity as the white flour variant, I build the sourdough in two stage and let it ferment rather short and warm. This makes the sourdough strong and mild. A bit of honey in the dough helps to balance the flavour in a harmonic way.

With all the seeds and its sturdiness it is a perfect bread for cold November days.

 

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September 13th, 2015

Bread Baking for Beginners XX: Whole Grain Potato Bread with walnuts

Kartoffel-Walnussbrot (2)

As soon as the weather change from summer heat to autumn cold I long for hearty breads with whole grains. A great combination is whole grain, potato and walnuts. For our bread baking course I promised a moist whole grain bread and as I have the feeling that another bread without preferment will find some friends here I designed the recipe accordingly.

But the bread gains a lot if you allow the dough to rise over night in the fridge. It will not only will enhance the flavour, but also gives the bran a longer time to soak and gets softer. For a good soaking of the whole grain flour, using warm water and still warm potatoes helps to speed up this process during the first stage of dough preparation.

And if the dough gets the time it needs you will be rewarded with a whole grain bread with an soft and moist crumb. It pairs perfectly with cheese or honey!

 

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January 31st, 2015

Whole Grain Country Loaf

Vollkorn-Landbrot

Breads with spelt are still highly requested. There was for example the question if the Country Loaf could maybe be baked without wheat and with only whole grain flour. I thought a little bit and changed some details and sent my first draft to the reader. It took some time until I could test the recipe in practice. Here I had to realize that the hot soaker would be better with more water, and so I changed the recipe accordingly. But the rest of the recipe worked as planned.

And the bread is very delicious. Because it is whole grain the oven spring is a bit weaker, and the crumb is denser, but due to the soaker it stays fresh the whole week! The Pâte fermentée makes the flavour mild but complex and the long cold proof in the fridge even improves the aroma. It is really could when there are recipe questions to recipe question :-D!

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January 11th, 2015

Wholegrainy Wheat bread with sweet Starter

Korniges Weizenbrot (1)

There are these days when I I have to realize after a look into the fridge that there is no bread anymore. Those days when there is no bubbeling sourdough waiting on the counter. This are the days when I love my darling sweet starter most. After three hours (sometimes even faster) he is ready for baking. And when I combine him with a cold proof over night, then I get a bread with a deep complex flavour.

Last weekend it was one of these days and because I was longing for a bread with a big part of  whole grain flour I decided to feed the sweet starter with freshly milled whole wheat flour. I kept a close eye on him because he still very active and the minerals in the whole grain flour tends to make a sourdough ripening faster as well. And indeed after two hours the starter was ready and I could knead the dough.

After proofing the loaves in the fridge I baked them early in the morning and was very happy with the bread I pull from the oven. It has a crisp crust and a soft crumb with the great flavour of a long, cold proof. It is a good bread for cheese or honey and keeps fresh for a long time!

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