Category Archives: Bread

March 29th, 2013

Multigrain Batards

Category Bread Tags: Amarant, flaxseeds, oats, Poppy seeds, Sesame, Sonnenblumenkerne 24 Responses

In Germany it is a tradition to bring salt and bread as a present when friends or family moved into a new home. The present symbols wealth and luck for the new home.

When Zorra moved her Blog to a new address, my first thought was, that I should bring Bread for her, at least virtually. And then Zorra asked for Bread for a Blogwarming Party at the Bread baking Day. But no salt is needed, because she has still a big stock!

It is always harder for me to decide what kind of bread I should bake when there is a theme with nearly no restrictions. So many breads are possible :-). At the End I decided to go for multigrain batards, which are covered with seeds. A great Bread for any party, delicious on its own, but although great with some butter and fleur de Sel!

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March 5th, 2013

Ciabatta

Category Bread, hand kneaded Tags: Hand kneaded, only with yeast 36 Responses

The Baguette with the long, cold fermentation was so delicious, that I started to though about using the same methode to bake Ciabattas. And because I did not bake Ciabattas for a quite long time, I did not only think about it but mixed directly a dough.

The dough needs a long time in the fridge, about 24 hours or longer, but the hand-on time is very short. At the beginning you have to fold the dough three times during the first hour, and then the dough slumbers in the fridge. At the baking day, you have only to preheat the baking stone and form the ciabatta. That makes the whole process really relaxing.

The dough is very soft, but gains a good gluten network during folding. With a well floured countertop and a dough scrapper it is easy to form the ciabatta. During the fermentation big air bubbles are already formed in dough.

The bread has a very open crumb with big holes and a crunchy crust. The long fermenation adds a lot of complex aroma with a fruity hint due to the olive oil. A very good bread!

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March 1st, 2013

Baguette

Category Bread, hand kneaded Tags: Hand kneaded, only with yeast 16 Responses

Last week Lutz baked Baguettes, inspired from a post of MC about her visit in different bakeries in Paris. This bakeries belong both to the best of France. Lutz used the discription of their baguette dough to build his own recipe.

And so baking baguettes was on the top of my to do list for the weekend. But during the long and cold rest of the dough in the fridge, the dough developed not only an incredible good taste but I fell sick with a bad flue, too. And on Sunday, after about 40 hours in the fridge, the baguettes could not wait any longer. And so I dragged myself in the kitchen, ignored the fever and formed and baked some baguettes.

And this baguettes are really worth it. With a great taste, a crispy crust and a wait open crumb make them to one of the best I ever baked.

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February 12th, 2013

Spent Grain Flour

Category Bread, This and That Tags: Treber 12 Responses

If you, like me, do not like to waste food, then you too has to think sometimes about recipes to use leftovers or byproducts. Such a byproduct is the spent grain, a leftover from our homebrewing. I added a part of it directly to a bread and dried the remaining spent grain overnight in the oven. I found this great idea on this site.

During the night a delicious malt odour filled our flat and spent grain was compeltely dry. Milling with my home mill was easy. I got a slightly coarse flour with a slightly sweet malt taste. Its taste reminds me strongly of roasted grain “coffee”. I think it will make a great substitution for bread and rolls or whole grain cookies or even for the dough of a quiche. And beeing figh fibere (50%) and high protein (23%) makes it a healthy substitution, too.

Another interesting point for me is the fact that 1.5 kg malt yields only 500g Spent Grain Flour. That means that about 1 kg starch is converted to sugar during the mashing process. Now that it does not amaze me any longer that the wurt was so sticky.

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February 11th, 2013

Spent Grain Bread

Category Bread Tags: Caraway seeds, Fenchel, flaxseeds, Koriandersaat, Poppy seeds, Schabzigerklee, Sesame, Sourdough, Treber 15 Responses

Since I gave my boyfriend a home brewer set as birthday present, we learning how to brew beer. For our first try we used the beer kit that came with the set, which is malt extract with hop extract. Nice for the start, but it reminds us of cooking with packaged mixes. That’s not what we want, we want the real adventure.

And so we started a second try using real malt and hop. After mashing – the break down of the starch to sugar in the malt – we had the spent grains as byproduct. Our recipe mentioned that this spent grains can be fed to chickens or cattle or that it can used for bread baking.

It can be used for baking bread? Pass me the sourdough, sweetheart…

The Spent grain bread has a compact and moist crumb and if I would not know that I added some all-purpose flour, I would thought it is a whole grain bread. It is a hearty loaf with the aroma of sourdough and the spices I used. The spent grains add a nutty taste. It goes very well with some strong cheese.

And what am I doing with the remaining spend grain? It is drying in the oven right now, I want to test milling it into flour…

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January 27th, 2013

Wheat and Rye Bread – Bread couture for BBD #56

Category Bread, Bread Baking Day Tags: Brot couture, Pâte fermentée, Sourdough 20 Responses

January is nearly gone and the deadline for Bread Baking Day is near. Jenni from The gingered whisk would like to have a bread fashion show this month. And this is not an easy topic for me. I struggled hard this month to find a good idea how to decorated my bread. Because most of the time I choose soberly some straight slashes when I bake bread. I was near to give up and wait for the next BBD!

But the weather this weekend changed from snow to rain then to rain and snow to freezing rain and back again and forced me to stay indoors. A good time to snuggle myself in a blanket and do some surfing in the web in search for inspiration. Finally my creativity was awakened and a plan was formed.

As basic for the decoration – and we want a good basic, of course – I decided to make a light wheat bread with some additional rye, sourdough and Pâte fermentée for a more complex taste.

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January 20th, 2013

Caraway seed Bread and Rolls

Category Bread Tags: Caraway seeds, Molke, Rye, Sourdough 2 Responses

During lunch at work, a dear colleague and I discussed about bread making. I gave him some sourdough last summer as part of his wedding present as well as a recipe for Vinschgerl– a favourite bread of his wife and him. They bake this flatbread regularly but this time the taste of caraway seeds was overpowering the other fragrances, because the fresh batch caraway seeds he bought taste much stronger then the old one. “The bread taste more like a caraway flatbread”, said he and I was instantly dreaming of caraway seed bread.

I could not stop thinking about Caraway seed Bread during the day and when I was home I decided to bake some. I made a dough with some whole rye and wheat flour and a good portion of caraway seeds. I added some whey – a leftover of cheesemaking – to the dough, too.

The bread was baked with falling heat which gave a nicely crispy crust to the bread. The bread fits well with some hearty cheese, but is very delicious with some butter and salt, too.

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December 25th, 2012

Christmas Tree Bread

Category Bread, Overnight, Rolls, Special Occasions Tags: Christmas, only with yeast, Rolls, Über-Nacht No Responses

Today I post the Bread we had for Dinner at the holy night, as I promised yesterday.

I like pull apart breads, like the “Brötchenkranz”, a typical german way to serve rolls at parties. When I saw a Christmas tree shaped “Brötchenkranz” I fell in love with it immediately. Sadly, I cannot remember anymore where I saw it the first time. I thought that it was yeastspotted, but I could not find it there. The Google picture search shows me a lot of baked Christmas trees.

Which was my original Inspiration? I can’t tell.

As dough I choosed an overnight recipe, which I could shape and bake in the morning of December, 24th. The Rolls had a nicely soft and fluffy crumb and a complex taste due to the long rise.

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December 16th, 2012

Spice Bread

Category Bread, Overnight Tags: Caraway seeds, Fenchel, Koriandersaat, Rye, Schabzigerklee 18 Responses

Before the christmas treats take over completly I post another healthy bread.

I baked this bread for our christmas party together with the little Santa Hats. In the winter time I like rustic breads, made with whole grain flour and seasoned with bread spices like fennel, caraway or coriander. Especially in a sourdough bread with some rye flour .

To keep things simple I decided to let the bread rise overnight in the fridge. So at the next morning I just had to preheat the baking stone, slash the bread (as a christmas tree) and bake it while I get ready for work.

And what a mouthwatering flavour filled the kitchen during baking! But I battled the urge to cut the bread directly – just for testing – and waited till our christmas party. But then I tested it and was satisfied – it tasted as good as it smelled. The spices and sourdough were blend together to a harmonic taste and the crust was crunchy. Very delicious!

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December 2nd, 2012

Potato Carrot Bread

Category Bread Tags: Allspice, Caraway seeds, Carrots, Muskat, Potatoes, Sourdough 6 Responses

Some of the best recipe are made by chance. And by chance I bake this delicious Potato Carrot Bread. We had a dish called “Möhren untereinander” for Supper. This is made of mashed potatoes and carrots, a typical dish in the Rhineland. And when we had some leftovers, I decided to bake a bread with it. I love all kinds of potato bread and so a potato carrot bread sounded perfectly to me.

After kneading the dough was still sticky but after three rounds of fold & strech the dough get a smooth sureface and was easy to handle.

In the oven the bread developed a very nice ovenspring and developed a thick, crunchy crust wiht a soft crumb. The taste is complex due to the sourdough and the subtle note of allspice, nutmeg and caraway. It goes perfectly with a bowl of soup or alone with some butter and fleur de sel.

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