Category Archives: Bread

September 18th, 2016

Rheinisches Krustenbrot

Category Bread, regional breads Tags: regional, regionale Brotsorten, Rye, Sourdough, Wheat 43 Responses

The second bread for my regional bread collection is one I know well: a crusty bread from the rhineland, called “Rheinisches Krustenbrot”.

These crusty breads you can find in different parts of Germany and they vary in the amount of rye which is added to the dough. I know it as a mild bread with only 10% rye flour added. It is baked with seamside up which creates the typical rustic look of this bread. It has a light, fluffy crumb and – as the name suggested – a thick, crunchy crust.

I baked my version of this bread using two different sourdoughs: A rye sourdough which adds a hearty note to the flavour and which contains all of the rye in the formula, and a mild wheat sourdough which adds a joghurt like note to the taste of the bread.

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September 3rd, 2016

Sourdough bread with 60% rye

Category Bread, Bread baking for beginners Tags: Anfänger, How to do, Rye, Sourdough, Wheat 41 Responses

I was asked more than once to publish a sourdough rye bread recipe for the “Bread baking for Beginners” post series. I hesitated as a rye bread is not so easy to handle as a wheat one and to know when a pure sourdough loaf is ready to bake needs some experience. But with the Rye bread without sourdough we had already the right starting point to step into the world of sticky rye dough – practising this bread before switching to sourdough is highly advisable.

To rise the bread with only sourdough in a reliable way, the sourdough has to be very active. If it is not so active or was in the fridge for a longer period, making a refreshment to activate the sourdough yeast the day before is a must. The rye sourdough is then build in two stages to archive a well balance flavour and a high activity. The two stages make use of the fact that lactobacteria and yeast differ in their temperature optima. The first, cooler and firmer stage is perfect for the growth of bacteria , which produce lactic acid and acetic acid. The warm and soft stage then favours the yeasts which are needed for a good oven spring.

The recipe, which I created for this post contains 60% of rye and 40% of wheat flour which makes the dough sticky but still good to handle. It is a classical german “Roggenmischbrot” (literally mixed rye bread), with a slight sour and hearty flavour. Different bread spices which are sprinkled into the bread form add a spicy note to its taste.

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August 2nd, 2016

Malty Spelt-Emmer

Category Bread Tags: Emmer, Malz, Spelt, Sweet starter, wheat free 7 Responses

Since several weeks I have two packages of Emmer and Einkorn sitting in my pantry, waiting for me to create a recipe with them. But I was always to short in time as I had to do a lot of recipe testing for the upcoming bread baking courses and for a magazine article. And so they where pushed deeper and deeper into the depth of the shelf. Sorting my baking supplies brought them back to my mind, as well as a package of dark roasted malt. And so I decided to combine Emmer and malt in one bread.

As I did not want to use a hot soaker or water roux, I decided to use a hydration of about 70% and a long period of stretch and fold in combination of a cold fermentation. With the stretch and fold the dough gains enough strength and the long fermentation give the flour enough time to soak up the moisture. But nevertheless is this a dough on the rather soft side and so it is needed to flour the proofing basket very well!

Due to the dark malt, the bread develops are dark crust and crumb with a malty flavour followed by nutty notes of the Emmer. The sweet Starter which is the only leavening agent develops a deep complexity without any acidity. This is a bread which I love!

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July 23rd, 2016

Vegan Spelt Braid (One for All)

Category Bread Tags: egg free, lactose free, milchfrei, Öl, Pâte fermentée, Spelt, vegan, wheat free 12 Responses

I get the question for a sweet yeast dough without egg, milk or wheat regularly. Depending on the dietary restrictions I sent the readers to this, this or that recipe. A dough “without everything” was missing until now. And so I promised to fill this gap.

The recipe I designed is a aromatic vegan spelt dough. Similar to my favourite braid I used here a mixture of firm and liquid fat: vegan margarine and oil. And while in a butter braid the butter flavour is very prominent, in this recipe a oil made of roasted walnuts takes over this role.

The dough recipe is a basic recipe which can be used in many different recipes. I used it to bake this braid, vegan spelt Hörnchen and nut pastry. The other recipes will follow in the next weeks.

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July 10th, 2016

Spelt & Seed Sandwich Bread

Category Bread Tags: Biga, flaxseeds, Leserwunsch, only with yeast, Seeds, Semmelbrösel, Sesame, Spelt, wheat free, whole grain 24 Responses

This 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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June 18th, 2016

Double baked Farmers Bread

Category Bread Tags: Caraway seeds, Fenchel, Koriandersaat, Rye, Wheat 29 Responses

One of the best methods to achieve a thick, crunchy crust is to bake a bread twice: after cooling down the bread is placed in the oven for a second time for about 15 min. During that time the crust gets its extra bit of crispiness.

And this method I used for this farmers bread. It contains 15% Rye flour and the typical Bavarian bread spice mixture of caraway, fennel and coriander seeds. If you, like me, have a well stocked supply of spices then it is easy to mix the needed spices by yourself. For grinding you can use either a mortar and pestle, a food processor or a coffee mill. And if you have a grain mill which allows you to mill oily seeds, then the easiest way is to mill the seeds with some wheat berries – just remember to reduce the amount of flour accordingly to the amount of wheat you mill.

The amount of bread spice is seasoning in a discreet way without overpowering the other flavours of the bread. This makes this bread suitable for hearty cheese as well for sweet spreads like honey.

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June 12th, 2016

Kekkis Everyday Bread

Category Bread Tags: Buttermilch, Kefir, Rye, Sourdough, Spelt, Sweet starter, Wheat 11 Responses

I like recipe tweaking – especially when this happens so spontaneously like here. Duríng a nice exchange about sweet starter the questions occurred how to add the starter in a existing and trusted everyday bread recipe. I offered help and Kekki posted her formula and the wishes for the new versions. The recipe sounded very good, made with Kefir or Buttermilk, 20% rye and 80% wheat. I exchanged the wheat sourdough with sweet starter and added a long, cold autolysis for the whole grain flour. And I baked the recipe directly, as it sounded so tempting. And I was not disappointed: The bread is very flavourful, with a hearty tangy note, good crust and soft crump. A true everyday bread!

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May 28th, 2016

Witbrood

Category Bread Tags: Butter, Malz, Sourdough, Toast 13 Responses

Björn posted a series of fluffy Netherland breads back in January. One of these Breads was the classical Witbrood. It looked temping soft and fluffy. I bake those breads rather seldom, but when we finally felt a longing for a fluffy bread, I decided to use Björns Bread as Inspiration. My Witbrood-Variant is made with a mild sourdough and 2% yeast. This is for me a rather high amount, but it helps to create a high risen bread in a considerably short time.

Due to the wheat sourdough it develops a fine flavour with lactic acid notes – like a good yoghurt. And so it is not clear to me, why this post sank down to the bottom of the “well of lost plots”. But I brought it back to the surface – and here it is, with just three month delay!

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May 21st, 2016

Bread on a Stick

Category Bread Tags: Draußen, Feuer, Olivenöl 7 Responses

The weather on Pentecost was far away from being warm and sunny, but it was not rainy, either. And so my mum and I take my niece and nephew into the woods to collect hazelnut sticks for making bread on a stick. Before we left my – near to five years old niece – had already kneaded the dough (with some help from my mum). This girl really takes after this side of the family and can knead dough already like a pro.

In the woods we found some fir cones as well which we used then to start a fire when we were back in the garden. We let the fire burn down to glow, as this gives a much more regular heat and the bread on stick bakes regular without burning. Our fire place is a old metal baby bath tube and its rims has the perfect high for placing the sticks on it. You just have to turn them a bit once in a while to ensure that the bread bakes on all sides.

We had a lot of fun with our stick on bread, it is a great pleasure for the whole family.

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May 15th, 2016

Light Rye Bread

Category Bread Tags: Altes Brot, Rye, Semmelbrösel, Sourdough 20 Responses

I like to bake “by order” as I can then bake bread I bake rather seldom. Pure Rye bread, for example, as I have a rather sensitive stomach who do not like the higher acidity of rye bread. And while I do not eat rye bread I still like to bake it. Its different consistency makes it a bit challenging and is a nice change in my wheat- and spelt-dough routine.

For this bread which I bake for a big birthday I choose so called “Lichtkornroggen”. This is a rye variety containing light coloured rye seeds instead of the normal grey green coloured rye. It is a modern back breeding from ancient rye varieties and yields a lighter bread then normal whole rye flour. Its flavour is milder as well and so I build the sourdough in the classical german “three stages”: The so called “Anfrischsauer” (refreshed sourdough) to activate the yeasts is then followed by the low hydrated “Grundsauer” (basic sourdough) to generate a well balanced acidity and the last step called “Vollsauer” (complete sourdough) in which the warm and soft dough is perfect for yeast and homofermenting lactobacteria and in which the sourdough develops a lot of activity. Continue reading →