September 14th, 2019

Weeknight loaf

Feierabend-Kasten (1)I got a bit to optimistic when I tried the first version of this bread. Adding a big portion of  very ripe pâte fermentée was not the best of my ideas, as this brings to much enzymes in the dough and has the same effect like adding sourdough. After 24 hours proofing time the dough was still stable, but the resulting bread lacked volume. A sure sign that the gluten network already started to decline.

And so I put the recipe back on my worktable and sat down to write a better version. This time it is a straight dough which develops its flavour during the long fermenting time. Yoghurt and good portion of whole grain flour adds another aromatic notes to the loaf. In this combination, the dough is stable over the course of 24 hours and the breads have a nice volume. Which can be seen in their crumb, too. It is soft and fluffy and can be toasted very well, too! A perfect bread for breakfasts and lunch boxes!

Continue reading

September 8th, 2019

Greta-Garbo-Schnitten

Greta-Gabor-Schnitten (1)Sometimes questions of readers are timed just perfectly. So when Jasmin asked for a way to reduce yeast amount in my heirloom recipe of Greta-Garbo-Schnitten I told her I would try it right away, as I was planning to bake them for my upcoming birthday anyway. Baking Greta-Garbo-Schnitten has two advantages: They are a delicious favourite of mine and they taste best when baked a week in advance. And the second point goes well together with the fact that my birthday was at the end of a very busy week.

And I adjusted the recipe carefully. Reducing the yeast and adding a bit of sweet starter as preferment. As the recipe contains no big amount of liquid, adding a preferment was tricky. I had to reduce the amount of sour cream. Instead I used a bit of cream fraiche which higher amount of fat balances the reduced over all amount.

The recipe worked like a charm with this adjustments. And it is still one of the most delicious treats in the world!

Continue reading

August 6th, 2019

Three Grain Bread (Weeknight version)

Dreikorn-Rundling-23

Some time ago a reader asked if my beloved three grain bread recipe could be modified so it would use boiled sourdough and could fit in a busy weeknight schedule. As changing from sourodugh to boiled sourdough meant replacing the soaker as well. This are quite some changes and I decided that were to many chances to give away a recipe variant without testing. Around the same time I got my hands on beautiful big mold glasses from Weck (1050ml) .  They have straight walls and are perfect for baking breads. When the bread is sliced, its slices are perfectly round.  I am totally in love with the new form.

And the bread itself is a delicious as the two other variants. And like always it is a good sign for a favourite bread when I bake a recipe in variants!

Continue reading

July 26th, 2019

French Toast

Armer Ritter French Toast (2)The last two weeks were busy ones.  My sister is moving and so I spent the beginning of the summer holidays with sorting stuff out, packing boxes, carrying furniture from the third level to the transporter and renovating. My own household tasks were left alone during that time. And so I spend my first “real” day off with cleaning the kitchen thoroughly.

Around lunch time I got hungry and when I spotted some left over braid from the weekend a plan formed in my brain.  I marked Gabis recipe for french toast already some time ago and now was the right time to test it. A peach, already a bit overripe, was sliced and served along.

And I was  very pleased with the “Arme Ritter” (literally “poor knight”) as the dish is called in Germany. A perfect way to use left over bread

Continue reading

July 23rd, 2019

Potato Burger Buns

Kartoffel Burger Bun (1)When I bake these buns the first time I wrote down “Taste and crumb are perfekt, but the crust shows cracks. Maybe proofing was to short –> Problems with yeast? Try again!”  When baking the buns for a second time with a fresh yeast batch I realized that it was no problem with yeast but the rolls just need their time. And the baker needs patients. And so I elongated proofing time considerably and baked the rolls when fully proofed. And then the rolls are perfect: Fluffy crumb, tender crust and delicous flavour with notes of potato and butter.

I served the rolls once again with my favourite vegan burger patty. I still tend to try new bun recipes but stick with the patty. And so the variety of recipes is quit big. I marked all bun recipes with the tag  Burger (<- click) to make finding more easy.

Continue reading

July 16th, 2019

Little Lemon Cheesecakes

Zitronen-Frischkse-Trtchen3

In the (until now) hottest week of this summer we had a barbeque with the colleagues. When we planed this get-together it was still nice and cool and I volunteered to bake a cake. But when the temperature climbed wide above 30°C I was not so enthusiastic about turning my oven on anymore.

I needed something else and so I opted for a “Fridge Cake” with lots of cream cheese, white chocolate and lemon. And this spontaneous cake was liked very much and so I promised to bring my short notes into a proper recipe and publish it on the blog.

But there was no picture and so I had to “bake” it again. I used the chance to fine tune the recipe. One major change is that the cake is prepared in individual servings now. Adding a bit of basil to the lemon curd is another tiny change that makes the recipe even better. And so I like my version 2 even more then version 1 and I’m well prepared for all the warm weather to come!

Continue reading

July 6th, 2019

Spelt Farmers Bread

Dinkel-Bauernbrot-13This Farmers bread is the right bread for every one who is looking for a rustic bread for busy weeknights. It uses the same principle like the summer evening bread: boiled sourdouhg. To enhance the sourdough flavour I allowed the rye sourdough to ripen for a long time. This can be troublesome in busy weeks but boiled sourdough has one major advantage: It can be prepared one week in advance. So all you have to do is making it on a not so busy day (maybe at the weekend?) and keep it in the fridge until needed. Then you have a “ready to use” sourdough at hand every day of a week.

In this case it is used for flavour and tiny tangy flavour in this bread which contains about 70% Spelt and 30% rye. Such a rustic bread gain a lot from a tiny amount of bread spice added to the dough. I opted for a small amount which only underlines the complex flavours of the long and cold fermentation. But of course you are free to adjust this amount to your taste: use more for a stronger flavour or leave it away if you do not like it. The mixture can be varied as well. I normally opt for same parts of fennel, caraway and coriander seeds. Continue reading

July 5th, 2019

Summer evening bread

Sommerabend-Brot (1)Already with the first recipe for my new “work day breads” there was the wish for recipes with some sourdough. Using a sourdough with a long, cold fermentation can cause problems with both the increasing acidity and the increasing enzyme activity. This can result in a weaker gluten network and a bread with less volume but with very chewy crumb.

There are two strategies to cope with this. The first one is using only a small amount of a very active sourdough. The second one is bowling the sourdough to inactivate microorganisms and enzymes. At the same time the starch gelatinise and binds water, which helps to enhance shelf life of the bread. This second strategy I choose for the summer evening bread.

Continue reading

June 9th, 2019

Scharwaie

Scharwaie-43When I heard the term “Scharwaie” the first time, I had to asked my badish host to repeat the word. Spoken with Baden accent it sounds similar to “sha – wai”.  Even a second repletion didn’t help me. Finally Iasked to write the word down, as my brain struggled to get the letters on the right places. The Term “waie” means flat bread or cake while “Schar” is thought to come from scrabbing left over dough pieces together after forming the regular bread. It is a traditional flat bread that is baked in Baden, a region in the south west of Germany. And as I am a collector of traditional bread I was hooked.

Back home I had to wait for another baking day at the wood fire community oven in our museum. But as I knew that our leftover dough pieces would not enough to feed the whole crowd, I prepared a dough just for this case. It is a dough with 80% wheat and 20% rye which rises over night in the fridge. In combination with some added sourdough, this creates a delicious flavour. Backed for a short time at high temperature, the bread is soft and fluffy and so delicious.

Continue reading

May 31st, 2019

Röggchen

Rggchen-23Last weekend I felt a hunger for rustic rolls with a good portion of rye. As the weekend was crowded with appointments, I opted once again for my favourite schema for easy sunday morning rolls: Proofing the dough over night. Forming, proofing and baking is something I can normally fit into our sunday morning routine easily.  And having still warm rolls for breakfast is something, we love, too.

For the form I opted for simple but pretty pattern made by a roll stamp. This time I decided to press it down through nearly the whole roll which resulted in a beautiful flower-like looking roll. And so the rolls fulfil all my criteria for good weekend rolls: easy to make and delicious! Is there anything else to wish for?

Continue reading