February 11th, 2010

Vegetable pie

GemüsekuchenThere is nothing better as finding such a great recipe when looking for a Dinner Inspiration in the world wide web. When I saw the recipe for this vegetable pie on Chaosqueens kitchen I was immediately hooked. Fast and delicious, with whole grain and lots of vegetables, this recipe sounded perfect for me. So I take a quick look into my pantry. I had a nice mix of winter vegetables at hand: parsnip, celeriac, carrots and broccoli. The only thing missing were Sunflower seeds so I replaced them with sesame.

The pie was as delicious as promised and so easy to prepare. Its the perfect recipe for a dinner after a long workday.

Chaosqueen found the recipe in two variations on Barbaras Spielwiese and the original Post was on Sammelhamsters Blog. Continue reading

February 7th, 2010

Poppy seeds and Sesame rolls

BrötchenThe quest for the perfect breakfast roll is like the quest for the holy grail.

For me a perfect breakfast roll must have a crispy crust and a soft, fluffy crumb. Nowadays, I am satisfied with the crust of my rolls but the crumb is to firm. The best recipe I found until now is the recipe for Ceriola. And so I used this recipe, but instead of water I add some soy milk. My thought behind this: Soy contains a lot of lecithin and lecithin makes dough fluffy.

And the crumb of my rolls is now better. Its still a long way to perfection but it is a step in the right direction. Continue reading

February 3rd, 2010

Kümmelkuckeln

Kümmelkuckeln

We had a lot of snow last weekend, so we decided that it would be better to stay at home. I used the time to sort old recipes and while sorting I found a recipe for Kümmelkuckeln I liked very much some years ago. But I know more about bread baking now and so I decided I have to change the recipe. I reduced the yeast amount drasticly and increase the amount of milk. The rolls are delicious, soft, a little bit sweet, a little bit salty. Continue reading

January 31st, 2010

Spelt Oat Whole grain cookies

When I have to stay in lab until late in the evening, I need some carbohydrates somewhere at the late afternoon or early evening to refresh myself. One or two cookies are perfect for that, best with some coffee and a chat with my colleagues.

My favourite cookies are wholegrain, with a lot of oats inside. I love this nutty flavour of oat cookies. When I saw the recipe for digestive biscuits on Swirl & Scramble I knew I had to test it!

I made some minor changes due to my pantry: I used freshly ground spelt and oat, replace brown sugar with raw sugar and add some homemade vanilla sugar. I also add a pinch of salt as I always do when cooking something sweet.

The cookies turned out perfect. So good that I bake the double amount! Continue reading

January 24th, 2010

Challah flavoured with Orange liquor

DSC_1395Zorra post here about a bread flavoured with amaretto.  What a nice idea, but I do not have amaretto in my pantry but homemade orange liquor. First I thought about baking brioche with it but then I decided to make a leaner recipe. So I make some small changes in this Challah recipe. I reduced the amount of oil a little bit and added liquor to the formula. And because I had not so much orange liquor left I added also some orange flavoured oil. The resulting bread has a fine orange taste, but its a mild flavour, so even my boyfriend like it. If I would bake it just for myself, I would prefer a stronger orange taste. Continue reading

January 18th, 2010

Hemp Bread

HanfbrotHemp is normaly associated with drugs. But hemp fibres was always used for making ropes and tissue and it nutritious seed were eaten, too. The seeds are packed with essential fatty acids, all eight essential amino acids, vitamin E, vitamin B, potassium, calcium, magnesium and iron. And the hemp seeds you can buy at whole food stores are as good as THC free (This is written on my package, too). So its a healthy ingredients for a healty bread.

Because I am still cleaning up my pantry, I also add sesame and flax seeds and replace a part of the flour with breadcrumbs. I use to dry single slices of bread which are getting steal and later grind them into breadcrumbs. So adding Breadcrumb into a new bread is some kind of bread recycling! 😉

The bread is delicious: It has a slight nut taste and it is so crunchy because of the seeds. Hemp seeds stay crunchy even in bread. I prefer to eat it with some butter and fleur de sel, thats is enough to underline its taste! Continue reading

January 13th, 2010

Bread with Nuts

NussbrotAfter all the sweet breads, stollen and cookies during holiday season I need now a bread with lots of whole wheat and healthy ingredients. When I take a look at my pantry I found a lot of leftover nuts from Christmas baking. In my fridge I found an open pot of yoghurt so I decided to use it up, too.

The bread I bake with this ingredients is hearty and healthy and very delicious. Continue reading

January 6th, 2010

New Year’s Pretzel

DSC_1265Every year I bake a New year’s pretzel at 31. December which we eat on new year’s morning. This year we came back late in the night of 30. December, so I was to tired to prepare a pâte fermentée for this recipe. So I decided to create a recipe similar to the weckmann recipe using water roux. Water roux makes the bread soft and fluffy and enhances shelf life.

Continue reading

December 31st, 2009

Best of 2009

It is already the last day of 2009! So its time to look back and to remember. When I look through my blog I found a lot of bread I tried during the last year. To share my personal favourites with you I decided to do a Top10 List, but it was impossible to pick just 10. At the end I have 12 favourite recipes.

Happy new year to everyone! Continue reading

December 26th, 2009

Pandoro

Pandoro

I tasted Pandoro three years ago when a colleague brought some after visiting her parents in Italy. I fell in love with this rich bread with the feather light crumb immediately. After some Internet search I found a Pandoro recipe from the Simili sisters on Chili und Ciabatta . Its a great recipe I made many times since this day. It is a time consuming recipe but the result is worth every second you spend in kitchen.

And the I saw a sourdough pandoro on Wild Yeast and I knew that this is the bread I have to bake for Christmas.

This pandoro is made with a sweet starter, a sourdough that is feed more frequently for two days to enhance yeast growth. My lovely boyfriend had to do babysitting my sourdough and feed it every four hours while I was working. He did a great job and the starter was vigorous rising after every feeding. On the 23. December I did the dough and the bread rose overnight. My pandoro need about 18 hours to reach the top of the pan and I let it rise the last 4 hours on 30°C! Continue reading