Tag Archives: only with yeast

May 1st, 2016

Honigreingerl

Honigreingerl (9)I met Honigreingerl some time ago and they trigger my “Have to bake” reflex of immediately.  They are small Austrian pastries which are filled with a honey and cinnamon mixture. In their crumb you can find many small openings filled with the flavour of honey and cinnamon.

Original the Honigreingerl are baked in a slightly higher form, but using a muffin tin and brioche forms work good as well. The dough is made with ten percent spelt flour like I used it in the Butterzopf recipe, as this makes rolling the dough easier. The other components of the dough are the “usual suspects”: Biga, some egg and butter – a guaranty for a fluffy crumb and good flavour. And so are my homemade Honigreingerl: a golden crust and a very fluffy crumb filled with the flavours of honey and cinnamon – a divine treat!

 

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April 30th, 2016

Bread Baking for Beginners: Spelt Buttermilk Loaf (with walnuts)

Dinkel-Buttermilchbrot mit WalnüssenSome weeks ago a reader asked me if I had an idea for a spelt variant of the Buttermilk loaf from the beginners course. Of course I had an idea and so I send her a recipe draft. The flour used for this bread had a higher ash content – just as she asked for. A soaker made from flour and buttermilk prevents the bread from getting to dry.

It took a while until I bake the bread by myself. A inflammation of my wrist kept me from hand kneading dough for a while. But since my wrist is fine again, I finally managed to knead it by hand without pain.  As I like the combination of spelt and walnuts, I decided to some, too. And I slightly increased the water amount in comparison to the recipe draft. The bread has a moist and fluffy crumb with a slight darker colour due to the higher ash content of the flour and due to the walnuts.

It is a mild tasting bread which pairs well with goat cheese or honey and as it made with a straight dough it is a good alternative for moments when you need a fresh loaf in a considerable short time.

 

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April 16th, 2016

Rye Bread without Sourdough

Roggenmischbrot ohne Sauerteig (1)In January a reader asked me about a recipe for dark bread with lots of rye, but without Sourdough. I needed time to think about a recipe, but finally a recipe began to form in my head. As rye needs acid for baking, I choose butter milk as liquid. The complex flavour is created by a rye poolish and a soaker made out of dried whole grain bread crumbs. The bread is in the style of a dark farmers bread with 70% rye. The buttermilk adds a noticeable but mild acidity like you would find in a mild sourdough bread.

To create the fine cracked pattern on the crust, the loaf are turned on the peel already 20 minutes prior baking and left uncovered. This results into a slight drying of the skin of the loaf and as is spread a bit during this time as well, it will create cracks on the surface. Adding steam after 30 seconds of baking will enhance the effect as well.

After all, it is a good bread with a moist, regular crumb and a thick, flavourful crust. And as it is made without sourdough it is although a nice start for bread baking beginners who want a easier start into rye breads.

 

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March 13th, 2016

Tumeric Loaf

Kurkuma-Laib (4)Bright yellow like the sun shines the tumeric loaf on my kitchen counter. And its good that it shines so bright as spring seems to be far away.

It was the first time in my live that I used fresh tumeric. I got very exited when I saw the rhizomes in our small wholefood shop and bought some directly. And while I packed them in my bag I already saw the bread I was going to bake with some  of them. Continue reading

February 7th, 2016

Spelt-Berliner

Dinkel-Berliner (2)

There is only one reason to spent carnival Sunday not thinking about the best hiding place: my nice and my nephew. As we invited them to  watch the children carnival parade in our little town with us, I even bought some paper streamers and baked some “Amerikaner” (german version of black and white cookies) and Berliner. That is as close as I will ever  come to celebrating carnival.

This years Berliner are made with spelt flour and get their good flavour from a biga, which helps to build a strong gluten network, too. For a bit more moisture I added a water roux and like last year I have again a good amount of egg yolk in the dough, which helps to create a tender crump. And as Berliner a for me the best part of carnival, I wish you a good time during the “crazy days”: Alaaf!

 

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February 4th, 2016

Kieler Semmeln

Kieler SemmelKieler Semmeln are rolls which stem – as their name suggested – from Kiel. They are a special roll as they are rubbed in a mixture of butter and salt, which gives their surface a rough look and adds a nice buttery and sligthly salty flavour. There are different recipes around for this kind of rolls, some of the containing lard or cinnamon as well. Cinnamon seems to me a bit to adventurous for a first trial, but I keep this variant in the back of my head for a second version.

As dough, I chose something well-tried, which I changed only slightly. Some sourdough and a cold rise in the fridge adds complex aroma notes even without a preferment, which makes the rolls good for spontaneous “I want to serve rolls for breakfast”- Ideas on late evenings. The rubbing of the preformed rolls in the butter-salt-mixture needs a bit of practice but even if the dough dos not make perfect folds,  the recipe will still yields a delicous roll with fluffy crumb a crisp crust which crackles while cooling and which carries a hint of salt and butter.

 

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November 27th, 2015

Bread baking for beginners XXII: Quark-Streusel-Kolatschen

Quark-Streusel-Gulatschen (1)There is one wish still open for the Bread baking course: yeasted cake! And what would be a better idea to celebrate the seventh blog birthday of “Hefe und mehr” then to make little yeast pastries with a fluffy dough and delicious Quark filling? And as a bonus point this Quark-Streusel-Kolatschen are very variable as well. You can replace the Quarkfilling with a poppy seed filling or make them without quark but with an increased amount of streusel. It is a basic recipe that can changed to meet your own preferences.

When working with doughs containing much sugar and butter you have to take in account that they inhibit gluten development (as described here as well). Due to this fact they are added at the end of the kneading in small portions. And you can feel how the added sugar will change the consistency of the dough and becomes more soft and sticky when the sugar draws away water formerly bound in the dough.

 

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November 21st, 2015

Spitzweckerl

Spitzweckerl (5)The idea for this rolls started when I pull a nearly forgotten glas with Pâte fermentée from the fridge saturday night. I planed to prepare some sunday morning rolls and so I added some spelt flour (white and and whole grain) for the nutty flavour and egg yolk, butter and milk for a soft crumb. Together with the fermented dough this promised to yield rolls with a deep, complex flavour.

But it was already late at night and so I place the dough in the fridge to rise there until the next morning. Early on Sunday morning I degased the dough, formed the rolls and let them proof for a rather short time. The short proofing made sure that the rolls develope a good oven spring and that the slash opens widely.

The rolls are perfect for a sunday breakfast: beautiful, crisp with soft crumb and as flavourful as they promised to be!

 

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October 31st, 2015

Reformationsbrötchen

Reformationsbrötchen (1)I can not tell how I learn about the Reformationsbrötchen (reformation rolls). But the idea somehow stuck in mind and so I had to bake them just in time for the 31. October (Reformation day).

This rolls originate from the area around Leipzig and are baked in Saxony, Thüringen and Saxony-Anhalt. It is made from a buttery yeast dough enriched with a lot of raisins, candid orange and lemon peel and almonds. The square form with the red jam in the middle is said to symbolize either the Luther rose, the seal of Martin Luther, or a bishops hat.

My variant is made with a biga preferment for a complex flavour and is rich with raisins and almonds. The candid orange and lemon peel I added in a smaller amount. The crumb is soft and moist due to cream and butter and the tart cherry jam is a great counterpoint to the sweetness of the dough and fruits. A great pastry for the last day of October.

 

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October 16th, 2015

Sweet Potato Rolls

Kartoffelweckchen (4)And this can happen in our house as well: the fridge is empty when I was sure that there should be some breakfast rolls left. And at nine in the evening not even I start to think about making a quick preferment for rolls. Instead I made a short stocktaking in the kitchen and found some left over boiled potatoes, cream and eggs in the fridge. With them I mixed a sweet dough for rolls. Like the dough for my favourite braid this dough has to rest in the fridge for at least one hour, but can stay there over night as well.

That’s what I did and the next morning I just had to form the rolls, proof and bake them.  And even while I normally prefer rolls made with preferment and a more complex flavour, I was quite pleased with them. Due to potatoes and cream they have a very soft, fluffy crumb which can be torn into long fibres. The perfect sweet roll.

 

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