Tag Archives: Sourdough

December 6th, 2019

Malty Bread with Seeds

Malziges Saaten-Mischbrot (1)[3]This is a typical blogger problem during the winter months: the daylight vanishes at the same time I pull a bread from the oven. If the day was bright enough for nice pictures anyway. The problem can be easily solved with a foto lamp. But with a broken bulb, my studio lamp was as useful for nice pictures as a coat hanger. And so I put one loaf in the freezer and ordered a new LED bulb. Until it was delivered, the weather cleared, too and I was finally able to take a nice picture with daylight.

And I’m very happy, as I like this bread very much. It is a perfect every day bread for lovers of sunflower and pumpkin seeds. Continue reading

November 17th, 2019

Pameln

Pameln (1)[7]The second recipe for rolls from East-Germany which I found in an old Baking book from 1930 is a recipe for “Pameln”. The recipe itself was once again rather short: Use a waterdough with some rye flour mixed in. But at least the description for forming was better this time: Roll the dough into a shape similar like Berliner Schrippen and cut it length wise prior to baking.

I try to research about this kind of rolls like I did it for the Salzkuchen, but I only found some posts of people looking for a recipe. And so here it is, my try on an Pameln. It is a delious roll with a soft crumb and complex flavour due to the sourdough!

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October 6th, 2019

Kneppkuchen

Kneppkuchen-13Is there still someone who is surprised about another traditional sweet bread recipe with rye? The longer I collect the regional recipes, the more sweet recipes with rye flour, raisins and sometimes spices I found. Personally I am only wondering about the fact that these kind of breads somehow did not appear in modern baking.

Todays rolls fit in perfectly in the row of Krintstuut, Onjeschwedde, Berchtesgardener Stuck, Kleenroggen and Westerwälder Neujährchen. The Kneppkuchen is a recipe somewhere between a lean cake and a very rich roll. It is made with rye (of course), raisins, anise seeds and cardamom. Originally the dough is prepared with lard, but for vegetarians and vegans it can be baked with coconut oil instead, too.

In my version, you can find a sourdough for a deeper flavour as well as the fact, that the high amount of fat is mixed to short crust dough before being added to to the dough. This little trick makes kneading in the fat much easier.

When serving you do not need anything but a bit of butter, as their flavour is so deep and rich!

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September 30th, 2019

Mangbrot

Mangbrot (1)

The Mangbrot was a favourite of my grandfather. It is a bread with a long tradition in this corner of germany. The idiom term “Mang” means “Mixed” and referred to the fact that the bread is baked with a mixture of rye and wheat flour. Here, like in other region with cold climate and loamy soil, rye and wheat was planted as mixture. So in good years, the mixture contained more wheat, while in bad years the robust rye prevailed the mixture. I considered this fact and prepared already the sourdough with a mixture of rye and wheat flour. This makes the sourdough a bit milder.

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May 18th, 2019

Krintstuut

Krintstuut-13Last autumn we spent a week in East Frisia. Our land lady told us, that the bakery around the corner should be the best of Leer and so we had to buy some bread there, of course. Something that rouse my curiosity was a small package of sliced raisin bread called Krintstuut. As it was a busy morning in the bakery, I didn’t ask about the ingredients. Tasting the bread back in our cottage, I was sure that it contained a good portion of rye. And so I used a quieter time in the bakery to confirm my assumption.

Finding rye in a sweet bread is nothing that surprises me any longer as I learned about so many traditional sweet breads baked that way. And it makes sense so much: Rye growth even in regions which are not suitable for wheat. So rye was always a grain used for many peasant breads. Wheat bread was something baked only for holidays. And even sweet breads with rye was something most families ate only on Sunday.

My interpretation of the recipe takes into account what I learned about bread baking in the 19. century: It uses sourdough but as well yeast. Back in time, the yeast was bought often at breweries and used for the “finer” breads like raisin bread.The sweetness stems from raisins alone as sugar was scarce back then. And that is really sweet enough. The bread is delicious, especially with some butter and honey.

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May 3rd, 2019

Spring bread

Frhlingskasten-23It is spring – finally! I bath in yellow sunshine and admire the green of leaves and listen to the bees collecting pollen and nectar. And I try to catch this spring feeling a bread. It has the same colour combination of green and yellow. The yellow stems from the high carotenoid content of the kamut flour while pumpkin seeds adds green sprinkles in the crumb. A bit of honey remembers on the busy bees.

To fit the bread in my full weekend schedule (new garden and my bee keeper course is keeping me still busy) I opted for a overnight version with a young sourdough and “quick” poolish. As both preferments do not stand so long  I decided to increase the amount of preferment. So all Kamutflour is fermented for a longer time which increases flavour and digestibility.

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April 8th, 2019

Pita Bread

Pita-Taschen-13

Some times we need some one who point out the obvious. When a reader asked for a recipe for pita bread I wondered why I had not thought about it before.

And so I looked at many recipes and an idea was forming in my mind. When I had my recipe sketched out, I saw that Sara from Sara bakar did published a Pita recipe, too. And so I took some good advices from her: making small sized Pita bread is one of them, the other is the idea to turn the bread after proofing before baking.

Watching the bread in the oven was then my most beloved oven tv. In just one minute the bread puffed up. It was so fascinating. And while the bread cooled down, I prepared some  Falafel and had a delicious lunch a short while later!

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March 30th, 2019

White Tin Bread

Kastenweibrot-124Tin Breads are so convenient when baking in a kitchen that isn’t yours . No need for a bread baking stone, no need for a lot of fuss. And so I baked an old fashioned white tin bread. In Germany it is called “Kasten-Weißbrot” and is a bread with a lot of tradition.  So it fits in my post series of traditional breads.

The bread is baked with a young sourdough to keep the amout of acid low to prevent a gummy crumb. For a young sourdough you need a very active starter so the sourdough can double or triple its volume in the short time.  To enhance the fluffy crumb I added a bit of powdered rose hip which is a natural source of vitamin c. The rest of the dough is a quite simple white bread dough with a tiny bit of butter for a tender crumb. A bit of enzyme active malt helps to create a crisp crust.

It is a simple but so delicious bread. It tastes great with cheese or with peanutbutter and honey! Continue reading

December 8th, 2018

Kassler Bread

Kassler-13No, I will not start complaining about the rain. I am honestly glad about the constant pouring as the hot and dry summer and autumn left nature thirsting for water. But my foodblogger heart is still grumbles a little bit about the dull light we have. It is rather bad for taking pictures. But that’s what high Iso and the golden side of my reflector is for, isn’t it?

And when it’s raining cats and dogs it is the perfect weather for baking bread. And so I spent the last sunday with baking another regional bread. The Kassler Bread (or short Kassler) stems – as its name suggest – from the city Kassel, but is nowadays baked often in the Rhineland, too. It contains about 30% Rye and 70% Wheat flour and it’s a kind of bread I call lovingly “everyday bread”. It is flavourful and goes well with every kind of topping: from honey to cheese, everything fits with this kind of bread.

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November 9th, 2018

Lecker-Cracker for the 10. Blog Birthday

Lecker-Cracker (2)[3]It’s been ten years today since I clicked on the “publish” button for the first time. The Blog – the first bread baking blog written in German – flourish ever since. My wee little  recipe archive turned into a huge collection with more than 800 recipes turning this time. And so it’s time to celebrate!

When coming together to celebrate I like to serve a little something for nibbling. The Idea for this crackers I got at our last vacations on a farmers market. A baker sold bags of “addictive makers” –  a kind of paper thin crackers. The name was tempting me and so we bought a bag to satisfy my curiosity. But the name was greater then the reality. They tasted ok… and my brain started to work.

The inspiration for my cracker variant  are Lavash and Pan Carasau. I add sourdough to the mixture for a more complex flavour, while harrisa and nigella seeds add an exotic touch. And so I get finally my perfect cracker…

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