Category Archives: Rolls

May 20th, 2017

Seed flower

Category Rolls Tags: Polenta, Poppy seeds, Sesame 20 Responses

Some month ago I bought a apple slicer with two exchangeable cutter one for apples and one for for cubes. I planed to use the cube cutter for making french fries but it works only so-so. The apple cutter is a tiny bit better. But then – while forming rolls- I had THE idea which save the apple slicer from the waste bin. The cutter is perfect suitable for cutting rolls! Why I didn’t had this idea already much earlier I don’t know. The deep cuts open flower like during baking and I’m totally in love with their appearance.

The inner values of the rolls are beautiful as well: 40% whole grain pushes it to the healthy side, but the crumb is nonetheless fluffy and soft, the crust is crunchy and covered with seeds. It is once again a great roll for our breakfast table!

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May 12th, 2017

Kieler Semmel (Brotzeit recipe)

Category regional breads, Rolls Tags: Backkurs, Brotzeit, Butter, Cinnamon, Course, Poolish, Salt No Responses

Since I discovered the Kieler Semmel for me, they rank very high on my personal favourite roll list. I love their tender crumb and the crisp buttery-salty crust with the slight hint of cinnamon. And so it was an easy decision what recipe I would bake at my course at the Brotzeit.

But the recipe vary a bit form the two recipes already published on the Blog: this time I use poolish as preferment and I had to use more yeast to compensate the short time window in the course. But I added a variant for more time below.

The dough of this rolls is rather firm and can be formed round easily. After forming the rolls need to be rubbed in a butter mix which works some fat into the seam. This prevents the seam from sticking and so the rolls open nicely in the oven. To get enough butter in the seam needs a bit of practice – and this can only be gained by practice 😉

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May 6th, 2017

Göppinger Briegel (Brotzeit Recipe)

Category regional breads, Rolls Tags: Brotzeit, only with yeast, regional, Spelt, wheat free 12 Responses

This was a great weekend in Berlin! The smell of bread was everywhere and I had the change to try so many different specialities. Not only on the Brotzeit Market, but on the evening before as well when all of the participants came together to chat and eat. A lot of the Bakers brought their favourite bread and I spent that evening of sampling nearly 20 Breads. My personal favourites were: a bread with sprouted spelt, a loaf with sprouted sun flower seeds and a ciabatta like bread with hot pepper and olives. But there was a delicious walnut, a bread flavoured with nettles, and different great rye breads as well. The different breads and the interesting conversations about bread, grain and bees at this evening will be inspiring my baking in the next time for sure!

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April 28th, 2017

Pretzel Burger Buns

Category Rolls Tags: Butter, lye pretzels, Sweet starter. malt 29 Responses

A good burger is always a favourite here – and so the collection for burger buns on the blog is already big. Because Burgers are never a fast food for us, as everything – from fries to buns – has to be homemade. And once in a while we have a new idea what we could try next.

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April 17th, 2017

Easter Bunny Buns

Category Rolls, Special Occasions Tags: Bunny, Eastern, Orange, Saffron, Sweet starter 8 Responses

Easter without some Easter Bunny Buns is possible – but somehow sad. Easter Bunny Buns in various shapes belong to my Easter Breakfast since childhood. And so I used some of the dough I kneaded for the Easter bread to form some Bunnies, too.

For an easy shaping two things are important: kneading the dough to full gluten development and cooling the dough for about two hours in the fridge. This solidify the butter and adds some plasticity to the dough. The bunnies I formed with the cold dough are simple but already the forth variant I have on the blog (Here you can find Number one, two and three. Its already a little collection of possible shape 😀 !

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March 24th, 2017

Springbrötchen

Category regional breads, Rolls Tags: Hirschhornsalz, regional, regionale Brotsorten 14 Responses

The next regional bread recipe is from Northern Germany, too. Or, to be more precise, from Osnabrück. It is a roll which roots in meagre days when good flour with a high amount of gluten was rare. The poor flour quality results in a finer, denser crumb and a smaller volume then normal rolls. To archive good looking rolls with a nice crust despite the flour quality the bakers used a trick. They spread the rolls with different kinds of mixtures which results on a crisp, and crackled crust. This special look of the crust gave the rolls their name “Springbrötchen” (lit. Cracked Rolls).

The flavour of the crumb is slightly sweet while the crust is very hearty. The hearty flavour stems from the last mixture which is applied on the rolls: It is a mixture of fat and baker’s ammonia. The slight alkalinity of the baker’s ammonia has a similar effect like lye for making pretzels and gives the rolls their specific flavour. The hint of sweetness is archived by a bit of sugar and the addition of some milk and is a lovely contrast to the flavour of the crust. I like the flavour very much and there are already new recipe variants with preferments circling in my mind. Always a sign that I like a recipe…

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February 24th, 2017

Rustic Potato Rolls

Category hand kneaded, Overnight, Rolls Tags: Hand kneaded, only with yeast, Potatoes, Rye, Über-Nacht 21 Responses

Sometimes it is just time to use leftovers. Like last friday, when I looked around in the kitchen: there was some leftover fine rye meal from the blackbread, a small bowl with mashed potatoes and in the fridge I found a lonely egg yolk. And so I combined everything and kneaded a dough for the next day. As I prefer freshly baked rolls for breakfast, the dough rose overnight in the fridge.

When we get up on Saturday I went straight to the kitchen and formed the rolls. And while we get ourselves ready, cooked coffee and lay out the table, the rolls proofed and got baked. And when we then had breakfast with the flavourful fluffy rolls I thought once again: leftover recipes can be so great!

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January 15th, 2017

Moist Whole Wheat Rolls

Category Rolls Tags: Flohsamenschale, Kleie, Wheat, whole grain 48 Responses

The moment I took the Luftikusse from the oven my never resting mind started to muse about a whole grain variant. And it needed just Michas comment to sent me straight to the kitchen to try it.

Whole grain flour needs more water then white flour, that is a well known fact. And the psyllium hulls can bind a lot of water, too. Nevertheless I was surprised by the amount of water I needed to reach the right consistency when I prepared the dough. At the end there was more water then flour in the dough. It yielded good rolls but I found the amount of water a bit to much, anyway. And so I changed the recipe, using less water and bit of sugar beet syrup to break the slight bitterness of the bran.

And with this second try I was happy. They have a nice, moist crumb and stay fresh for a long time. They are not as airy as their siblings but a delicious, more healthy variant. The right roll for a healthy lunch break!

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January 7th, 2017

Luftikusse

Category Rolls Tags: Flohsamenschale, Kleie, Leserwunsch, Malz, Sourdough 46 Responses

The first post in 2017 found its inspiration back in 2016. When I put together my “Best of 2016” I stumbled upon upon a readers question for rolls with open crumb. Back then I suggested this Baguette rolls and then the question slowly slipped from my mind. It has a simple reason: I normally prefer rolls with a finer crumb as we eat them mainly for breakfast and a wide open crumb means honey dropping all over the place. But during vacations we like to eat rolls for lunch or dinner, too. And with a slide of cheese a chiabatta-like roll is a delicious thing.

But the infection I catch before christmas was a mean one and so I spent most of my vacation on the sofa with hot tea and a good book – slowly recovering. I slept a lot, but baked nearly nothing and we went not for shopping food either but feed on our well stocked pantry and fridge. When we finally had to buy some groceries I discovered something new in our supermarket: organic pysillum hulls. I find their water binding capacity fascinating and so a package went home with me.

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December 3rd, 2016

Anisbrezen

Category regional breads, Rolls Tags: Anis, regional, regionale Brotsorten 11 Responses

When I was researching another recipe, I stumbled upon the recipe for anise pretzels . These pretzles are made without lye and are typically served during winter in the region Upper Franconia. They contain a lot of anise, as their name promise.

Interestingly it seems that the recipe vary from town to town: In Weidenberg the dough is made without the addition of fat, while in a recipe from Bayreuth the dough is enriched with some milk and butter. I liked the richer variant more and so my dough contains both milk and butter, too. A egg yolk is added as emulsifier and helps to create fluffy and soft crumb.

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