I didn’t eat a Briegel for ages. At least it feels like that as I had the last one when we visit beautiful Swabia last summer. When I baked a lot of spelt “Seelen” – a bread very close related to Briegel – at the breat festival in Berlin two weeks ago, the memory of this briegel appeared again in my mind. And the idea of baking them by my self was fixed in my brain.
The starting point for this recipe was Lutz spelt Seelen. Instead of using yeast I went for a whole grain variant of my sweet starter. A slightly higher whole grain flour amount in the dough and a changed water roux makes the the a bit firmer, as a Briegel dough should be. The dough is good to handle despite the fact that is has a hydration of 87%. A long cold rest in the fridge helps to add a lot of flavour and subtle aroma of lactic acid which fits very well with the bread. To build the gluten network more easily, the double Hydration method is used. For forming a lot of water is needed, too. The surface of the worktop has to wet to avoid sticking and the hands has to be wet as well. Then it is easy to form the Briegel and bake them directly, without proofing.
The crumb of the Briegel is then as it should be: Opend and moist. The crust is crisp and the flavour is unbeatable, complex and deep with a week hint of lactic acid.
When I stroll over the Christmas market I’m often wondering about the enormous prices for little helpings of Schupfnudel, fried mushrooms or molten raclett cheese. And so I’m little tempted to spend my money there. But what I take with me this time was an inspiration for “Handbrot”. The name means literally hand bread and is a pieces of bread dough filled with Cheese, bacon or mushrooms. The versions sold on the cologne Christmas market where baked to pale for my liking and the dough contained surely to much yeast, but while looking on the breads a recipe started to appear in my mind.
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.
Finally I found it: my perfect vegetarian Burger patty. It is a Aubergine, Beetroot and Champignon mushroom patty which is hold together by chickpeas, rolled oat and buckwheat flour. And this means the patty is not only vegetarian, it is vegan. And it is easily made gluten free by exchanging the rolled oats with rolled millet. An important point for a good binding is to use soaked, uncooked chickpeas and not canned one!
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).
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 
In August we spent a weekend in the beautiful Swabia. A part of my family has its roots there and I always enjoy being there. Eating some pretzels is then a “Must” of course. When we stop at a bakerie in Schwäbisch Hall, I spotted a roll made with some Emmer and Quark (Curd). But sadly the last one was already sold when it was my turn. So I bought pretzels and Briegels instead. But the idea was fixed in my head. And soon afterwards I recipe began to form in my head.
I hope that you did not start to think that there is no bread baked in our hose anymore. But the hot weather and the start into a new job make me bake less. So we emptied the bread drawer in our freezer (very good, more room for new bread) and I baked “old” favourite recipes like
I was asked to include a bagel recipe in my little course about bread baking and I was very willing to do so. Bagels are a good recipe for beginners as the dough is quite firm and not sticky at all. Kneading on the other hand can be a little work out because of the firm dough, too. But kneading a bagel dough is important to get a chewy bagel. So turn on some music and start kneading!