November 4th, 2013

Pumpkin Cinnamon Swirl Bread

Kürbis-Zimtwirbel-Brot

I have a weakness for cinnamon. It does not matter in which way cinnamon is included ínto a yeast dough – kanelfläta, cinnamon waffles or cinnamon rolls – I love them all!

And so I was hooked when I saw a Pumpkin Cinnamon Swirl Bread for the first time. I kept thinking about a recipe for some time. At the beginning I planned to use the dough of my Pumpkin Sandwich Bread but  then decided that this dough would be to soft. And so I came up with a new recipe at the end, with Pâte Fermentée and butternut pumpkin puree and a swirl made of sugar, cinnamon and a little bit flour. The flour in the filling helps to keep the layers of the swirl together. With the same thought in my mind I decided to brushed the dough with water instead of molten butter to stick the filling to the dough.

The bread turned out as great as I hopede: a soft, fluffy crumb, a soft crust and the great taste of cinnamon and pumpkin – I love it!

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October 26th, 2013

Apple Hazelnut Rolls

Apfel-Haselnuss-Brötchen (2)And here is already the second recipe for freshly baked breakfast rolls. They need – similar to the last recipe – only a short time in the morning until they are ready to bake, but need a little bit more attention the evening before when the dough is prepared. The apple has to be peeled and cut, the soaker has to be made and the nuts hast to be roasted and cut. But the rolls are worth the effort! They are slightly sweet due to honey and apple with the deep flavour of roasted nuts and hazelnut oil, combined with the complex flavour of the long, slow rise over night.

That I soaked the apple pieces together with the rolled oats in boiling water was done by purpose. The apple I use is from an old variety (presumably Jakob Lebel) and turn brownish as soon as you cut them. This change in colour is due to the reaction of an Enzyme in the cells which are demaged by cutting the fruit. To scald the apples with boiling water denatures the enzymes and turns them inactive, so the apple pieces will not turn brown.

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October 19th, 2013

Breakfast Rolls with Yoghurt

Frühstücksbrötchen mit Joghurt (2) I was thinking about calling this recipe “Fast Breakfast Rolls” But then I realized that my kind of “fast” is not what other people would consider as “fast”. Fast means for me: I spent 15 minutes the evening before baking (and even then did my mixer most of the job) and need another 45 min the next morning (including shaping and baking) until I can serve the rolls. The ten to twelve hours the dough needs to rest do not count for me because during that time I normally sleep!

And during I sleep the dough develops a great flavour due to a long and slow fermentation. The little bit of yoghurt enhances the taste as well with it slight tangy flavour, similar to my favourite Yoghurt-Sesame-Rolls. The gentle shaping and short proofing period I saw on Brotdoc and it works very well for this rolls.

Flavourful, crusty and with a soft crumb are they perfect start into the weekend!

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October 16th, 2013

Pumkin Potato Bread baked in a baking frame

Kürbis-Kartoffelbrot

Some time ago my boyfriend built me a beautiful wooden baking frame. The frame is now well burned in, oiled and ready to use. And so I baked last weekend a potato pumpkin bread.

I found a sliced halve of a big butternut pumpkin from last year while I sorted the freezer. To make room for something new, I decided to use it in a bread. I baked the pumpkin side by side with some potatoes in the oven. To bake vegetables in the oven enhances the flavours. The already good flavour of the butternut gets even more intense. And this intense flavour can now be tasted in the bread, too, along with the complex flavour of the sourdough.

A great bread – or better said four – for World Bread Day 2013!

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October 13th, 2013

Kanelbullar

Zimtschnecken

Now we are really in the middle of autumn. It is this kind of autumn that makes you searching for your scarf and cap. This kind of autumn that puts soups and stews on top of your “to cook” list. And this kind of autumn which makes you cuddle up on the couch with a good book and a cup of tea. And if this cup of tea comes with kanelbullar, the Swedish cinnamon roll, then everything is good once again.

Would I tend to use exaggerated titles, I would call this cinnamon rolls “the world bests”. But do not and so I will only state: They are the best I bake until now. They have such a soft and fluffy crumb with a strong cinamon flavour, they won me over directly.

For cutting the rolls I used the trick with the dental floss: A dental floss is placed below the log shaped dough and the ends are crossed over the top of it. Pulling the sling together will cut the rolls in a perfectly manner!

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October 4th, 2013

Spelt Pretzel Rolls

Dinkel-Laugenknöpfe

Annette asked at the recipe for Ulmer Spatzen if she could use spelt flour instead of wheat flour for the rolls. I told her that it should be fine to bake the rolls with spelt. Parallel my brain started to work. I was dreaming about pretzels already for quite some time, so baking a spelt pretzel roll sounds great for me.

At the end I made a new recipe, because I decided that I would rather use a pâte fermentée and hot soaker to prevent the pretzel rolls from getting dry, something that can happen easily when baking with spelt flour.

Due to the soaker the rolls has the perfect crumb, dense but soft and not dry at all. A perfect pretzel roll!

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September 29th, 2013

Praline-Quark-Cake

Nugat-Quark-Kuchen

To bake a heart shaped cake for birthday (also called “Birthday-Heart”) is an old family tradition. Which cake is baked on the other hand is highly variable. We already baked Cheesecake-Hearts, Goldknödel-Hearts and or the good old Pound-Cake hearts filled with a layer of jam.

For the 80. Birthday of my Grandmother I volunteered to bake a festively decorated cake and the heart shape was mandatory for me! But what cake should I choose?

At the end I decided to use the Praline-Quark-Cake from Petra. Jutta chose this cake as base of her sons wedding cake and she praised the cake so much that it was clear to me that it would be the perfect cake.

To fill the heart springform completely I multiplied the recipe by 1.5, but reduced the amount of sugar a little bit.

And now I can only repeat what Petra and Jutta already told us: It is a great cake, moist and nutty but at the same time very stable, perfect for fondant covered cakes!

This is for you, dearest Oma. Happy Birthday!

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September 24th, 2013

Federweisser Rolls

Federweißerbrötchen

We like the Federweisser Bread I baked last week very much and so I started directly to think about other recipes. A Breakfast roll was what I was thinking about. And when Nadja encouraged me to think about other recipes, too, I decided to bake rustically looking rolls for sunday morning. Sunday was election day and I always like to go very early to the election office. And so I needed rolls which would proof overnight in the fridge.

After I come home I only had to put the rolls to the preheated oven. They had a great ovenspring due to the combination of yeast from the young wine and Lievito madre. When I pulled them out of the oven, they started to “sing”, with their crust crackling loudly while they cool down. And they hold what they promise: Crisp crust with a light and soft crumb. The perfect breakfast roll for me!

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September 17th, 2013

Federweisser Bread

Federweißer Brot

I can always see what our Neighbour, the wine merchant, sells when I look out from our kitchen window. But I do not have to observe his offerings very closely, because when he got something he knows we would like, he calls when he see us: “Herr and Frau Neighbour, I have something for you!” And so one of first boxes with six flask of this years federweisser was our as soon as it was delivered to him.

When I came home at this day from work I saw this happily fermenting flasks sitting on the kitchen counter. And when I saw them bubbling, an idea popped up in my mind. Before my love could stop me, I had already mixed a poolish out of Federweisser and flour, planning to bake a bread with the yeast of Federweißer as sole rising agent.

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