Tag Archives: only with yeast

June 29th, 2012

Malt beer knots

Malzbierknoten I’m not a huge beer fan. Seldomly, maybe one or twice a year, I like to have a little bit beer. That happens normally when we are in Belgium and then I prefer some beer from a small (family-) brewery like Brugse Zot. I don’t like Kölsch, a beer that is typical for the region I’m living, and the same is true for Pils, too.

That is not the best starting point to bake a Bread with Beer for the 5. Birthday of Bread Baking Day. I tried it anyway, but was not convinced of the taste of the bread I baked. And so I decided to cheat a little bit and bake some rolls made with malt beer. I used a local brand “Golden Malz” which is produced in a brewery only 9 km from where I live. It is a real piece of home.

The malt beer knots turned out great. Their taste has deep, malty nuance which fits nicely to the nutty taste of the fresh milled wheat in the rolls and the complex aromas which are created during the slow fermentation. The crumb is soft and fluffy and gets a nice light brown hue due to the malt and the crust is crunchy. A good tasting bread for sweet honey or  jam but great with cheese, too

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June 24th, 2012

Bergische Knüppel – Overnight variation

Bergische Knüppel ÜbernachtThe delicious Knüppel are great as Overnight variation, too.  Kornblumeasked me how to change the recipe so that the dough could ferment overnight and together we developed the overnight variation. And during thinking about it I decided that I would try them, too.

Similar to the Krustis, the dough fermeted slowly overnight and at the next morning I only had to form and bake the rolls. The short proofing (only 30 minutes) helps to get fresh rolls on the breakfast table fastly.

The long fermentation creates more complex aroma then in my first Bergische Knüppel recipe. They had again a great ovenspring, the crust was crisp and crackle during cooling down. The crumb was again niecly soft and fluffy.

I am glad I tried them as overnight roll, too!

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June 16th, 2012

Bergische Knüppel

Bergische Knüppel I was very happy with the taste of the “Berliner Knüppel” but their crust was to soft in my opinion. And so I decided to bake another variation, containing less milk but add some butter to the recipe.

I also decrease the time I gave the rolls for proofing. After I realized that their ovenspring was not as high as expected I go down to 35 min and put the rolls in the oven when still a little underproofed. Now they have the kind of ovenspring I was aiming for.

And after changing the recipe so much I decided to change the name, too. Now I call them “Bergische Knüppel” because I am living in the “Bergische Land”.

The rolls are very satisfying now: a complex aroma, crispy crust and soft crumb, that is how a roll should be.

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June 4th, 2012

Heath bread

Heidebrot This bread is baked memory at a beautiful vacation in the Lüneburger heath two years ago.

In this region, like in other moor and heath regions with meagre farmland, growing grains is difficult. For centuries, buckwheat was grown instead of wheat or rye in this regions, until growing potatoes became popular during the regency of “old Fritz”. In Germany, buckwheat is sometimes called “Heidekorn” what means heath grain, referring to the fact that its mainly grown in heath regions.

Buckwheat is not a real grain, it belongs to the family of Polygonaceae and is related to sorrel and rhubarb. Buckwheat contains not gluten and can added to bread only in small amounts.

When I found some leftover buckwheat flour which I bought during our vacation, I decided to use it an a bread dough.

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June 3rd, 2012

Spelt rye swirls

Dinkel-Roggen-Spirale

I met my mother, my sister and a very good friend for breakfast and promised to supply us with some rolls.

I planed to bake fresh rolls instead of buying some, but the day before I came home late, so I decided to prepare a dough and let it rise over night. As form for the rolls I thought about makeing them as a swirl. I saw this kind of rolls at Chaosqueen, but she used a roll stemp to achive the swirl.

I do not have this kind of stamp, and so I had to think about another way to get the swirls. And so I roll the dough to strands and wind up the strands to form swirls.

The form looks very nice and their taste was very good, with hints of nuts due to the spelt and rye flour and a deep, complex flavour because of the long fermentation. The crust was crunchy and the crumb fluffy, just as a good roll should be!

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May 28th, 2012

Salzekuchen

Salzekuchen (2)

I like to watch the regional TV shows from other parts of germany because I always learn something new about this region. This time I learned about a pie called “Salzekuchen” in a TV show about the hessian kitchen. After a little search in the internet, I know now that Salzekuchen is also called Ploatz, Plootz or Bloads and is typical for Hesse, Parts of Franconia and the region of Rhön and Hohelohn. It is made of a Bread dough  which is topped with a potato or onion mixture. A typical dish in former days, when the village meets for baking bread. For lunch a part of the dough was set aside and used for Salzekuchen.

I decided to make the potato salzekuchen, but I change the recipe a little bit. The original recipe called for about 200ml canola oil. I think this amount is a little bit to much for nowadays where people normally spend most of their days in offices instead working heavily on a farm.

This lighter variant of Salzekuchen is very delicious and we will eat this again, for sure!

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May 14th, 2012

Burger Buns – Overnight Variation

Burgerbrötchen The second kind of bread I bake for our BBQ-Party was Burger Buns for the grilled Burger we planed to make.

To tweak my recipe I baked them now a couple of times and are very pleased with the recipe. An important point to archive a fluffy, regular crumb is to knead the dough long enough to ensure that the gluten network is fully developed. The crumb will be very soft and pillowy then. The crust is soft, too, like a perfect burger bun, but the bun has much more substance then the buns you can buy in the supermarket.

The slow and long overnight proofing create a complex aroma and prevent the crust of the buns from cracking open uncontrolled. They gain colour fastly due to the egg and sugar in the dough, so it’s better to keep an eye on them while they are baking.

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May 12th, 2012

Cloverleaf rolls

Kleeblatt-BrötchenI neglected the Blog a little bit in the last months. But I passed the defence of my Ph.d. thesis successfully last Monday so I have time for blogging once again.

We (some other freshly made “Dr.”s and me) had a party to celebrate this event. I volunteered to take care of the bread and tested two new overnight recipes for the party: cloverleaf rolls and burger buns. The Burger buns are made with very little yeast and proofed overnight at room temperature while the cloverleaf rolls proofed in the fridge. I only had to bake the rolls the next morning.

The cloverleaf rolls are a little eye catcher for  a buffet. One of the “leaves” of the cloverleaf is dipped in sesame, one of the them is dipped in poppy seeds and one stayed plain. It is my miniature variation of the German “Brötchensonne”.

They taste very good, too, with a complex flavour due to poolish and the long and cold proofing.

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April 15th, 2012

Baguette with “old bread”, 3/4 Sponge and cold Autolysis

BaguetteAfter the delicious Wheatbread with old bread I wanted to try another recipe with old bread preferment as well. Lutz’ Altbrotstangen make whishing for some baguettes of my own and so I started to rethink a recipe I created about 2 years ago.

The Baguette with 3/4 Sponge and cold Autolysis had a great taste but I did not like how they look then. So I decided to change some parameters of the recipe, adding an old bread preferment and some gluten.  The dough I got with the changed recipe was soft but not sticky and easy to handle.

When I shashed the baguettes I was already hopeful that this time the baguettes would look as perfect as the baguette I was dreaming of. And when I drew them out of the oven I was stunned because they were so beautiful. The most beautiful baguettes I ever bake.

And their taste is great, too. The two preferments add a complex flavour to the bread and the old bread adds nutty nuances to the taste. A delicious bread, which I will bake often for sure.

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April 9th, 2012

Easter bunnies – Overnight-Variation

Osterhäschen

Eastern without homemade Easter-bunnies-buns? That is impossible.

I bake Easter bunnies every year, varying the dough and the shape. This year their shape are a little bit more abstract then in the last years. The boyfriend needed a little hint to see the bunny in this shape. But I fell in love with the shape when I saw it here.

I made the dough as a overnight variation similar to the saffron stars on Christmas. I like the fact that you can sleep longer on holidays and be able to serve warm bread for breakfast.

The long and slow proofing is good for the taste, too, making it more complex. They taste very good, with hints of butter and vanilla, a very delicious treat for a Easter breakfast or brunch!

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