Tag Archives: Rye

January 31st, 2015

Whole Grain Country Loaf

Vollkorn-Landbrot

Breads with spelt are still highly requested. There was for example the question if the Country Loaf could maybe be baked without wheat and with only whole grain flour. I thought a little bit and changed some details and sent my first draft to the reader. It took some time until I could test the recipe in practice. Here I had to realize that the hot soaker would be better with more water, and so I changed the recipe accordingly. But the rest of the recipe worked as planned.

And the bread is very delicious. Because it is whole grain the oven spring is a bit weaker, and the crumb is denser, but due to the soaker it stays fresh the whole week! The Pâte fermentée makes the flavour mild but complex and the long cold proof in the fridge even improves the aroma. It is really could when there are recipe questions to recipe question :-D!

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January 25th, 2015

Potato Knots

Kartoffelknoten (2)A short look through the kitchen cupboards produced a open glass of yoghurt, some boiled potatoes form our Lunch and a leftover of whole rye flour. Together with a little spoonful of sourdough (a idea I copied from Günther Weber) I kneaded them to a dough and let them rise over night. The next morning I formed and baked some rolls from this dough which rose highly while we splept.

The rolls I served shortly later for breakfast had a soft, fluffy crumb and a great complex flavour. A great roll for breakfast or brunch!

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December 13th, 2014

Santa Claus Bread

DSC_2740

My entry for the christmas party in the lab looked like that: Bread (of course homemade). That was an easy decision. It was more difficult to decide what to bake. We are a very international team and everyone should bring something special from his country. And so I decided to honour the swabian part of my family history and baked pretzels. For the second kind of bread I chose my favourite bread. With this dough you can do every “mischief” you can imagine when forming a bread. And so I decided to bake a Santa Claus bread. I saw similar breads before but I did not like the fact that they were painted with food colouring and the way how they were formed did not fit to my ideas complexly either. But I had my own ideas already…

… and the ideas worked well and the breads turned out to be the most photographed part of the buffet. And one colleague asked me to bake such a bread for christmas eve  for her (what I will love to do).

About the bread itself I can just repeat what I said before: It is delicious crusty with a soft crumb and great flavour.  It is my personal favourite. And that makes it a good candidate for Michas new permanrnt blogevent where she looks for “Undiscovered Blog Buster” (german: Der Unendeckte Blog Buster =DUBB)!

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November 15th, 2014

Pumpkin seed bread with roasted Pumpkin

Kürbisbrot (3)

The nice sales girl in my parents favourite bakery gave them some slices of bread to test, mentioning that she like it very much but strangely the other costumers did not buy it. My parents tested it and agreed that it is very delicious. At the end, they bought the last loaf.

When they told me about it my brain started to work immediately and soon I had a plan for the next baking day. The basis for the recipe is my favourite wheat and rye bread to which I added roasted pumpkin and pumpkin seeds. For the form of the loaves I tried to mimic a pumpkin, too.

The bread had a good oven spring and smelled divine when I pulled it from the oven. It was hard for me to wait until the bread cooled but my patient was rewarded. The bread had a crisp crust and a regular soft crumb speckeled with orange pumpkin and green seeds.

It is a great bread and for sure not the last time I baked it.

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September 23rd, 2014

Federweisser Rolls with Rye Poolish

Federweißer-Würzelchen (2)From our kitchen window we could see how our neighbour, the vintner, put the first flasks with young wine (in Germany called Federweißer) in the display. And because we were waiting for the first bottle of Federweißer already, my dearest one directly went to buy some flasks. He came back with to happily fermenting flasks but not before he and our neighour savoured a glass of it together.

And because we enjoyed the Federweißer bread I baked last year so much, I started directly a poolish with rye flour. The idea of using rye instead of wheat flour I got from Dietmar

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September 14th, 2014

Potatoe Bread (not only for Beginners)

Kartoffelbrot für Anfänger

Vanessa asked for beginner frindly recipes and so reminded me that it s about time to post such another beginner recipe . And so I started to create a recipe which can baked without a lot equipment. And that I could use up the potato flakes which I had in the cupboard since christmas is a bonus point!

Potato flakes are great for beginner breads because they can bind a lot of water so the bread will be moist without struggling with sticky dough. You can either order them online or use organic instant mashed potatoes which contains mainly potato flakes plus salt and some spices (I used the one from Alnatura).

For some extra flavour I added a Pâte Fermentée and a stale bread soaker made from toasted stale bread. This adds a lot of roasting flavour to the bread.

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September 6th, 2014

Aromatic Three Grain Bread

Aromatisches Dreikornbrot (1)

On our way back home from the summer holidays we were greeted with a terrible thunderstorm as soon as we passed the border of North Rhine-Westphalia. We shortly whished to turn the car and drive back to the sunny Plön. But when we finally reached home I was happy to have my oven back. And it was like it would whisper: “Bake a bread!” And so I refreshed my sourdough and the next morning I looked through my baking cupboard to see what I could bake.

I found some Emmer, Rye and of course Wheat flour and so I decided to bake a three grain bread.  To enhance the nutty flavour of the Emmer I made a paste from roasted sesame and poppy seeds. I did not add a big amount, only a little bit so it would not stand out but melt with the aroma of the grains.

A this makes a great bread, aromatic with a open crumb and a crisp crust. A perfect start into autumn.

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August 29th, 2014

Farmers Bread with Old Bread

Bauernbrot

We always have small leftovers of bread in our kitchen. I collect them on a small tray which I place on a heater. I let the bread dry completely and when a bigger amount has accumulated I can grind them to bread crumbs. I start with sorting the bread: Bread with whole grain flour for dark bread crumbs and white bread for white bread crumbs. Then I grind the bread (e.g with a food prozessor) to fine crumbs. The white crumbs I use mainly for cooking and the dark crumbs will add flavour to a new bread.

I like it best when the crumbs are added to a preferment, like I did with this famers bread. This bread has a deep, complex flavour and is made with old bread perfermet plus a mild sourdough which I rise in to steps. Its rustic character is enhanced by grounded caraway seeds and rye flour. The Crust is dark and aromatic, and the crust is elastic and soft, perfect for a hearty “Brotzeit”.

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May 10th, 2014

Olive Fougasse

Oliven Fougasse

There are still recipes missing from my big batch baking day before easter. But I haven’t forgot about them! So here comes the next one: Olive Fougasse. The dough of this fougasse is in principle identical with my favourite bread, in which I kneaded some kalamata olives.  For a really good flavour it is important to use real black olive, who could ripe and develop their full flavour, and not the one, which are dyed! It makes so much a different! A Fougasse is the perfect party bread in my opinion. It taste great, looks great and you can easily break it in pieces and share it with your friends. And with some olives added it is a great side for barbeque (at least for olive lovers like me).

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April 19th, 2014

Attendorner Ostersemmel

Attendorner Ostersemmel (1)

It is tradition in Attendorn, a small city in the Sauerland, that the pastor will issue a bless on the “Ostersemmel” (which means Easter bread) on Holy Saturday. It is a big event, that takes place in front of the church where the citizens of the Attendorn will hold their bread into the air. The Bread is forked on both ends, a shape that should depict the Christian symbol of a fish.

It is a bread made with rye, wheat and caraway seeds. My interpretation of the Ostersemmel is made with 30% Rye and Sourdough, and the recipe yields to breads. With a round cookie cutter I make an inprint for the eye, like I saw it in some pictures.

It is a perfect bread for caraway lovers like me, very aromatic with a soft crumb and a shiny crust.

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