Vollkornbrot
Part of being at home is access to familiar foods, but equally so are revisiting favorite foods from the past.
I loved being able to buy delicious whole-grain bread --vollkornbrot -- at our local bakery in Freiburg. This post reflected on that experience.
So, as a bread baker, I thought --- well, I can make something similar at home.
First, I dug out my German "Vollkornbrot=Bäckerei Zu Hause" cookbook, brought home from my time in Germany 35 years ago. It was always a bit hard to connect with, as the measurements are weight-based in grams, and the cookbook is in German, of course. But, it was a helpful start and it had always been an starting inspiration for my home bread baking (there were no good breads to be had in the Southeastern US back then).
I had been a bread baker in my youth, but that was easy white flour recipes -- I wasn't interested in that, although my major professor's wife was inspiring, even as she was his full-time research and lab partner; she made all of their bread at home, too, probably thinking that American commercial bread (they were British), was pretty awful, as it was, certainly when they came to the U.S. -- even though by the time I was in the SF Bay Area, decent bread was becoming available.
I also have a whole-grain breads at home cookbook from a well-known US artisan baker, who has detailed and LONG directions about ferments, etc. Awfully tedious, as I baked with sourdough fermentations for some years, and then went to the no-knead overnight fermentation with regular yeast. A lot easier.
But, my first basic attempt at Vollkornbrot, simply adding whole-grain wheat berries, thick-rolled oats, and whole barley to a basic whole-wheat slow-rise dough was encouraging. The whole grains give a satisfying crunch! And my clay baking pan with a lid gave the loaf a nice thick crust, too.
Now, I'm working on my rye fermentation, to have a rye sourdough, and now have rye berries and rye flour to add. It won't be like the Pfeifle loaves that we enjoyed, but it will still be good, I'm thinking.
This, again, was their signature loaf, which was delicious, but not a whole-grain loaf. I didn't think to take a photo of the Einkorn or other heritage grain loaves that I'm trying to emulate!
What I'm trying to bake looks more like this, although not with the sunflower or poppy seeds. Of course, I didn't take a photo of what I baked already.
I loved being able to buy delicious whole-grain bread --vollkornbrot -- at our local bakery in Freiburg. This post reflected on that experience.
So, as a bread baker, I thought --- well, I can make something similar at home.
First, I dug out my German "Vollkornbrot=Bäckerei Zu Hause" cookbook, brought home from my time in Germany 35 years ago. It was always a bit hard to connect with, as the measurements are weight-based in grams, and the cookbook is in German, of course. But, it was a helpful start and it had always been an starting inspiration for my home bread baking (there were no good breads to be had in the Southeastern US back then).
I had been a bread baker in my youth, but that was easy white flour recipes -- I wasn't interested in that, although my major professor's wife was inspiring, even as she was his full-time research and lab partner; she made all of their bread at home, too, probably thinking that American commercial bread (they were British), was pretty awful, as it was, certainly when they came to the U.S. -- even though by the time I was in the SF Bay Area, decent bread was becoming available.
But, my first basic attempt at Vollkornbrot, simply adding whole-grain wheat berries, thick-rolled oats, and whole barley to a basic whole-wheat slow-rise dough was encouraging. The whole grains give a satisfying crunch! And my clay baking pan with a lid gave the loaf a nice thick crust, too.
Now, I'm working on my rye fermentation, to have a rye sourdough, and now have rye berries and rye flour to add. It won't be like the Pfeifle loaves that we enjoyed, but it will still be good, I'm thinking.
This, again, was their signature loaf, which was delicious, but not a whole-grain loaf. I didn't think to take a photo of the Einkorn or other heritage grain loaves that I'm trying to emulate!
What I'm trying to bake looks more like this, although not with the sunflower or poppy seeds. Of course, I didn't take a photo of what I baked already.
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| Einkorn bread (from the Daring Gourmet.com) |
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