Browse Category

North German

Oldenburg Rye/Oldenburger Landbrot (Germany)

Rye %: 100%
Stages: Sponge, Soaker, Final dough
Leaven: Rye sour culture, Instant yeast
Start to Finish: 22-28 hours
Hands-on Time: 30-40 minutes
Yield: One 3 lb./1.36 kg loaf

For a bread that many Germans consider to be a best of breed Lower Saxony rye, recipes for Oldenburg Rye are surprisingly scarce; in fact, it took me several months, plus the help of a German baking friend, to locate this recipe on the website of a large north German baking ingredients company.

The search was worth the hassle: this is a bread that combines the robust flavors and mouth-feel of coarse rye meal with the moist crumb of a stale-bread soaker and the intense sour of an 18-24 hour sponge. Keep Reading

The “Juicy One”/Das Saftige (Germany)

Rye %: 100%
Stages: Sour sponge, Final dough
Leaven: Rye sour culture, Instant yeast
Start to Finish: 13-15 hours
Hands-on Time: 20-30 minutes
Yield: One 3-lb/1.35 kb loaf

Odd name for a bread, The “Juicy One,” especially since this close-crumbed, rustic north German bread is anything but “saftig,” German, for “juicy. But if you consider its broader meaning (which survives in the Yiddish word zoftig) of “ripe,” “luscious” and “mouth watering,” then the description is spot-on, for this bread has a rich, mouth-filling texture and subdued sweet spiciness that showcases rye in all its glory. Keep Reading

Spiced Pumpkin Bread/Kürbisgewürzbrot (Germany)

kurbis_loaf

Rye %: 30%
Stages: Straight dough
Leaven: Instant yeast
Start to Finish: 4 – 4½hours
Hands-on Time: 20-30 minutes
Yield: One 2¼ lb./1.1 kg

Spiced Pumpkin Bread is a great example of how European bakers included a wide range of ingredients, such as oil seeds, nuts, cabbage, carrots, potatoes – even moss and the ground inner bark of pine trees – to augment and extend their flour in times of scarcity. Although the custom first developed during pre-Industrial times, when famine was a real and recurring challenge, it has persisted into these times of plenty, much to our good fortune. Keep Reading

Holstein Fine Rye/Holsteinisches Feinbrot (Germany)

Holstein Fine Rye

Rye %: 75%
Stages: Buckwheat gruel, Final dough
Leaven: Yeast
Start to Finish: 3 hours
Hands-on Time: 25-30 minutes
Yield: One 2½ lb./1.15 kg loaf

“Fine,” is one of those words that has a multitude of meanings. It can mean “good,” as in “How are you?” “I’m fine.” It can mean sophisticated or refined, as in “fine dining” or “fine jewelry;” or it can describe a smooth, silky texture that’s the opposite of “coarse.” In the case of Holstein Fine Rye, it’s all of the above. Keep Reading

Wholegrain Buttermilk Rye/Vollkorn Roggenbrot mit Buttermilch

Buttermilk Rye Brunch

Rye %: 74%
Stages: Straight dough
Leaven: Yeast
Start to Finish: 3½-4 hours
Hands-on  Time: 20-25 minutes
Yield: Two 2¾ lb./1.250 kg loaves

Of all the different kinds of rye breads I’ve made and tasted, the coarse dark ones have always been among my favorites for their rustic mouthfeel and intense rye flavors. This buttermilk rye, which comes from northern Germany, has the added attraction of very short prep time, meaning that I can start a loaf at breakfast and have it for dinner. Keep Reading

Heavy Country Loaf/Schweres Bauernbrot

Schweres_cut

Rye %: 65%
Stages: Sponge, final dough
Leaven: Sour culture, yeast
Start to Finish: 14-16 hours
Hands-on Time: 30-40 minutes
Yield: One 4 lb. (1.8 kg.) loaf

I find myself drawn to heavy, rustic rye breads, and this one, which I adapted from the formula of a north German baker named Albert Schäfer, really lives up to its name. This is a coarse, chewy, quintessenial rye bread with a moist and tender crumb, great mouth feel – thanks to the seeds and coarse rye meal – and an intensely tangy finish that provides a lovely counterpoint to the sweetness of the spelt or wheat. Keep Reading