Baked Stuff

Semiphilosophical Ramblings Concerning Bread-Baking

I have come to the conclusion that most bread recipes you can find are needlessly complicated. Most of the time, I just dump together whatever I have and see what comes out. Of course, you do need to be a bit careful, but it really doesn't require 20 different types of flour and other junk like a lot of recipes online.

Some of the recipes below do have lots of different ingredients, but these recipes are just meant as a random collection of stuff I've made, not some sort of authoritative reference of the right way to do things. The recipe for potato bread, for instance, was found by just trying what would happen if I used more potatoes than usual. The first time I made it, I added way too much water and the result wasn't overly great, but the second time, it turned out pretty decently. Also, I've started using whole grain shredded rye in a lot of my bread, but you should be able to use other flour as well, just have fun and don't take the exact instructions in these recipes too seriously.

On a different note, my later recipes use very little yeast compared to what you're usually supposed to use. I just let the bread rise much longer than usual and that works out pretty well. I figure that it doesn't do any harm and I can save yeast, so I might as well do it that way. Here, though, the same warning applies that I mentioned above - the exact durations that I let my bread rise are entirely random and just written here because I know that it worked for me that way. If it works better to let it rise overnight, you can try that - just experiment to see what works.

Now some general notes:

• Whenever baking bread that's not very wet, you can add a little bowl of water in the oven to create some steam and keep the bread from becoming too dry.
• The amounts of water used should only serve as general guidelines because every flour is different and may produce very different results. It seems that the length of time you let the dough rise also impacts how much water is required. When I let the dough rise overnight, the yeast seems to work its way through so well that the dough appears much softer afterwards.
• Most recipes here are written for dry yeast, but you can, of course, use fresh yeast. The dry yeast just needs to be properly rehydrated with lukewarm water before being mixed with the other ingredients.
• When greasing bread baking forms or trays, make sure to use butter or margerine since regular oil doesn't seem to work very well.
• Some people like to add spices such as anise, fennel, coriander, and caraway seeds to their bread. I don't care much for it, but I guess that's just a matter of taste.
• After putting the dough into a bread baking form, you can smooth the top with wet fingers.
• When baking any bread with potatoes in it, you may need to drastically change the amount of water added because the potatoes may contain very different amounts of liquid. I pressure-cook my potatoes, so they also don't contain as much water as potatoes that were boiled completely in water.
• When making bread with a wet dough in a bread baking form, make sure the form is large enough because the dough may overflow otherwise once it rises.
• If the bread or buns turn stale in the fridge, you can always try toasting them. This has especially worked well with some of the buns I've made - they often turn much nicer after toasting.
• Since the recipes containing a lot of potatoes are quite moist, it's better to keep the breads/buns in the fridge because they get moldy very easily.

Spelt (Dinkel) Bread

• Ingredients
  • 500 g whole grain spelt/dinkel flour
  • 1 pack/cube yeast (a bit less than 1 Tbsp dry yeast)
  • ~400 mL lukewarm water
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/3 cup sesame seeds, ground
  • 1/3 cup linseeds (leinsamen), ground
  • 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
• Instructions
  • Put flour in bowl, create mould in the middle, and put yeast into the mould
  • Add just enough water to fill the mould and wait until the yeast starts bubbling (~10 min)
  • Add salt, all seeds, and the rest of the water, and knead well for 5-10 minutes
  • Let it sit for 60 minutes, covered with a towel or something of that sort
  • Knead dough again, put it into bread baking form, and let it sit for about 30 minutes
  • Optionally use water to smooth the outside of the loaf
  • Put into oven and bake at 200 C for 60 minutes
  • Take bread out of form and bake for another 10 minutes
  • Note: it is possible to make the bread a bit softer by placing a small metal bowl filled with water in the bottom of the oven while the bread is baking

Lebkuchen

Images: Chocolate glazing Chocolate glazing (cut) Sugar glazing

• Ingredients
  • 250g honey
  • 250g sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 500g flour
  • ~1 1/2 tsp (5g) "Hirschhornsalz" (Baker's ammonia/Ammonium carbonate)
  • 2 Tbsp Lebkuchen Spice
  • Chocolate or other glazing
• Instructions
  • Heat honey in small pot
  • Add sugar and keep heating until it has dissolved
  • Leave to cool
  • Combine with 375g flour, eggs, and spice
  • Leave to rest in a cool place for one day
  • Add remaining 125g of flour and Hirschhornsalz
  • Spread fairly thin on greased baking tray (<1cm thick, maybe around 0.5cm)
  • Bake at 180 C until it has turned nicely brown (~10-20 min)
  • Leave to cool, then add whatever glazing you want
  • Notes
    • Add the honey-sugar mixture to the flour before it has cooled completely, or it will be almost impossible to get out of the pot
    • Apparently, it also works with other leavening agents, but I used Hirschhornsalz since that's what's usually used
    • If the glazing is not chocolate but some sort of sugar mixture, add it when the Lebkuchen is still hot so it dries
    • You can also add nuts to it. Let your imagination run free, at least within bounds.
    • The dough is really sticky and difficult to work with. When spreading it into a tray, I always dip my hands in water before so it doesn't stick as much, and I just spread it with my fingers instead of trying to use a rolling pin.

Elisenlebkuchen

Images: Chocolate glazing No glazing

• Ingredients
  • 2 eggs
  • 50g sugar
  • 125g honey
  • 4-5 tsp Lebkuchen spice
  • 200g ground almonds
  • 200g ground hazelnuts
  • 50g candied lemon peel
  • 50g candied orange peel
  • 3/8 tsp Hirschhornsalz
  • 1/4 tsp salt
• Instructions
  • Mix almonds, hazelnuts, spice, and Hirschhornsalz together and set aside
  • Beat eggs, sugar, and salt until the mixture is fluffy
  • Add honey, candied lemon peel, and candied orange peel and mix well
    • Note: you're not supposed to mix it too much to preserve the fluff, but sometimes it's quite difficult to get the honey and candied peels mixed properly otherwise
  • Mix in nut mixture
  • Create patties about 7cm in diameter and 0.5-1cm thick on a tray
    • Note: it is easiest to form them properly with wet fingers
  • Leave on tray for at least 1 hour (ideally overnight)
  • Bake at 150 C for 20-25 minutes, until they are light brown
    • Warning: watch them carefully, they burn quite easily
  • Glaze with chocolate or other glazing
  • Notes
    • Usually, these are made on top of "Backoblaten" (thin wafer papers for baking), but I am not a huge fan of those

Whole Grain Rye Sourdough (Initial Creation)

Image: Sourdough

• Ingredients
  • 500g whole grain rye flour
  • 500mL water
• Instructions
  • Mix 100g flour with 100mL lukewarm water
  • Leave for 12 hours in a warm place
  • Stir well
  • Leave for another 12 hours in a warm place
  • Add 100g flour and 100mL lukewarm water and repeat the other steps
  • Repeat this 3-5 times, the dough should then be ready to use
  • Notes
    • The sour/fermented smell is normal, but make sure that the dough doesn't turn green or some other weird color because that means something went wrong

Whole Grain Rye Sourdough (With Sourdough Starter)

• Ingredients
  • 250g whole grain rye flour
  • 250mL lukewarm water
  • Several tablespoons sourdough starter
• Instructions
  • Mix all ingredients well
  • Cover loosely with lid and leave to rest in a warm place for 12 hours

Whole Grain Rye Bread

Image: Whole Grain Rye Bread

• Ingredients
  • 500g sourdough
  • 500g whole grain rye flour
  • ~250mL lukewarm water
  • 2 tsp salt
• Instructions
  • Mix all ingredients and knead well
  • Fill into bread baking form and leave in a warm place for 12 hours, covered with a cloth
    • Note: it is best to smoothe the top using wet fingers
  • Place a small bowl of water in the oven to create steam
  • Bake at 250 C for 10 minutes
  • Bake at 200 C for 40 minutes
  • Remove from form and continue baking for 5-10 minutes
  • Notes
    • Always remember to keep a few tablespoons of sourdough for the next time

Low-Carb Bread

• Ingredients
  • 150g yoghurt
  • 4 eggs
  • 100g linseeds or linseed flour
  • 50g sesame seeds or flour
  • 50g sunflower seeds
  • 50g almonds or almond flour
  • 1 pack (16g) baking powder
  • 1/2-3/4 tsp salt
• Instructions
  • If using whole linseeds, sesame seeds, or almonds, turn them into flour first with e.g. a coffee grinder
  • Beat eggs in a bowl
  • Add other ingredients and mix well
  • Fill into greased bread baking form
  • Bake for 50 minutes at 150 C
  • Remove from form and leave on grate in oven with oven door slightly open, until it has cooled (this helps the other sides dry a bit)

Whole Grain Buns (well, except for the potatoes...)

Images: Whole Cut

• Ingredients
  • 400g boiled, grated potatoes
  • 300g whole wheat flour
  • 300g whole grain shredded rye (or just more flour)
  • 100g shredded flaxseed
  • 400-500 mL lukewarm water
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp yeast
• Instructions
  • Mix water and yeast and set aside
  • Mix all other ingredients in a bowl
  • When the yeast has dissolved in the water, add it to the bowl and mix/knead well
  • Cover the bowl with a towel and let the dough rise for ~8 hours, pushing it down occasionally (I just let it rise for most of the day or overnight)
  • Form the dough into buns (~15) and set them on one or two greased baking trays
    • Note that this dough is fairly sticky so it helps to always wet your hands after forming a few buns
  • Cover the trays with towels and let the buns rise for ~2 hours
  • Bake the buns at 200 C for 30 minutes
  • Notes
    • This can also be put into a bread baking form and baked like regular bread.
    • I originally made these buns with 700 mL of water, but when I made them again and let the dough rise overnight, they because quite soft even with only 500 mL. Just start with under 500 mL of water (much less if you boil your potatoes instead of pressure-cooking them), and then work your way up until the dough doesn't seem to be too wet.

Potato Bread

Images: Whole Cut

• Ingredients
  • 600g boiled, grated potatoes
  • 300g whole wheat flour
  • 300g whole grain rye flour
  • 500 mL lukewarm water
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp yeast
• Instructions
  • Mix water and yeast and set aside
  • Mix all other ingredients in a bowl
  • When the yeast has dissolved in the water, add it to the bowl and mix well (I don't really knead it because the dough is fairly wet) (Image)
  • Cover the bowl with a towel and let the dough rise for 5 hours
  • Fill into greased bread baking form (or two), optionally smoothing the surface with wet fingers, cover and let rise for 4-5 more hours
  • Bake for 1 hour at 200 C
  • Notes
    • Since this is a very wet dough, don't put a bowl with extra water into the oven and maybe keep baking the bread without the form for a bit if it isn't done properly after an hour.
    • This bread is very moist and spongy.
    • You may need to reduce the amount of water if it turns out too wet.