Like every German I am of cause obsessed with bread. And like every German who has moved to another country, this is what I miss the most when it comes to food. Baking a bread that tastes like German Bread is kind of the holy grail for expats and emigrants from my country and I am no exemption. I spent quit a bit of time with trying to bake a bread like from a German bakery.
In this post the bread that I want you introduce you to is from a very special 400+ page thick book in handwriting, that has been created by farm women from Pasching in Austria.
They have collected many of their village’s family recipes and called the book “Paschinger Bäuerinnen kochen” (Pasching’s farm women are cooking ISBN 3 85068 338 9).
Originally this book has been a gift from someone to a friend of mine. This friend has been immigrated with her family from Germany to the US as a teenager in the 50ies. Though she loved the book, she unfortunately had trouble to read the handwritings and understand the Austrian words for measurements and ingredients which are often different from German. Honestly, I can’t blame her! I also have trouble to understand Austrian words sometimes and the handwriting is indeed very difficult to read. I however was able to read and understand some of the recipes and try them.
Well, these women must have a lot of family members! I don’t even know how they find the bowls to mix the ingredients together! I used half the amount of everything (also in this pages’s recipe) and still it was a challenge to get it all into the large bowl and let rise.
One ingredient is “bread spice“. My father in law just brought me some of it, but usually I make it myself.
At our grocery HEB they claim to have German bread and I would agree, if they wouldn’t overdo it with the caraway seed in their bread spice! It’s supposed to be just a hint, hardly to recognize as caraway seed in the taste. I mean: Who likes the taste of caraway seed anyway? OK, if you disagree, use as much of it as you like but I prefer to keep it as little as possible so no one will even guess it’s in there.
The bread turned out very good and was delicious. I froze some of the loaves because it was too much to eat in a few days and fresh bread turns dry after a day so I wanted to preserve the freshness and moisture of the remaining breads for another day. Often I also give bread to friends. It is a German tradition to give new neighbors a loaf of bread and some salt after they’ve moved in.
Enjoy this bread (warm is always best) either with butter and whatever you like on it or as a side to a salad like at a restaurant.
German Bread: Farmers Bread (1)
Ingredients
- 1250 g bread flour or whole wheat flour
- 1.5 package dry yeast (=10 g)
- 2 tbsp. salt
- 665 ml water
- 250 ml buttermilk lukewarm
- 2 rare potatoes
- 2 tbsp. bread spice
- 2 tbsp. flax seed
Instructions
- Mix the yeast with the lukewarm buttermilk. I actually just happened to have some fresh whey from making quark and used this instead and used less water but more whey - didn't make a difference since the overall amount of liquid stayed the same. If your dough is too thin, add flour, your flour is probably different from what they used in the book.
- Mix all the remaining ingredients with the buttermilk-yeast mix in a large bowl.
- Put the bowl in warm water to let it rise.
- Form 3 to 4 loafs of bread (I had 4 ciabatta sized loafs) on a covered baking sheet and let rise again.
- Heat the oven to 390°F. Bake for about 1 hour.
- The finished bread:
Hi,
I love your recipes and thank you for sharing your knowledge with us all, it is very much appreciated!
I have recently tried other people’s recipes for Spelt and Rye bread and yesterday I made a Khorasan or ‘Kamut’ loaf which was lovely and although the texture was good I will use less honey next time as I found it a little too sweet for my tastes. I am now wondering if you may have tried and tested recipes for these types of flour? ;)
I have just mixed this dough ( Farmer’s Bread ) and it is now ready for proofing. Is there an approximate time for the proofing stage or is it just until it doubles in size like a lot of other bread recipes state? I have other things I need to do but do not want it to spoil by ‘overproofing’ ( not sure if that is even the word! )
Thanks again and keep the lovely recipes coming! :)
Hi Lax,
unfortunately, one can’t really give a certain time for proofing. It’s always “approximal” because proofing time very much depends on the time of year/ room temperature, humidity … the “double in size” is a rule of thumb. Another indicator is testing the dough with your fingers for being proofed enough. You can find videos and instructions on that on the internet.
Greetings!
Many, many years ago I visited Austria with a choir, and I stayed at a small county bed and breakfast. They served the most wonderful whole-grain rolls for breakfast with jam and fresh (raw) milk. I basically lived on the breakfast food since I was (and am) vegetarian, and the dinners we had in a dining hall were completely meat-based. I distinctly remember the soft whole-grain crescent rolls, and have never again seen or tasted them. I would love to recreate them in my kitchen. Do you (or any of your readers) have a recipe for what I describe?
Hi Therese,
Can you use the word „körnerbrötchen“ (Copy & paste) in a google search and check the pictures of the results? If any of them looks like what you remember, send me the link of the picture and I can try to get you a recipe.
If non of these rolls look like it, maybe try the word „Schusterjungen“ and see if that looks familiar. It‘s possible though that Austria has some rolls that I am not familiar with.
Best,
Barbara
Hello Barbara,
I had to laugh when I read that you prefer to use as few caraway seeds as possible. I am actually Austrian/German . Austrians do love their read highly spiced with caraway and coriander, but Germans often don’t. I love your recipes ! If you need any help with “translating” Austrian words, please ask me , as I grew up in both places ! ( I have lived in Australia for over 30 years, which is why I am interested in your blog, as it is harder to get the right bread here and I really miss Quark, which you have inspired me to make !
Kind Regards
Evelyn
Hello Evelyn,
thank you very much for your kind offer. I will definitely come back to it if I need. I do know some Austrian though like Mariellen and Schichtkäse, Germ and some more. My ancestors on my father’s side were from Salzburg and later lived directly at the border between Germany and Austria, which lead to them sometimes being Austrian and at other times being German – depending on where the border was drawn at times. I still love Salzburg very much.
Greetings to Australia,
Barbara
Potato rare.What does that actually mean? Is it then grated fine or coarse?
OMG, I am so sorry for my English! I meant RAW :-) raw, grated potato.
Many years ago, I lived in Germany for many years as an Army dependent. I loved their “black” bread. I don’t think this recipe nor the rye bread is that bread. Would love to have a recipe to try and produce a similar loaf, do you have one?
Elaine, you are in luck and the timing couldn’t be better: The next video will be about our “Schwarzbrot” (black bread or whole grain bread). If everything goes acording to plan, the recipe and video will be published Sunday.
Best,
Barbara
Hello Barbara
I am not sure what weight of yeast should be used here in Grams ? I wonder if you have any precise measurment please. Also can one use fast acting yeast packets? In the UK these are usually 7 gms per pack so presumably one would use at least two ? I am keen to avoid Vesuvius as shown on your photo. !
Best wishes to you and thank you
Robert
Hi Robert,
you brought up a very good point: Sizes and measures of the yeast packages might vary between the different countries. I have checked online how many g it should be and it seems that 10 g would be the right amount. But also double check with the package for how much flour they would recommend a package.
Best,
Barbara
Thanks very much Barbara .. noted with thanks