The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Hello from Holland

Jaydot's picture
Jaydot

Hello from Holland

 

Hello!

I've been lurking (and learning) on TFL for ages, but now I have to delurk because I need to thank bnom for her great post on covering loaves in the oven.

And to thank all of you, actually, for generously sharing all this knowledge! I love baking bread, but I also greatly enjoy reading about it!

About me:

For the first time in my life I have the time for all those things I never got around to with a fulltime job and one of those things is baking my own daily (sourdough) bread.

So over the past months I have raised my own starter (as explained by Wild Yeast) and started baking. I use organic, stoneground (in a lovely antique windmill, of course, since I live in Holland :)) flour. I don't have a proper oven but I have a Big Green Egg, so that's what I bake in, using Flo's brilliant 1.2.3. formula. Every time I bake the bread gets a little better, with ups and downs. When I finally got the crust colour I wanted, the bottom was scorched :).

I blog in dutch, but there are photos of my endeavours under the "brood" tag on my blog.

 

clazar123's picture
clazar123

I have a Dutch-heritage son-in-law but being a young guy, doesn't have a clue about recipes-just eating bread! I would love to hear about Dutch breads and try my hand.

Welcome! It is a great forum in any language.We manage to communicate-it gives the saying "breaking bread together" a new meaning for me.

Jaydot's picture
Jaydot

Thank you!

You can get some pretty good bread in most Dutch bakeries (the baker in my village has a website with a photo page), but I'm not sure any of them are typically Dutch. 

I think the only thing I'd miss if I left this country would be the Krentenbol :) (a sweetish soft white roll with currants and raisins). I've never made them myself - perhaps I should, come to think about it. I'll let you know if I find a good recipe.

 

Stroopy's picture
Stroopy

Hi Jaydot,

My husband is Dutch, and we got to live in Holland from 1990-1993. One of my favorite museums was the bread museum in Hattem. I miss the breads and krentenbol.

The Dutch have a fun saying about the amount of currants and raisins in the rolls, you shouldn't have to bicycle from one to the next, in other words, better have lots of them. I've tried several recipes and they are just not soft enough, need to tweak the recipes.

How wonderful that you can buy stone ground flour from a local windmill, another fascinating thing about Holland.