Why E-Cookbooks Really Suck - But Some Breads Are Worth It

Submitted by hanseata on May 11, 2011 - 1:10pm

Why E-Cookbooks Really Suck - But Some Breads Are Worth It

Much as I enjoy my Kindle for reading novels - e-cookbooks really suck!

My favorite baking books are full of scribbled exclamations, observations and suggestions. But try to enter notes in an e-book - and then IDENTIFY them again in their separate storage space on the e-reader - nothing is more cumbersome and annoying.

Therefore my only e-cookbook is Nils Schöner’s: “Brot - Bread Notes From a Floury German Kitchen” (written in English). First I got the free online version, but after I realized how much experience and work went into this compilation of recipes, I decided to give Schöner his due, and pay for the Kindle edition - a print version doesn’t exist.

Working with e-recipes is easy as long as you follow the recipe to the t, but if you want to change something, you have to write your notes on a piece of paper, and copy the recipe plus alterations and comments in your recipe program (or write them in a notebook) for later use.

Schöner didn’t make the task of navigating his book any easier by forgetting to add a table of contents to his book - but you can find it at Amazon with the book listing, and print it out.

His recipes are not “Bread Baking for Dummies”, either, and the procedure is often not described in great detail. So I adapted his recipes to my preferred method, introducing a soaker and overnight fermentation. I also found that baking it with slightly different temperatures resulted in a better crust.

KORNTALER - a hearty loaf with flax seeds, millet and, interestingly, dried, toasted soybeans.

Link to the recipe:

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/23538/korntaler-crunchy-bread-quotfloury-german-kitchenquot

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Submitted by kim on May 11, 2011 - 7:50pm.

Karin, I don’t like kindle

Karin,

I don’t like kindle for e-cookbooks either. I’m eying the same recipe for quite sometimes now because of the dried soybeans. Do you like the overall taste? Thanks.

Kimmy

Submitted by PMcCool on May 12, 2011 - 3:31am.

On-line version?

Karin,

I searched for an on-line version of "Brot - Bread Notes From a Floury German Kitchen" but only found the Kindle version. Do you know where an on-line version might still be found, or has it been assimilated by Amazon?

Paul

Submitted by roamingwidgeteer on May 12, 2011 - 6:12pm.

Found his blog ...

Here's Nil's blog: http://theinversecook.wordpress.com/

It looks like the book used to be at http://theinversecook.wordpress.com/2010/09/09/e-book-brot/ but has been taken down

Submitted by hanseata on May 12, 2011 - 7:04am.

Taste and On-line version

Kimmy, the bread tastes good, it has a nice crunch. I gave it 5 stars in my recipe program.

Paul, I tried the old link to the free version - it apparently doesn't exist anymore.

Karin

Submitted by bagel_and_rye on May 13, 2011 - 8:25pm.

What recipe management program are you using?

Hi Karin,

You mentioned that you "gave [the bread] 5 stars in [your] recipe program." What recipe management program are you using, and what do you think of it?

bagel_and_rye

Submitted by teketeke on May 12, 2011 - 4:47pm.

Hi karin,Thank you for the

Hi karin,

Thank you for the information, Karin! I will get to know more about German bread from you!

I will look up for the recipe,

Akiko

Submitted by RuthieG on May 13, 2011 - 1:00pm.

Your bread looks wonderful

Your bread looks wonderful and I bet it is as tasty as it looks.

Submitted by hanseata on May 13, 2011 - 1:53pm.

Thanks for your friendly comments!

Akiko and Ruthie, the bread tastes really good. The next one I will post is Schöner's Pain au Levain de Sarrasin, so "stay tuned"....

Karin

Submitted by teketeke on May 18, 2011 - 2:59am.

Hi Karin,I made this brot

Hi Karin,

I made this brot yesterday! It came out nicely!

When I refreshed my raisin yeast water, I made another mix one. I put the 6-8 alcoholic raisins and some fresh strawberries and a little bit of freshly squeezed lime juce in the FP to smash it and added more water and a little bit of honey to ferment for overnight.

I used this yeast water in the starter. 65g this yeast water/ 100g bread flour

I forgot to make the soaker the day before baking.. So I put the soaker in the microwave for 50 second like using water-roux starter.

This bread is delicious as you said!! I love the soybean crunchy texture in the crumb! That is really great! but I made a mistake of the process that I used microwave. If I forget it again, I will decreased the salt percentage to 1.8 % around.

I will make it again! Thank you so much, Karin!!

Akiko

Submitted by hanseata on May 18, 2011 - 6:16am.