The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

CHALLENGE FOR FELLOW BAKERS - A BREAD FOR THE KNIGHT WITH THE IRON HAND

hanseata's picture
hanseata

CHALLENGE FOR FELLOW BAKERS - A BREAD FOR THE KNIGHT WITH THE IRON HAND

Fellow bakers, many of you rose to my last year's challenge, re-creating a Vollkornbrot for Schlosshotel Cecilienhof in Potsdam ("When Taste Meets Tradition").

I fully trust you to come up with another loaf with a historical connection - a bread worthy of Götz von Berlichingen, the Knight With the Iron Hand.

This is what it is all about:

My husband and I are romantic souls. We like to visit fortresses and castles, and whenever we travel in an area where those are plentiful, we check for hotels with turrets and moats, commanding views and a rich history.

On our recent trip to Germany we stayed two nights at Schlosshotel Götzenburg in Jagsthausen. The medieval Castle Jagsthausen is the birth place of Götz von Berlichingen.

Götz von Berlichingen (1480 - 1562)

This notorious knight spent his life as mercenary, engaged in the never ending feuds between Emperor, nobility, church, wealthy cities and farmers, losing his arm, being incarcerated, outlawed and re-installed in the process (amazingly, he nevertheless lived to a ripe old age!)

He would have been probably long forgotten, if not immortalized by Goethe in his drama "Götz von Berlichingen with the Iron Hand", who turned the belligerent knight into a pillar of integrity against a deceitful and decadent society - in other words: a German Robin Hood.

Goethe turned Götz into a German hero

 When besieged by the Imperial Army and asked by its captain to surrender, Goethe had Götz say the famous (and, in the last part, often quoted) words of defiance:

"Me, surrender! At mercy! Whom do you speak with? Am I a robber! Tell your captain that for His Imperial Majesty, I have, as always, due respect. But he, tell him that, he can lick me in the arse!"

My husband quotes Götz von Berlichingen

 Schlosshotel Götzenburg doesn't only offer an lovingly restored medieval environment, beautiful views, and fine dining - its courtyard also serves as stage for the annual theater festival Burgfestspiele Jagsthausen.

One of its highlights, is, of course, the drama about the outspoken knight with the iron hand.

Scene from this year's theater production "Götz von Berlichingen"

The (comparatively moderate) price for our hotel room included breakfast (thankfully, something you still can expect in most German hotels!)

The ambiance - dark paneled dining hall, solemn ancestors looking down from the walls, body armor and tapestry - couldn't have been more appropriate. The dinner the night before had been fabulous, so we had high expectations for the breakfast.

Everything was fine - except for one thing that really matters for this bread loving baker: the rustic looking loaf on the table was sadly lacking - in crustiness as well as in taste!

Breads at the breakfast buffet - a mass produced disappointment

When I asked about it, I learned that it was not baked in a local bakery, but supplied by a whole grocer: hence its blandness and rubbery crust. Not at all worthy of the legacy of a fierce old knight! (He might have fed it to his dogs.)

Grumbling at the breakfast table, I pondered what to do. Whine about it to the manager? Or smite this nice hotel with a nasty comment at TripAdvisor? I had a better idea.

I WOULD GIFT THEM WITH A BREAD!

So, please join me, dear friends, in creating a special loaf, worthy of the noble Götz and his beautiful castle (which is, by the way, still owned by the Berlichingen family!)

Even though this loaf is meant for a medieval castle hotel - please, refrain from submitting an "Authentic Bread" à la Don Sadowsky. The tough old fighter might have had his share of those, while embattled, but he surely would not have served them to guests of his castle.

I won't give you a deadline, most of you are hard working people with little spare time, and if you want to participate, you will bake your bread as soon as you can, anyway.

Every contribution will be posted and linked to your blog (if you have one).

I will present our results to Schlosshotel Götzenburg, and, hopefully, when any of us visits there next time (it is well worth it!) you'll find a bread that (like Cecilienhof Vollkornbrot) marries taste with tradition.

Schloss Götzenburg

 

Comments

Isand66's picture
Isand66

Count me in....

hanseata's picture
hanseata

Great! Looking forward to see your take on it!

Karin

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

the ass well licked, one armed warrior from the end of the glory days of knights, damsels in distress, wayward and nasty nobility, I was taken back by his ability to die at an old age and at peace too!.  So, the reason of his Ancient Age, was not the bourbon of the same name since it had not been invented in what was then the really New World, but it had to be the beer and the healthy, hearty, whole grain bread that gave him a long life!

I'm surprised he didn't grow his arm back though.  A clean behind is a good 2nd best.

Lucy says count us in - as she has the perfect bread on the bake list for a tough guy with such  a clean behind

hanseata's picture
hanseata

Götz was well preserved by drinking a lot of liquid bread - they have some good local beers down there.

Great that you and Lucy are participating!

Karin

sandydog's picture
sandydog

Does the Schlosshotel Götzenburg bake any of its own breads at present? Or have a will to do so in the near future?

When our results are presented to Schlosshotel Götzenburg do we have any indication from them that they (Or their suppliers) will actually bake it?

 

hanseata's picture
hanseata

When we checked out, I said that everything had been great - except for the bread. I then told them of my idea.

At first they seemed a bit taken aback - certainly the first time anybody made such a proposal (instead of commenting on Tripadvisor etc.), but warmed very quickly to the plan, when I mentioned Schlosshotel Cecilienhof, the Vollkornbrot challenge, and how much interest that had created (it is one of the most popular posts on my blog).

No, they don't bake any of their breads, so far - they had the two shown on the picture and one kind of nondescript wheat rolls, all from their supplier, not baked on the premises.

I'm sure they will be happy about this kind of friendly publicity (the management of Schlosshotel Cecilienhof was very appreciative!) and if they have any good sense, they will take the chance to have an own signature bread specifically created for them, that they could bake there (they have a very good restaurant) or have a local bakery do it.

I hope, you will participate. I thoroughly enjoyed coming up with the Cecilienhof bread, and this challenge, with no required ingredients, leaves endless possibilities.

Karin

 

 

wassisname's picture
wassisname

Another irresistible challenge.  I look forward to seeing what everyone comes up with.  Once my new oven gets here I will be all over it.  Thanks, Karin!

Marcus

hanseata's picture
hanseata

that your oven has not arrived, yet. I realize I have to visit more castle hotels in the future so that you can participate, Marcus!

Karin

golgi70's picture
golgi70

So no actual guidelines outside of what we believe would be fit for this man? Sounds fun

 

Josh

hanseata's picture
hanseata

I  don't know whether this old knight would have appreciated very holey bread, though - he didn't have any extra virgin olive oil to dip it in :)

Hope, you will join, Josh!

Karin

Janetcook's picture
Janetcook

How can I resist this, your latest challenge?  I simply can not so count me.

 I am a bit distressed though that since you are not accepting any loaves 'a la Don Sadowsky'  I am assuming you will never run a challenge for pies and my children's infamous 'Pie a la Mude' formula will never achieve the public acknowledgement that it so deserves.  The hardships we mothers have to bear  :(

Thanks for thinking this up and for the historical background too :)

Janet

 

 

hanseata's picture
hanseata

if you write a post on the important - but sadly so far completely ignored - subject of "Pie à la Mude" (or should it rather be "à la Mudde"? - I guess there are different ways to spell it), I promise you, Janet, that I will put it in my blog!

I'm happy that you will join!

Karin

Janetcook's picture
Janetcook

Hi Karin,

Today is the day I was able to fit your challenge loaf into my baking schedule.

With no specific ingredient list to conform to my very first impulse was to make a mash loaf - based on what I imagine the Knight's drinking habits might have been.  That impulse never left me so my formula is not original.  It is based on Peter Reinhart's Mash Loaf from his book "Whole Grain Breads".  

knew I wanted to use barley as the mash grain but debated about the remaining grain.  Having baked many of your German loaves I know that rye and dinkel are more common that wheat in Germany.  WIth that in mind I decided to use dinkel/spelt due to it having gluten and I wanted a grain that would give the mashed grains some 'umph' when baking.  I also added red whole wheat for it's strength too.  

The only variations I made to the original formula were that of using 15% pre-fermented flour only.  My method  was my usual leaven building throughout the day cumulating in a final dough in the eventing that was then bulk fermented in the refrigerator overnight.  Dough was warmed up for a couple of hours prior to proofing and then baking.   No IY was added as I am certain the bakers in those days did not have any!

I did use a basket for proofing because mash doughs tend to be slack and I didn't want a complete flat loaf.

I did not score - not sure if they did that back then or not.  Cracks appeared naturally as the bread baked.

This is the outcome.  Sorry, no crumb shots since it is going to one of the people for whom I bake.  Due to it all being whole grains as well as mashed grains it will have a more dense crumb.

Thanks for another peek into German history as well as a fun bake.

Take Care,

Janet

P.S.  Yes, I prefer 'Pie a la Mudde'.  Carries a more respectful number of letters which gives it an air of added sophistication….

hanseata's picture
hanseata

but almost as good! That looks like a really nice loaf, Janet. (I admire you for baking even though you can enjoy your breads with your eyes only). I'll check my "Whole Grain Breads", I think I baked that bread a long time ago, but it was not as good looking as yours.

Thanks for participating!

Karin

gary.turner's picture
gary.turner

Hmm, an iron hand. Was this fellow's given name Jaime by any chance? Of the Lannister family thereabouts? :grin:

cheers,

gary

hanseata's picture
hanseata

should have taken Götz as role model. The old knight seemed after all to have been rather successful - and his quote (especially the last part) is still an important part of the German language.

Say to any German: "Götz von Berlichingen!" and he will exactly know what opinion you have of him (don't expect him to comply, though!)

I hope you will join, Gary!

Karin

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

A 70% Rye Bread was probably too refined to find in the castle of a 15th Century German Knight, but it might serve your purpose adequately. The castle's guests would surely prefer it to the current offerings, as you described them, Karin.

I included the formula in today's blog entry with that in mind. It can be found here: This week's baking 6-20-2014 Pain de Campagne and 70% Rye

David

hanseata's picture
hanseata

baker among us! Definitely a loaf worthy of old Götz.

And herewith we have our first entry!

Karin

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

<Blush>

David

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

Here was her post about 8 hours before David's.  Götz von Berlichingen Ancient Age Sourdough Bread

David's Looks better though!

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

I seed ... errrr ... cede precedence to Lucy.

David

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

a seedy sort - all because of the Queen of Seeds and her love of hemp seeds!

hanseata's picture
hanseata

Of course she was the first! Well, 2 great looking breads for my challenge, off to an amazing start!

Karin

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

Challenge Bake from the Queen of Seeds without a lot of seeds.  I couldn't find the hemp seeds until after the bake :-(  Lucy had them hidden and well disguised in the back of her pantry hoping the feds wouldn't find them.  They have disappeared from the stores around her again ....thanks to those DEA nitwits confiscating them - again :-)

hanseata's picture
hanseata

with hemp seeds, wood board aged cheese, raw milk cheese... But, fortunately, they don't take away the honey mixed with antifreeze where the pollen has been filtered out to hide the origin.

 

bakingbadly's picture
bakingbadly

Hello Karin! I'm keen to take up this challenge, sounds fun! However, I've busy with baking and caterings... When I have time, I'll see if I can whip up something fit for the Götz!

Zita

hanseata's picture
hanseata

I would be very happy if you could join in, Zita!

Karin

golgi70's picture
golgi70

At first thought after reading this post I thought I'd search out some spent grain and make a nice Spent Grain Whole Rye.  But then I did that thing (maybe all of us do) or at least I do.  I was watching some World Cup and of course this was on my mind and started drifting into thought.  I ended with the brilliant idea that back then they'd make whole grain breads and to make things easy they'd essentially have a base dough in which additions would go for a final paste.  One part of this dough was for "the people" which would get old bread that needed using, bits/pieces/scraps and all that other non edible junk Karin mentions using in a true old world loaf.  Then the smaller portion was for those on the "up and up" so to speak.  To this they added the better additions, good seeds, cured meats, nicer grains, etc....

A Knights Rye (following the Detmolder Method

------------------

Sour:: 12-16 hours (70-73F)

------------------

4 g    Refreshed Rye Sour

34 g  H20

34 g  Whole Rye

----------------------------------

82 g 

----------------------------------

Full Sour : 3-4 hours @ 82-84F

---------------------------------

82 g    Rye Sour

175 g  H20

175 g  Freshly Milled Whole Rye

---------------------------------

Soaker:

--------------------------------

70g   Cornmeal

70g   Toasted Pumpkin Seed

70g   Cranberries

210g  H20 (this was not all absorbed but all was added to dough)  Probably half of this h20 is all thats needed.

--------------------------------------------

70g   Cooked, Bacon rough chopped (This could be any good cured meat that is firm enough to be cubed/chopped)

---------------------------------------------

Final Paste : 80F

---------------------------------------------

170 g    H20

141 g    Whole Rye

350 g    Whole Spelt

2g        Instant Yeast (this can be omitted and times will be lengthier)

16g      Sea Salt  ( I increased a touch to account for seeds but the bacon took care of it so I'd proably decrease a bit)

-------------------------------------------------------

Add all to mixer for final paste and mix with paddle on speed 1 for 4 minutes and then speed 2 for about 2 minutes.  It was tacky but showed a bit of gluten from the spelt.

Bulk Ferment 50 minutes

divide in two and preshape into rounds Rest 10 minutes

Shape round and place in floured bowls

final proof was about 1:30 hours 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I thought for a knight it would be excellent for a loaf to have all one would need on a journey and this bread would have some meat/fat, seeds, and fruit. After slicing I'd probably increase all of the soaker by 2 while maintaining the overall hydration around 80%. 

After putting this together I was wondering what in the world I was thinking but after having a slice its not bad at all.  In fact its tasty.  I would have liked more of the seeds/cranberries but I've only taken one slice and I'll have to eat some more.  If I get a better crumb picture I'll post it.  

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cheers

Josh

hanseata's picture
hanseata

That is a mighty fine looking bread, Josh!

Now we have number 3 already, and so fast.

Happy Baking and World Cup looking,

Karin

 

hanseata's picture
hanseata

I'm writing my round-up and just realize that the oven temperature and baking time is missing from your post. Can you, please, fill me in?

Thanks, Karin

gary.turner's picture
gary.turner

I decided to see what I could find regarding medieval (16C) diet, especially for those dining at the high table as a knight scion of a noble family would. Then I wondered what the bread would have for the rich vs the poor. I'm not qualified by this research to write a scholarly paper on the subject. My friendly librarian, Mr Google, led me to a number of articles that managed to assuage my curiosity before suffering the fate of the mythical cat.

I went in thinking that medieval bakers in northern Europe (think Germany) would be using whole grain flour with emphasis on barley and rye. This was true of the poor, but the well to do were faring on finely ground white flour of wheat. Since Vienna was already known for its fine, soft white breads by this time, and since they favored the hard Hungarian wheat (another part of the HRE), I am certain that Sir Götz enjoyed white bread from Hungary's high gluten wheat.

This led me to choose a first clear flour. My thinking is that a 16C miller couldn't get a fine, white flour comparable to today's white flour, but first clear might be a reasonable emulation of what they could do.

For leaven, they pretty much were limited to a sourdough culture or yeast cake supplied by the monastery or castle brewer. (Normal adult consumption of beer was equivalent to an Imp gallon per day). I settled on sourdough for its tangier flavor, since beer yeast is carefully cultured to avoid bacteria.

Other examples in this thread consider adding seeds, nuts and/or fruit to sweeten the bread. I, too, considered this. I could find no examples of their use in bread. There may be some out there, but  my cursory research didn't find them. I did find lots of examples of these adjuncts in meats where the nuts and fruit, etc were finely ground with the meat into a sort of paté. Noble stomachs were deemed to delicate to insult with coarse, whole meats. These were left to the lower classes. It was a medical thing. Likewise, honey was not much used for sweetening or brewing as it had taken on a health aura, to be used as medication.

So, I'm left with a simple white bread of wheat, leavened with a sourdough seed. But what about maybe a little rye for flavor? My take on the high vs low table class distinction is that the nobles would feel insulted to be served a bread with rye in it. As one went down in class or wealth, the flours became coarser and darker, until in Westphalia, the peasants are eating that classic black bread of coarse, rye meal, pumpernickel.

Nothing fancy in my entry:

  • First clear flour, divided
    • preferment (33%) 220g
    • dough (67%) 440g
  • water, divided
    • preferment (33%) 220g
    • dough (30%) 200g
  • salt (2%) 13g
  • seed starter (~2% flour) 2 tsp 100% hydration seed

Process:

  1. Mix preferment water and flour. Add seed appropriate for a room temp 12-16 hour ripening. I miss judged due to my kitchen getting much hotter than I expected, so my starter was prime in a little over 6 hours.
  2. Mix starter with balance of the water. Mix strongly to aerate the mix well.
  3. Whisk the salt and the rest of the flour together and add to the starter. Mix or stir at low speed until well incorporated.
  4. Knead until a moderate window pane can be drawn. My goto bread is a sandwich loaf, so it's a battle with myself not to over-knead.
  5. Let rise twice with a punch-down to even out the alveoli.
  6. Pre-shape and shape as a ball.
  7. Let rise 'til finger poke test is positive, and score as desired.
  8. In a 500℉/260℃ steam strongly for 2 minutes with vents closed. Reduce temperature to 460℉/235℃.
  9. At 15 minutes, open vents.
  10. At 40 minutes, should be done. Test for 200+℉/93+℃.
  11. Let cool  before cutting.

This loaf reminds me of why I love breads made with first clear flour; the flavor is so rich and sweet, while the mouth feel is chewy without being tough. I love it, and I'll bet our knight would did too. Maybe that's why they ate a kilo a day (not to mention the 4 l. of beer and 2kg of meat every day).

The crust:

The crumb:

cheers,

gary

hanseata's picture
hanseata

I am delighted!

And I see you did your food-scientific homework. I'm just reading Rachel Laudan's "Cuisine and Empire", and there this was discussed, too.

We can most likely assume that Götz, when in army camp, or imprisoned, had the coarser bread the peasants and soldiers ate, and when in his castles (he had another one, too) dined on finer, white bread.

Thanks very much for your contribution,

Karin

 

Juergen Krauss's picture
Juergen Krauss

Hi Karin,

I enjoyed reading your post and the many responses.

Having looked at the location of Berlichingen my first thought was Grünkern!

Hm. Can't get it here in England...

Best Wishes,

Jürgen

hanseata's picture
hanseata

of yours be be good, Jürgen, and real historic authenticity is not a requirement, but something worthy of the old knight.

Karin

Skibum's picture
Skibum

Okay Karin here is my challenge version.

Soaker

20 g corn meal

20 g steel cut oats

20 g rolled oats

10 g quinoa

10 g millet

20 g wheat bran

8 g salt

174 g hot potato water

Milk scald

174 g scalded milk

25 g honey

15 g brown sugar

7 g Instant yeast, added after the milk mixture has cooled to 95F

Final dough

345 g Whole wheat flour

20 g buckwheat

20 g dark rye

80 g strong bread flour

20 g sesame seeds

30 g sunflower seeds

40 g water to tighten things up

28 g canola oil

All of the soaker

All of the milk scald after it has cooled

Mix well, rest 10 minutes then 4 sets of S&F's with 10 minutes rest. One hour bulk until doubled then shape for a loaf pan. Baked 350 F convection, for 20 m inutes, turn, another 20 minutes, turn and test, bake 5 and with with a turn.

All in all a most satisfying loaf.

 

Happy baking, Brian

Isand66's picture
Isand66

Nice looking loaf Brian.

Well done.

Alas, my 2 attempts at my entry have been flops...more like flying saucers.  The fresh milled flours I am using must not be taking to the overnight rest in the refrigerator and I'm losing all gluten strength.  Back to the drawing board.

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

Any knight would be in fine fighting shape after a loaf of this bread.  I see you are getting close to getting to the 15 grain no more than 30 ingredient challenge bake we will put out sometime in the next couple of weeks.

Well Done and

Happy baking Ski - nice to see you back to your old bread baking self.

hanseata's picture
hanseata

If that bread had been on the buffet table, I would not have complained!

Good job, Brian!

Karin

Skibum's picture
Skibum

Don't worry Ian, I have recently made 2 bricks similar to this trying with YW starter. I guess i will have to try dab's 3 stage levain builds next. I have had a very busy spring with little time to bake bread. But with heria surgery yeserday, I should have plenty of time on hand to bake in the next few week. Thans again and

Happy baking, Brian

hanseata's picture
hanseata

heavy flour bags - after my husband had the same procedure last year I do the heavy lifting in this family.

Gute Besserung!

Karin

 

Skibum's picture
Skibum

I have enjoyed this bread and remember reading dabs comment about all of the sprouted grains. Well I didn't leave the sproutables in the soaker long enough last bake.  This time I am sprouting the quinoa and millet, but also some red and white wheat berries to add to the list of ingredients. I have also just begun a 3 stage starter built aka dabrownman to see if I can get a whole grain loaf that is not a brick.

Thanks for the wishes Karin. No lifting over 10 pounds for at least 4 weeks.

Happy baking folks! Brian

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

about the 3 stage build is that it ensures the levain is ready to raise a loaf of bread every time.  IF it can't pass a double on stage two in 4 hours then it is easy enough to repeat the stage until it does - then no worries.  I did a one stage levain build that was a huge combo levain,over 400 g total, using YW (53 g) and rye SD (8 g) starter. I set a limit at 12 hours for it to double but it doubled in 9 hours.  I then stirred it down adding nothing and it doubled again in 3 hours!  I called that ready to go. 

Don't make bricks with a hernia - make light as feather loaves Ski!

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

that she wanted to make a 2nd entry.  This one is all Swabian but only 70% whole grain,has no add hard bits for add ins and uses the Knight With the Iron Hand's bread above for the altus.  She also got to use her Swami Swabi Channeling app on her iPhone for the first time too. - still .....she forgot the hemp seeds again :-( 

Lacy’s Take on Einstein’s Swabian Potato Bread - Schwäbisches Kartoffelbrot

Isand66's picture
Isand66

I just put my entry up here.

Hope you all like it and thanks Karin for posting the challenge.

Main

Wild-Yeast's picture
Wild-Yeast

Thanks for posting this Karin. 

What cereal grain flours would be available to the Knight's kitchen staff to make such a bread?

Wild-Yast

hanseata's picture
hanseata

it doesn't have to be medieval (we don't want to add weevils or sawdust for a real "authentic" bread), so you can choose what you like.

Available in the days of yore was mostly rye, barley and buckwheat for the lower classes and wheat for wealthier folks. Götz would have certainly had his share of both during his astonishingly long career.

Hope you will join!

Karin

hanseata's picture
hanseata

So far I have 12 breads for my basket - and more are promised. Very exciting!

Karin

Juergen Krauss's picture
Juergen Krauss

Thank you, Karin for posting this challenge,

It has indeed created an impressive list of recipes!

Here is my take:

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/39341/g%C3%B6tz-brot-juergens-take

Best Wishes,

Jürgen

wassisname's picture
wassisname

Late to the party as usual, but I just couldn’t get this bread out of my head so here it is. Barley, oats and flaxseed for Götz! .  Thanks again, Karin!

Marcus

 

Juergen Krauss's picture
Juergen Krauss

I just posted about my Götz-Brot with Green Spelt, which is what I had originally in mind

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/39566/g%C3%B6tz-brot-take-2-green-spelt

Enjoy!

Juergen

Pages