The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

deutsches Brot

rainbowbrown's picture
rainbowbrown

deutsches Brot

 deutsched Brot

Last night I went to dinner with my German tutor and her parents who are visiting America right now and don't speak English.  They know that I make bread so they brought me some bread from Germany.  Never having been to Germany and never having bread that was made anwhere outside of the Americas, I am pretty darn stoked.  Yeah, I took a picture of it and I thought I'd post it for those of you who, like myself, don't have the pleasure of trying bread in their countries of origin.  I believe this is Vollkornbrot and I think it was made by my tutor's mother, but I could be wrong, it could be from a bakery...there was quite a confusing language barrier to cross last night.  Her mother is a baker and she mills her own grain, which I thought was neat.  We tried to talk about bread and baking, but it was a little difficult.  The bread, though, is delicious.  And I'm happy that now I have something to actually compare my ryes to rather than what I have access to in books.  I made them bread as well; I made them Vollkornbrot and 80% Rye Sourdough both from Hamelman's Bread.  I gave the loaves to them almost a week ago and after a nervous few days, they told me last night that it was "wunderbar".  Neat, yeah?  Well, enjoy the picture...as I'm enjoying a slice of it right now.

rainbowbrown's picture
rainbowbrown

Those are sesame seeds, they're throughout the crumb as well.  Wow, that must have been a bummer.  A girl I know from Germany thinks pretty much all bread she has encountered in America is "too fluffy" and like supermarket bread. 

Mike Avery's picture
Mike Avery

In a presentation on sourdough at a Bread Baker's Guild of America seminar, Dr. Michael Gaentzle talked about the American penchant for light and fluffy bread and it's impact on taste.

 

His example was to imagine a child's balloon.  Pick a red one.  Notice how intense the color is?  Now, blow it up. The farther you blow it up, the more pale the color becomes.  There is only so much color in the balloon, and when the balloon is blown up the color is dispersed over a larger area,

 

He said taste in bread is very much the same.  As the bread rises, the taste is dispersed.

 

It is worth mentioning that German and French breads are at opposite ends of a culinary rainbow.  My mom is German and I really, really like German breads.  I like French breads also, but they appeal to different tastes.

Mike