June 24, 2023 - 3:01pm
German Type Flours found in the U.S.
Been reading several comments on how great the German breads are. So in wanting to make some of these recipes it seems I should first search out the most authentic German flours milled here in the U.S. I've come to realize I can't use KA flour exclusively forever!
I'm wondering if anyone can give me a name of a flour supplier that most closely produces a flour close resembling the German bread flours? Thank you!
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If you really want to make authentic German bread you'd probably have to go to Germany. The rye varietals may be different, the milling standards are not the same, and the growing conditions that affect the end product will differ, too. But you can still make great German-style rye bread in the US. Some people even prefer it. My usual rye supplier is Baker's Authority. While they don't offer anything that's German-style specifically, there are some equivalents and it's possible to make pretty close approximations for the ones that are not milled in the US. Check this one out. Karin also has another post that compares bakes she made with German and American rye flours and she liked the American ones better (I think) but I can't find it now. Flour may have just been fresher. Also, buy or borrow Ginsberg's "The Rye Baker" where he has his interpretations of German rye recipes. He uses mixtures of American rye flours to approximate the originals and I have been very pleased with them. This might also be a worthwhile read. Another good one is Hamelman's "Bread" which has a great chapter on sourdough rye baking. It's all American but deeply steeped in German baking tradition.
Agree with this.
German bread in Germany is made with German flour, which is grown and milled with German agricultural and milling practices, in German climate and soil. It's a different animal.
Alnatura is a common flour brand in Germany, which I have purchased and brought home in my luggage from time to time. It is fantastic. Any flour grown in North America is nothing like German flour because of the difference in growing conditions, cultivars and milling techniques.
Stanley Ginsberg used to sell retail quantities of rye flours and meals from his companion website NYBakers. Most of the rye was sourced from Bay State Milling. I believe these flours were about as close to German-style as you will find in the US. Bay State even sold dark rye flour (Schwarzroggenmehl) that is different than any other "dark rye" that you will see on store shelves (e.g., Bob' Red Mill Dark Rye flour). This flour is essentially equivalent to Austrian R2500 rye flour and it has a high ash content because it is the remaining flour left after light rye has been separated; it has more bran than even whole rye and it has a strong rye flavor. BSM's coarse rye meal also looks very similar to images I have seen of German-milled meal.
Sadly, Ginsberg closed his store a couple of years ago, and I have been looking for retail quantities of BSM flours ever since. Instead, I have used whole rye from Breadtopia and Country Life Natural Foods and bolted rye from Breadtopia.
Not a German grain, but Barton Springs Mill, in Dripping Springs TX (just south of Austin) sells Danko Rye (or Dankowskie Nowe in Polish) which was developed in 1976 by the Polish Plant Breeding Institute, Poznan, Poland. It is available as stone ground flour or as berries. It is certified organic.
They label it a "strong" rye and I love the flavor. I also get a kick out of their description, "Our crop exhibits bold aromas of cocoa and baking spice, resulting in complex, earthy breads. This rye also pairs well with anything chocolate!" Haven't tried that myself.
It is grown in Lamesa, TX by Aaron Vogler.
I recently got it and was coincidentally going through the pastry chapter and there are some rye and chocolate recipes. Now I'm gonna have to try them as I got some Danko flour that I like.
Agree with bitcat70.
German bread is made with German flour. German flour is grown from German cultivars in German soil using German horticultural practices and in German climate/weather. It is ground using German milling equipment. German rye flour, for example, is not the same as Canadian or American rye flour.
I have traveled extensively to Germany for 25 years, and continue to do so. I have purchased 1kg bags of rye and spelt flours several times, and used them in my standard bread recipe. They are good and are different from flour purchased at retail in the U.S.
No flour grown and milled in North America will be like flour grown and milled elsewhere. An analogy is grapes and wine. Making a French-style wine with Californian grapes doesn't seem like it would produce a French wine.
Because my recipe and method are different enough from those in Germany, I no longer buy German flour and bring it home. Real German bread is in Germany. The German-inspired bread I make using North American flour is a great facsimile.
Ricko, European wheat and rye flours are distinctly different from our North American flours indeed. The taste and aroma of the resulting baked goods are unmistakably different, so they are very in demand here, in my area of Toronto where I live. European immigrants who bake at home miss them dearly and demand from the grocers to carry them.
It's not just milling practices, the grain itself is different, the cultivars of rye and wheat, soils and weather conditions, etc. It is difficult or impossible to reproduce the taste and aroma of European rye breads with our North American rye flours even if they are milled by immigrant European millers. Even my sourdough starters smell differently when I switch to European rye flours.
I get mine from small ethnic grocery stores and ethnic bakeries in my neighborhood that sell imported European flours, they import them in modest amounts using their own channels: Polish and Serbian, for example. Polish stores even sell bags of European rye kernels for home milling or other whole rye baking. For some reason, a Korean grocery store nearby also sells excellent European flours. Norvegian flours are sent to me twice a year by my friend whose husband is a ship captain, bags and bags of them, they are excellent as well.