What To Do With Old Bread? Nice-Twice Sunflower Seed Bread
The looming deadline of a blog event [1], hosted by my blogging buddy Anna Antonia [2], gave me the much needed kick in the energy to overcome my dog days' laziness and write a new post.
What to do with stale bread? For me a no-brainer: baguette or brioche leftovers usually end up as bread pudding. But for sourdough or other hearty breads there's only one option: grind, toast, and re-bake!
My favorite baker in Hamburg, Jochen Gaues, recycles old bread in many of his baked goods (like Sunflower Seed Rolls [3].) [4]
Unfortunately, his (visually gorgeous) baking book "Brot” [5] is so sloppily edited that only experienced bakers are able to figure out how to work with sparse instructions and missing ingredients.
One of his breads was the inspiration for my Nice-Twice Sunflower Seed Bread.
My crumb collection of many different kinds of old bread
What makes a dough with a larger amount of old bread (here more than 13%) so special? Not two loaves are the same, because leftovers of several different (and differently seasoned) breads go into my crumb collection.
Freshly ground coarse rye meal
With the Mockmill [6] I just brought home from the Kneading Conference [7], I'm finally able to achieve finer and coarser grinds - something my old Nutrimill couldn't do. (No, I don't get any goodies from them!)
I was very curious how my improvised sunflower seed bread would turn out. We were absolutely delighted! It had an excellent taste - slightly sweetish and hearty, with a thin, crispy crust. One bite - and it was admitted to my "Bread Hall of Fame".
My new favorite loaf: NIce-Twice Sunflower Seed Bread
The recipe [8] you can find on my (recently relocated) blog "Brot & Bread" [8].