May 19, 2013 - 8:41pm
Dutch Brown Bread - Bruinbrood
I've never eaten dutch brown bread but my colleague ate it back in holland, adores it. I've came up with a recipe that uses 100% wholemeal flour, molasses syrup, instant yeast, gluten flour, salt and olive oil. Used prefermented dough method and the end result is soft, fluffy bread. the texture is okay but the color of the bread is not as dark as what my friend described. can anyone share their dutch brown bread recipe with me? or any pointers to get dark brown colored bread? I added a lot of molasses syrup but it just doesn't darken it that much.My friend said it's not rye (i tried added rye but she said brown bread has no sour taste). Please help...thanks.
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You can buy it in some stores, or make it yourself. Or, if you're really desperate for the dark colour, use Kitchen Bouquet.
So instead of molasses syrup, i should use caramel syrup?
PaddyL, sorry to ask, are u dutch? i am desperate for the authentic dutch brown bread recipe as i have attempted making it 5 times (all different recipes and combinations) but somehow the color just didn't work out. the only time it works is using almost 40% rye flour. but my friend said the dutch brown bread has no "tangy" taste (from rye).
Ok, maybe i will make caramel syrup next time to replace my molasses syrup (molasses syrup is in fact very dark in color).
thanks for the tip
hmm...wonder if i can add some carob powder to darken it. but i don't want that "chocolate" taste as i think the dutch brown bread doesn't have such taste. has anyone tried using carob powder in bread?
Thanks Liz. maybe i can use some malt extract to darken my wholemeal bread.
is it possible to describe the taste of bruinbrood? do u have a recipe that i can use? i can't read dutch so cannot use dutch recipes.
this is what i made yesterday with sunflow seeds but the color is not right.
I googled the images of bruinbrood and most of them match what your bread looks like. A few were darker but when you visit the web page, these are commercially made loaves with LOTS of ingredients. I don't read Dutch or German but I can figure out enough to know there are gums and colorants. Your ingredients are much nicer!
If you want to just darken the bread for aesthetics, you have some options but I don't know if they would be "authentic".
1.Caramelized sugar along with the molasses is one. That way it won't be so bitter as the amount of molasses is decreased.
2.Use strong,dark coffe as the liquid or even instant coffee powder.
3.Use cocoa or carob powder.
4.And King Arthur makes a caramel powder which is actually dried caramelized sugar that gives a nice dark coloration.
Kitchen Bouqet has other savory flavors in it but they might get lost so it might be worth a try. It is mostly carmelized sugar, I believe.
Have fun!
Sharing my recipe here and see if anyone can help to improve this recipe...
Preferment dough
150g wholemeal flour, 110g water, 4g instant yeast, 2 tbsp molasses, 1/4 tsp salt
Mix and keep in fridge for at least 5 hrs
Mix prefermented dough with the following
50g wholemeal flour, 40g water, 1 tbsp olive oil, tbsp gluten flour, 1 tbsp millet
Mix until able to stretch thin window pane
Bake at 200 degree celcius for 30 mins
Your bruinbrood looks like the color I had while living in Holland. is that krentenbrood I see?
I made 2 loaves and passed it to my colleague. she is kind enough to pass me back one slice to show me the inside. this is the pix. hmm i should say the color is close enough. but my colleague said maybe i can add a bit of sweetness to it (i didnt add any sugar except the molasses syrup for the coloring). From what i gathered from Liz, bruinbrood does has a bit of sweetness...maybe i will add about 20g to my recipe. So there is no standard recipe for bruinbrood?
Krentenbrood, the very first pix was given from my colleague which she took back in holland. The 2nd pic of the loaves with sunflower seeds are the one i made and also this pix attached.
What a lovely soft looking whole wheat bread, Sunhana!
So, they use coloring exclusively for the brown effect, not whole wheat flour? or they use a mix of both?
-Khalid
Hi Mebake, after making 6 different recipes (most of it i came up on my own), i am still clueless what contributes to the dark brown coloring. According to Liz from netherland, it might be caramel coloring that the baker used. But today i happened to come across this recipe that uses malt syrup which gives extra brown coloring, sweetness and flavour. will give this a try on sunday. stay tuned as i will post the modified recipe if it comes out successful.
Hi henkverhaar, your loaves are so beautiful. Possible to share your recipe? I do have sourdough starter in my fridge calling out for me to use it =)...would love to give your recipe a try.
Another "blind" attempt in making bruinbrood. This time, i added malt syrup. The dough is very wet as i didnt reduce the water. i almost gave up while waiting for the dough to proof but i just proceeded. To my surprise, the final loaf proof, the dough just started kicking in proofing beautifully. it grew 4 times its original size. the end product is this sweet and very tasty malt bread. Not sure if this is how bruinbrood taste but will soon let my colleague try. Before i ventured into adding malty syrup, i came upon VEDA bread which used malt syrup to enhance the taste. It is also something very unique in taste. just wonder if this VEDA bread is actually dutch bruinbrood. Many said with malt syrup added, the dough might be too sticky to work on. true enough, the dough was indeed very sticky. Wonder if my next attempt i should cut down the water. but somehow i wish not to as my final loaf is very soft, moist and malty! This time round, i didn't use 100% wholemeal flour. about 50% ww and 50% white bread flour. Still using prefermentation. Used both molasses and malt syrup. If anyone is keen with my recipe, please let me know =). i will post it here.
Wow...sound interesting to give your recipe a try. but in Singapore it is almost impossible to get malt powder. Is your malt powder diastatic? I read up that it helps to improve the fermentation process. I can only get malt syrup which is not diastatic. wonder if it will work if i substitute with malt syrup. ascorbic acid is added as a dough improver right? hahaha i don't have that too. in singapore, bread making is still not very common. but will definitely try out your recipe as it sure looks promising =). btw, does this recipe get a sour tasting bread? Or should i control the prefermentation so that it doesn't develop sourness too much?
The discussion of Dutch brown bread is old. Is there anyone who has found a good recipe? My late husband was Dutch and we lived in The Netherlands from 1990-1993. The bread is excellent, I can't describe it.
In September 2023 I visited and this was my first brown bread sandwich at Cafe Onder de Linde in Amersfoort, The Netherlands. The ham and cheese sandwich on a triangular brown bread bun was 9 Euros and delicious. The second photo is the building from the 1500s where I had the lunch from the first photo.
I found a recipe "Dutch Sourdough Brown Bread with Oats" on mydiscoveryofbread.blogspot.com
One of the ingredients is "roasted malt" with no explanation of what that is. The photo on the site is a dark brown bread. Dutch brown bread is not sour so I don't know how accurate that is though the person posting says she is Dutch, living in Thailand.
If anyone has any new information please let me know.
Thanks,
Donna
Can't help with a recipe. A quick search shows it's a pretty basic whole wheat bread, often with some white flour. The recipe you mentioned is different because it doesn't have ww flour, only bran. The roasted malt would most likely be non-diastatic malt powder. The insturctions never mention it again, only to combine the flours, so it must be powdered. It would add sweetness to the loaf, since there is no sugar, darken it, and give it more flavour.
I'd advise you to PM dolfs who is from Holland and posted on the subject on another thread. He linked to a recipe he thought would be a good match, but the link no longer works, but I think he could help you.
Thanks for commenting, Moe.
I did find a recipe in Dutch. https://www.baktotaal.nl/bruinbrood-recept# With google translate it seems like this is the product that may be what is used.
https://www.pastrychef.com/TOASTED-BARLEY-DARK-MALT-POWDER-1300-FOR-BREAD_p_5127.html
Now, I wonder where I can find this in a small amount. Using only 5% to flour I do not need a 5 kg. bag. Any ideas where I can find it?
I've never seen dark malt like that before (but, what do I know?). The only place I can think of to check is a home beer making supplier.
I got my malt from Amazon, but it was just run of the mill diastatic malt in a 1kg pkg (your malt is non-diastatic, among other things). If you are forced to buy more than you want, you can freeze it. Since this dark malt is an ingredient that I haven't seen mentioned in other recipes (in my briefish search), it probably does have an important effect on colouring, flavour and aroma.
Good luck trying to recreate that illusive loaf.
As @jo_en and @MoeC said, your best bet for small quantities (and selection) of malt is your homebrew shop. You don't say where you're located, but even smaller metro areas will probably have a homebrew shop.
It is hard to gauge the exact color of the malt and the Molen de Hoop website doesn't specify a color. One malt family you might look for at the homebrew store is Weyermann Carafa Malt (I, II, and III; dark to darker). This malt has been dehusked so grinding it should be easier (you don't have to sift it).
I do have a brewery shop where I live. I'll be trying it.
Hi,
This is an old post but I just made a loaf wth whole rye:wh wheat 44:56 but
I used the water left from boiling beets. It was diluted about 1:3 (beet water to reg water).
Is this the color you are looking for?
Also Bamberg Chocolate Rye Malt ground and added to a dough significantly darkens the color.
Lots of beer making supply stores sell a variety of rye malts. I go to this one in San Jose.
The coloring is caused by barley malt powder. You need some, not too much to cause a darker color. Around 1% baker percentage will cause a brown color. More can make it dark brown.
In eastern europe there is also rye malt powder, but I dont expect that to be used in the netherlands.
For the record, this is not similar to diastatic malt powder.
check Here to buy some, but they do not ship out of the EU
Thank you, JasperB.
I messaged that company to ask if they will ship to the US. If not I will have it sent to a nephew in the Netherlands and then sent to me. If I had known when I was there last September I could have brought it back with me!
I get malted barley flour from a local water stone-grinding mill, Locke's Mill. They will ship though I don't know the shipping cost. This mill only grinds high-quality organic grains -
https://shop.lockesmillgrains.com/product/malted-barley-flour/46?cp=true&sa=false&sbp=false&q=false&category_id=2
TomP
Thank you for the information TomP.
The Dutch recipe calls for dark barley malt flour. From information I've read it is malted flour from roasted sprouted wheat.
Is the one you use dark?
It doesn't look particularly dark in the sack but it does add a darker color when mixed with other flours.
I would suggest contacting Lockes Mill and asking if the barley malt has been roasted to a dark color before milling.
Your best bet for small quantities of a variety of malts is your local homebrew shop. I purchased several malts for about $2/lb each. You could show the employee a picture of the Molen de Hoop barley malt and they might be able to steer you to an appropriate malt.
I'm not sure why the Molen de Hoop website labels the brown malt as a barley malt, but then in the description says roasted wheat. Maybe an error? I'm pretty sure it is a barley malt.
Earlier today I did order the malted barley flour and some stone ground wheat flour from Lockes Mill. Shipping from VA to CA was almost as much as the order! The recipe only calls for 11 grams of malted barley so it will last, just hope it adds the flavor I remember.
I don't know anything about malts, and brew shop supplies and if the barley is the same. I may try what you suggest if the Lockes Mill order doesn't give me the Dutch brown bread flavor.
I think the word wheat may mean more in Dutch.
Thanks for the suggestions.
You could try toasting the malted flour.
The last time I bought whole wheat flour from Locke's Mill, it was very coarse - a #30 screen sifted out 1/3 of the weight. Last Saturday I mentioned this to the new miller. He was surprised, said that wasn't right, and said he'd look into it. WW sacks I had bought earlier have been finer. A bag of spelt I bought on Saturday was more what I expected - 8 - 9% was sifted out by the #30 screen.
Toasting it is a good idea.
Thanks for that idea. I will try toasting it being careful not to burn it.
I'll post again when my order comes in from Locke's Mill and I've baked the Baktotaal recipe.