Leinsamenbrot - German Flaxseed Bread
Ingredients (2 Loaves)
SOAKER APPROXIMATE VOLUME MEASUREMENTS
200 g rye flour 1cup + 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp. rye flour
111 g whole wheat flour 3/4 cup + 1 tbsp. + 1 tsp. whole wheat flour
5 g salt 1/2 tsp. salt
150 g flax seeds 1 cup - 1 tbsp. flaxseeds (whole)
272 g buttermilk 1 cup + 3 tbsp. buttermilk
33 g water
BIGA
311 g bread flour 2 cups + 1/3 cup + 1 tbsp. bread flour
1 g instant yeast 1/4 tsp. instant yeast
203 g water 3/4 cup + 2 tbsp. + 1 tsp. water
FINAL DOUGH
all soaker and biga all soaker and biga
78 g bread flour 1/2 cup + 1 tbsp. + 1 1/2 tsp. bread flour
7 g salt 1 tsp. salt
7 g instant yeast 2 3/4 tsp. instant yeast
19 g honey 1 tbsp. honey
14 g pumpkin seed oil (or other vegetable oil) 1 tbsp. pumpkin seed oil (or other vegetable oil)
milk, for brushing milk, for brushing
Directions:
DAY 1
In the morning, stir together all soaker ingredients until well hydrated. Let sit at room temperature for 12 - 24 hrs.
Mix together all biga ingredients at low speed (mixer or hand) for 1 - 2 min., until no flour is left on bottom of bowl. Knead for 2 min. on medium-low speed. Let dough rest for 5 min., then knead for 1 more min. Place biga in lightly oiled bowl, cover and refrigerate.
In the evening, mix together all ingredients fo final dough until well combined (1 - 2 min. on low speed or by hand). Knead for 4 min. on medium-low speed. Let dough rest for 5 min., then resume kneading for another min. Divide into 2 portions and place dough balls in lightly oiled 1-quart plastic containers (or bowls). Cover and refrigerate overnight.
DAY 2
Remove dough from refrigerator 2 hrs. before using. Shape into 2 boules and place on parchment lined baking sheet. Brush with milk. Score with big star shaped (or round or square) cookie cutter.
Preheat oven to 425 F, including steam pan.
Let breads rise at room temperature for 45 - 60 min., or until they have grown to 1 1/2 times their original size.
Bake breads at 350 F for 20 min. (with steam), rotate them 180 degrees and continue baking for another 20 - 25 min. (internal temperature at least 195 F). Let cool on wire rack.
STRETCH AND FOLD TECHNIQUE:
Leinsamenbrot can also be made with stretch and fold technique. Prepare only soaker as pre-dough (the flax seeds need 24 hours for thorough soaking!). Add biga ingredients to final dough.
For final dough, dissolve yeast in lukewarm water. Mix it with soaker and all other ingredients for 1 min. at low speed. Let dough sit for 5 min. Knead on medium-low speed for 2 min. Dough should be supple and very tacky, bordering on sticky (adjust with water if needed). Continue kneading for 4 more min., increasing speed to medium-high for last 30 sec. Dough should be tacky.
Stretch and fold dough 4 times, every 10 min. (40 min. total time). Refrigerate overnight.
Remove dough from refrigerator 3 hrs. before baking.
Shape cold dough into 2 boules. Place seam side down on parchment lined baking sheet. Brush with milk, then score with big cookie cutter. Let breads rise for ca. 2 - 3 hrs., or until grown 1 1/2 times their original size. Continue as in recipe above.
VOLUME MEASUREMENTS are only approximate calculations - you have to adjust with water or flour according to what the dough consistency should be like!!!
Updated 7/20/13: I added water to the soaker, and reduced the yeast in the final dough.
It's very good-looking indeed! and judging from the list of ingredients it must be delicious.
I'm very curious about the yeast in the final dough: isn't the one in the biga sufficient to raise the bread? Or is it there just to speed up the process?
As for the soaker am I correct in assuming that the combination of buttermilk and rye is there to simulate a sourdough?
I never really thought about that. I took this recipe from one of my old German bread baking books (basically just the ingredients), re-writing it to Peter Reinhart's "Whole Grain Breads" technique, and then trying it out several times, tweaking it until it was exactly as I liked it.
In German recipes they (nearly) always use fresh yeast (1 cake = 40 g is approximately 2 1/4 tsp. instant yeast = 8 g. I can't get fresh yeast here in Maine, anyway, and instant yeast is very reliable.
I bake this bread professionally, so I need it to rise within a reliable time. (I use the soaker/biga technique as described) I do not use as much instant yeast as given in the WGB book, but I don't know whether 1 g would be enough.
In German or Austrian bread recipes you find much more often flour combinations, like rye/whole wheat/wheat or rye/spelt/wheat or rye meal/cornflour/wheat. I don't think it's just to simulate sourdough, it's more about the flavor.
I never saw white sourdough breads in Germany, all the German sourdough recipes I know are rye/rye mix breads. It would be worth a try making this bread with a starter I'm sure it would taste very nice, too.
Karin
A lot of those flour combinations came from regions that either didn't have enough land to grow enough wheat or who's land that wasn't well suited for growing wheat. The rye and other grains can grow in lower quality soil and were used to supplement or stretch the wheat supply (flour). White/Whole Wheat/Rye is sometimes known as a 'bavarian flour mixture'. One of my (german) grandmothers used to bake exclusively with this blend, and my (german) grandfather insisted that it was the only proper way to make bread...
Brian
Beautiful! Would you mind if I featured this on the front page for a bit?
That's quite flattering, thanks.
Karin
Das sieht aber lecker aus:)
Well done.
Oh MY! That looks fabulous...I think this is going next on my to try list!
I would love to bake this bread, but am a bit confused about how to proceed from where you left off. I imagine something like "preheat the oven to 400, load the bread, steam, lower temp to 350 and bake for 45 min, until golden brown, sounds hollow both on top and the bottom"? Is that close?
Thank you!
Kroha
That's close, but the preheating temperature should be 425 F for baking mode/400 for (fan-assisted) convection.
I would advise you, though, to get an instant thermometer (inexpensive item) to measure the internal temperature rather than just knocking at it. I am not able to really discern whether a bread sounds hollow enough when the temperature is still a bit below the minimum 195 F degrees internal temperature.
Karin
I don't know how I missed this one..thanks for the great recipe and write-up
Sylvia
Well deserved promotion to the front page! Beautiful Loaf!
Mini
Thanks, Mini, I tell that my husband who just complained about my getting sucked into this website...
...would be greatly appreciated if you could post it.
Thanks
PS - The exterior of the bread is fantastic. Thanks also for posting the recipe.
I will add a photo of the crumb when I bake the flaxseed bread next time - I made this photo before I joined TFL, just for my own list of breads. It tastes really good. For my little bakery I offer only breads I really like myself.
Karin
We bought this camera 2 years ago. It was recommended to us by a photographer, and we are very happy we followed his advice. It it a Canon PowerShot SD1100 IS. It is not very expensive (you can get it new for $ 160) and very easy to handle. I never had a digital camera before and now I'm surprised how I managed so long without it.
Karin
I used your star-shaped cookie cutter idea for my peasant boules. I hope you don't mind my stealing your idea, but for some reason, at the store I sell my bread, people seem to shy away from my boules. This week, with the star design, they were all gone. Thanks. P.S. I will try the flax seed bread for next week.
I'm very happy to hear that the star design helped you selling your breads, Renee.
I saw this pattern on multigrain boules in a bakery in Belfast (the Maine one) and thought it was a great idea. Since I have a Tyrolean breared baking book where breads are decorated with cookie cutters, I knew how to achieve it, and bought a giant star cookie cutter to try it out.
I sell my breads, too, and it is nice if people can discern specific types by their looks.
Please let me know how you liked the Leinsamenbrot if you try it out.
Whether you use a biga or do just a soaker plus stretch & fold, both methods works well, and you can also either shape your bread cold or de-chilled, whatever works for your time schedule best.
Karin
Thank you for your encouragement. I think I have some trouble selling my bread because the flavors and textures I give it are artistic and complex but the shape and scoring of it is not. I just dont have that kind of visually aesthetism required to come up with a visually beautiful loaf of bread and so I have to steal ideas from other people so that I can lure buyers in. I was thinking of calling my baking business "Ugly Bread Company" that way people will think its a gimmick and not just a lack of imagination on my part.
What a beautiful looking loaf. Any tips on how to convert the measurements to cups and spoons?
Jerry
Jerry,
I'm just out of town. When I'm home this weekend I'll write that down for you.
But I really would recommend investing in a digital scale (ca. $ 30). I weighed my flours per cup and compared the results with the conversion tables from Cooks Illustrated - they were quite different.
Karin
Jerry, I tried to calculate the volume measurements for you (see updated recipe). But I would really advise you to get a scale - only as an example here are the differences between flour weight equivalents of New York Bakers, Peter Reinhart, Cooks Illustrated and my own measurements:
1 cup whole wheat flour according to:
NYBakers: 120 g Peter Reinhart: 130 g Cooks Illustrated: 156 g Karin: 128 g
You see how unprecise volume measurements are. If you use them, go by what the dough consistency should be, and adjust with flour or water accordingly.
Karin
Thanks for your suggestion and for helping with the conversion. I really appreciate it.
Warmly,
Jerry
Let me know how it turned out, Jerry, if you bake the Leinsamenbrot.
Karin
BTW, I'm sure everyone feels the sentiment, but THANK YOU for sharing the recipe that you personally refined and developed for your own professional use ...it was very big of you to share it here with us! Online no less!!
Brian
Brian, you are right, wheat could be cultivated only in the south of Germany, all the northern regions and also Scandinavian countries had poorer soils and a harsher climate where only rye, oat and barley could grow. Therefore all these northern countries had rye and rye mix sourdough leavened breads, whereas people in southern Germany (except for Bavaria) and Austria used yeast as leaven and ate wheat breads.
I think it's quite sad that with all the many German immigrants so few German breads have made it into American cuisine. Germany has over 300 distinct bread specialties, more than any other country in the world, and the only German breads most people know here are pretzels = Brezeln (in Germany only a regional specialty consumed with beer), Pumpernickel (a specialty for party buffets, not for daily consume) and, only lately, Vollkornbrot - as the only "regular" German bread.
I'm a one-woman-mini-bakery, therefore I'm not afraid to share my recipes. And it makes me really happy if you guys appreciate my breads!
Karin
I haven't studied the flour used in the german area much ...I think I read the bit about 'bavarian flour' in the Laurel Kitchen book on bread many years ago. I remember it because my grandparents always insisted on using the rye/whole wheat/white combination in all of the bread they made. Good, but never changed...
Brian
It would be really interesting to find out what the ingredients were in these lost traditional breads - the flummeries sound really intriguing, as does the riddle bread (I hope the secret ingredient was not some saw dust to stretch the flour).
Daisy, there are actually only about 300 different specialty breads for Germans to boast of - not 800 - though it seems the number is growing from one book to the other I read...
I just got a delivery from amazon.de, three new German bread baking books, a real challenge for the coming months. One is especially nice and interesting: "Brot - so backen unsere besten Baecker" (Bread - what our best bakers bake) with recipes from award winning German master bakers all over the country.
Of course it's a little tricky to convert German rye types to American ones. As far as I know we have here only white rye flour, medium and whole rye, apart from coarser grinds like meal or cracked rye. At least Wikipedia mentions that the 4 German medium rye flour types can be used interchangeable.
Karin
Just a note that I made it towards the end of the week and baked it yesterday and it is definitely a winner.
The soak of the flax seeds means that the seeds are edible (as opposed to...well, you know). The flavor works well.
I've been looking for breads with so much flavor that they don't need fats added as butter or cream cheese for gratificaiton. This one passes as a snack so very easily.
Thank you for sharing it.
and I am glad that you like it, Shallots.
Karin
Karin:
Thanks for the receipe.
I baked it this weekend and got two nice sized boules, so I had enough to share with family. (just my wife and I at home now)
My grand daughter, age 8, has refused to eat anything but supermarket white bread and then only with the crust cut off. But boy oh boy, she pigged out on the leinsamenbrot, eating everything (she loved the crust & crumb).
It is good to see eat something healthy.
Again thanks
Gene
Gene and Kerofish, I'm happy that your breads turned out nice - and, hopefully, led a young soul away from the gaping maw of wonderbread hell onto the path to artisan bread heaven...
Karin
...So true! A friend of mine that went down the path of becoming a physician, at least until he decided it wasn't for him, told me that he refuses to eat any white bread. You don't want to know what they find in the intestines of people that eat a lot of grocery store white bread ...but I'll just say that it is a wonder that such people don't have more digestive problems or that they don't suffer from malnutrion any more than they do. (Maybe that's why it's called Wonder Bread?) In any case, after his educational discussion with me, I really lean towards all-grain or at least 50% whole-grain type breads for the normal daily fare, saving the ciabattas and other white specialties for more occassional use.
Brian
I am in the process of making this bread. Quick Quesiton: What should the soaker texture be? I'm pretty familiar with soakers, but this one is unlike any I've made before - it's extremely dense and heavy. I know it's rye, and rye tends to be more dense and sticky, but this seems extreme. I'm wondering if that's what it should be like, or if I may have measured wrong.... Thanks for any thoughts.
Hi, Emmsf, the soaker is indeed quite stiff, when it has soaked enough. It shouldn't be too dry, though, when it's being stirred together, because the flaxseeds soak up a lot of liquid.
I just made sure the recipe above is the recipe I use - the amounts of the ingredients are right.
If you are not sure, better make the soaker a little too wet than too dry, you can always adjust with flour in the final dough, but the flaxseeds need enough buttermilk to soak.
Good luck and let me know how it turned out,
Karin
I'm happy to hear that!
You are right, flours are a bit different and the climate also matters. I get my organic flours from a local Maine wholegrocer and I noticed a difference to those I bought before in the supermarket.
I also was surprised how some of my doughs "acted out" in this heat wave with degrees around 90 we had for several weeks, they didn't only rise much faster (expected) but, also seemed wetter even though I used the same amounts of water and flour (quite unexpected).
Karin
Karin:
Just bought a scale as you suggested. A new world! Now I'm disparaging of bread books that only list the ingredients in cups.
Thanks for the push.
Jerry
Santa Cruz CA
Haha, Jerry - now I did my Good Deed for the month!
Karin
Karin:
I entered your leinssamenbrot in our county fair. It won not only the best foreign bread, but the best in the entire baked goods category, more than 250 entires! I'm letting everyone know where to find your recipe.
You've really created a great bread.
So, what are your other favorite breads....?
Thanks for bringing so many of us to this wonderful recipe.
Jerry
And now you know why Karin's bakery is a successful one!!
Brian
Now I want to know more about Karin's bakery. Portland, Maine? How did they get so lucky?
Karin: What other breads are you especially proud of?
I'm very happy to hear that, Jerry! Now I'll only have to get a bumper sticker with: "Proud Parent of an Award Winning Bread".
My bakery is a one frau operation, actually located in Bar Harbor (but I love Portland and we are often there, it reminds me of my hometown Hamburg). It is successful in so far that I have a bunch of faithful "followers" who buy my breads regularly at the store.
I also have a few private customers who order directly from me, and now and then I give classes in bread baking.
Since it's more like a hobby (also financially) and I can mostly bake what I like, I thoroughly enjoy myself.
Some other favorite breads are: Karin's Feinbrot (to be posted soon), my Pain a l'Ancienne version, Multigrain Pita and Spelt-Walnut-Bread.
Karin
Karin, This bread is gorgeous. I never thought of using a cookie cutter to score. Thanks for a great idea. Pam
Pam, I saw a lovely looking bread with a similar star pattern in a bakery and wondered how to achieve it. Trying to score it with a lame or knife that evenly seemed impossible.
But I do the pattern of two of my Tyrolean Mini Breads (Sunflower Seed and Pumpkin Seed Bread) with a cookie cutter, so I looked around for a giant star shaped cookie cutter. I would have liked an even larger one, but I found only this one and it works fine.
I also use a large leaf shaped cookie cutter for my seasonal Pumpkin Bread, the dough is a bit softer, so the pattern is not quite as distinct. But I like the pattern to be fairly simple to look nice and not too "cookie cutter cutesy".
Karin
Kuerbisbrot - Pumpkin Bread
Karin, I am in the big city today and hope I can find a big star cookie cutter. Wish me luck! Pam
And happy baking, Pam!
Karin
Hey Karin, I found a big cookie cutter yesterday. I can hardly wait to see if it is going to be good enough. Pam
and don't be too timid in pressing down the cookie cutter - of course not down to the bottom, but not overly cautious either.
Karin
I'm going to try that bread.. I'll learn to do pictures!! Pam
I could not resist this loaf which I found by accident while doing various searches while waiting for loaves to proof.
Some questions now that I have baked this following your great instructions.
SOAKER: I used the exact amounts of all ingredients that you have listed above. Only difference was that my flours were freshly ground and measured, by weight, after being ground. Hydration felt fine immediately after mixing but after the 8ish hours on the counter it was VERY firm....we are talking VERY firm. There was NO way my Bosch was going to mix up those little pieces without me adding more water! I ended up adding about 1/4 to 1/2 cup more water (i00-200g) during the final mixing stage. I just kept adding until it felt 'right' to me.
Biga hydration was just fine despite the fact that I also used freshly ground flour in place of bread flour.
Over night bulk ferment: Final dough flour was also freshly ground and, in the past when I have followed recipes/formulas that use bread flour, my doughs always ferment in at least half the time. I have learned to decrease starter amounts to adjust for this but when I do a new recipe and a new technique (Using 2 pre-ferments followed by an overnight refrigerator bulk ferment.) I follow what has been written to see how it works first.
I covered the dough and placed it in my refrig. I checked it about 2 1/2 hours later and it had risen by half. I was concerned about over fermenting and ruining the gluten so I took it out and gave it a few quick kneads in the bowl to degas it. Into the refrig. it went again. After another 3 hours I peeked in on it once more and it had risen again....I repeated the degassing with a few quick bowl kneadings and put it back. It was late so I went to bed hoping it wouldn't over ferment.
This morning it had doubled but still had good strength so I was relieved. I divided it into 2 doughs and shaped into boules. I found a 'star' cookie cutter to top them off with but I think I was a bit too firm when pressing into the dough...
They only had to proof for an hour before going into the oven.
What a heavenly aroma. I was so excited when I turned the loaves after the first 20 minutes....they had risen nicely and had a wonderful color. I knew exactly to whom I wanted to give the second loaf. (A friend from England who regularly gets loaves from me but I was sure this would be the 'best' ever!)
I had a hard time waiting before putting her loaf into a bag and walking it down to her house....The aroma was overpowering! Once there she too couldn't stop smelling the bread. In fact we stood there taking turns smelling it....Her 6 year old daughter was looking at us with a bit of a puzzled look..."I mean - like what normal people get excited about smelling bread!!!!" We ended up laughing at ourselves so hard that we couldn't talk....Reminiscent of my old hippie days in San Francisco but back then I wasn't laughing uncontrollably due to inhaling bread aromas....
Now my question for you. Does your dough rise quickly once you refrigerate it too? Do you simply leave it alone or do you degas it?
I realized after the second degassing and quick kneading that I probably shouldn't have done the kneading piece as that probably encouraged the yeast - new oxygen and new food to go after!
Despite what I think was too rapid of a fermentation in the final proof these loaves DID turn out remarkably well. I am just curious if your dough rises like mine does and, if it does, then next bake I will ignore the dough once I have put it in the refrig. for the night. If yours does not behave as mine did then I will decrease the yeast in the final dough and see what that happens.
Thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe! I am anxious now to try others you have posted here. My 'to bake' list just keeps getting longer and longer these days!
Your bread looks very nice - I baked it today for a customer, too.
You are right, the soaker gets very firm (I chopped mine), the flax seeds soak up all the liquid. With your self ground flours I'm sure you always have to adjust according to what your dough feels like and needs.
I don't think you need to be that anxious about the dough overfermenting in the fridge. When I check mine some hours later, it often has risen quite a bit already, too. I just assume the yeast activity slows down after some time when the dough is cold enough, don't think too much about it, and just leave it to its own devices.
For the final proof it takes my doughs between 45 and 60 minutes, depending on the kitchen temperature.
I'm very happy to hear that you achieved such a good result and liked my bread!
Karin
Next time I will just leave it alone and see what does happen and how far it does rise without being disturbed. Now at least I do have something to compare it to.
Do you add more water to your final dough when mixing due to your soaker being so stiff too? There was NO way mine would have softened up unless I had pounded it with a mallet :-0
Janet
I always check the final dough for the right consistency. If it's too dry, I add a bit more water. Even if you measure all ingredients exactly the same every time there still might be differences.
After producing some multigrain bricks in the past, I rather err on the sticky side.
Karin
I am thinking I might add a bit of extra water to the soaker...maybe let it sit for 30 min. and check it. If dry - add extra water. I am thinking if it is softer going into the final dough the mixing will be shorter...
I have learned the same thing about 'bricks'. :-) Softer dough can always go into a bread pan and nobody knows the difference except the baker....
Jim, I checked the amounts again, to make sure, but there is nothing missing - this is exactly as I make it, for myself and for sale. But there are several facts that might contribute to your failed first attempt.
The soaker will have the consistency you describe - thanks to the many flax seeds that absorb a lot of liquid. Though the final dough will be a bit stiff (with all those seeds), it definitely shouldn't be dense or dry.
The whole mixing procedure follows Peter Reinhart's technique from "Whole Grain Breads", I adapted most of my old German recipes to his method using pre-doughs, autolyse and long fermentation. An overnight bulk cold fermentation is my own idea, to better accomodate my schedule for baking breads for sale.
If your dough didn't rise in the refrigerator it can have two reasons. Either your dough was too dry, or the yeast didn't work well enough. If you used instant yeast, and it wasn't too old, a lack of hydration is the likely culprit. Your flours might be different from mine, and the environment has an influence too. I would recommend adding a bit more water, to the soaker and/or to the final dough. Let the final dough be a little more sticky than tacky, and try not to add any additional flour.
Don't let yourself be discouraged by this first disappointment. This bread is really nice, and other TFLers made it successfully. Often it's only a little tweak that's makes a difference - my cookbooks a scribbled full of notes where I found that changes were necessary, because my flour, or my oven is different from others.
Leinsamenbrot is, of course, a generic term for all kinds of breads that contain flax seeds, so this one might be quite different from the one you had in Germany.
I hope I could help you,
Karin
Jim,
Too add on to Karin's reply. I make this a lot too and use a sd starter with it. I have to add a bit of extra water because I used freshly ground whole grains that are thirstier but that is all that is necessary for me to do.
Good Luck! It is a great bread.
Janet
just wanted to say how lovely this bread looks and peg down this thread so i can try it someday!
thanks
Anyone have nice pictures of the crumb? I think it would help those that are trying to decide how the bread is supposed to turn out and whether or not they've succeeded...
Brian
I took that photo a while ago in pre-TFL times, so I didn't do a crumb shot.
Next time I bake one for myself and not just for sale, I will take a picture.
Karin
Your bread is so lovely I'm sure that many (besides myself) would appreciate seeing a photo of the crumb also.
after I come back from Germany after Easter I will put Leinsamenbrot on my baking schedule - and take a crumb shot.
Karin
Thanks, Karin! I'm thinking of trying this one too... :)
This one of my best breads.
Happy baking,
Karin