Kürbiskernbrot

Kürbiskernbrot
WOW! I am so excited to be blogging again, I have missed it!It seems like it has been forever. Although it looks as though I have not baked for two weeks, that is simply not the case. In fact, I am excited to announce that I have made my very first Hearthbakedtunes.com sale of two very authentic German rye breads. I was lucky enough to produce a rye bread for a local silent auction which brought me my first customer. My first customer ordered one Kummelbrot and one Kürbiskernbrot. I will be posting on Kürbiskernbrot today!


I have been working on revamping my sourdough rye starer, which I have recently named "Liza-May". She is a daring and is doing very well. I figured since I devote more time to bread than any other activity, I might as well personalize the process as much as possible! I am also excited to say that I am coming off a wonderful weekend with a revitalized energy source and bright optimism and it feels good! To add to my exuberance, I will be baking bagels tomorrow!!
Although I have made breads several breads with pumpkin seeds, I have never made a 'pumpkinseed bread'. This is a typical German bread, one that is a favorite of my good friend Alexander. (Who has finally booked his tickets to meet and stay with me for two weeks in JULY!!!!) We will do some baking together, and I am sure that he will have some very thoughtful things to add. Alex is one of the most thoughtful people that I know. Anyways, I did make a few changes to the original formula, which came from the Baeko website once again.

The 100% hydrated rye sourdough starter.

I changed the sourdough rye starter build to amp up the hydration from 80% to 100%. During the past month or so, Liza May has been having trouble growing overnight, so I figured the addition of 20% water would help. I also replaced some of the sesame seeds in this bread with sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds. As I have previsouly noted, sesame is not one of my favorite bread ingredients. However, I must admit, it is wonderful in this bread! It adds a nuttiness which could not have been achieved by the sunflower and pumpkin seeds alone. The other change that I made was toasting all of the seeds in this bread as well as toasting the rye chops that I used in this bread's soaker. The soaker actually called for rolled rye, which are made by taking rye berries and sending them through a heavy press, similar to the way oats are rolled.  I ended up using rye chops because that is what I had on hand.  I really do love these German ryes that have both a seed soaker and a starter as well. I also decided to toast the rye chops with the other seeds, I think it slightly amplified the rye flavor.

The Triple seed and rye cho soaker, my mom toasted these seeds for me, thanks Mom!

Whenever I bake breads with tons of toasted seeds, large amounts of soaker, and ample percentages of bread flour, I get excited! I feel that you really get the best of three worlds: 
First you get the wonderful taste of toasted seeds, while also softening the seeds which helps to retain gluten strength. Second, you have the wonderful texture of a crisp crust, that is not too thick, but still has a nice light taste. Lastly, you get a wonderful balance of nutrition, texture and flavor. As is my custom, I did not use the medium rye flour or the 1150 roggenmehl that was called for.  Instead, I replaced it with whole rye flour. I love whole rye. It tends to make the loaf a bit heavier, but the flavor that it incorporates, makes for a very unique bread that keeps well and tastes wonderful. I understand the place of bread flour, since wheat contains such a high amount of bran and fiber. Rye on the other hand has much less, and since it also has much less gluten, you can really get away with using more whole rye flour without changing the hydration very much. This formula did call for something called weizen Kraft, which is a trademarked Baeko product.  Personally, I had no idea what it was and could not find out, so I used whole rye in its place! It is an approach that I am becoming quite famous for. When in doubt, add more rye!Due to the high amount of soaker and the amount of seed in this bread, a relatively long mix is implemented. I mixed on first speed for seven minutes and second speed for three minutes. Had this dough contained much less bread flour, I would have used the KitchenAid Paddle attachment. I then gave this bread 45 minutes of bulk fermentation followed by an hour to proof. I used brotforms to give this bread a more symmetrical appearance. I am going to start proofing my heavier ryes, seam side down, so that they will split in the oven. This creates a very rustic and authentic appearance, that I have not been able to replicate any other way.


The next time that I bake this bread, I will toast the sesame seeds separately because they tend to cook at a different rate than the other seeds. In the future, I want to be sure that they get a stronger toast. I will also try to find roasted and salted pumpkin seeds.
This bread is a keeper, and is now one of my new favorites! I think I will add it to my frequent flyers list. Its a great bread and it is wonderful with peanut butter!

Lastly, the crumb!

Bake On-DW