German bread spice - a game changer
I baked today for the first time with German bread spice. A revelation, a game changer.
German bread spice has been hinted at on this site, although it doesn't come up frequently. There are a few people on this site who are from Germany, who I am sure are quite familiar with this.
There are a variety of recipes, but the most common ingredients appear to be coriander, anise, fennel and caraway.
A small amount of bread spice added to a spelt or rye containing dough is a near miracle. It adds a note of complexity to the wonderful tang of the rye and spelt. I started with a small amount of spice, to learn the flavor and not overpower.
Bread spice recipe (amounts do not need to be precise):
1/2 tsp anise seed
1/2 tsp fennel seed
1/2 tsp caraway seed
1/2 tsp coriander seed
Grind the ingredients in a mill or with a mortar and pestle. Add 1/2 tsp of the ground spice mixture to 500g of dough. Bake as normal.
The dough I used with the bread spice is based on the method from Tom Cat's Semolina Filone, from this site. However all the flour was replaced with an equal proportion mixture of whole spelt, whole rye and all purpose wheat.
I normally bake Brötchen, or rolls. The dough above, with bread spice, was very good with butter. I think it would also be good with a sweet topping such as honey or jam, which I will find out about tomorrow. :)