A couple of weeks ago, we tried making bread that we have had in Germany - there you can buy it fresh daily at the bakery but we have never found anything like it here. I bought "King Arthur" flour (nice to know that the wheat in the flour I bought comes from Kansas) and P got a recipe in German which meant that the measurements were different so we had an extra step using the scale to determine how many cups of flour to use. We made one call to our friends in Germany for a clarification and then plunged ahead. The recipe had one difference from other bread recipes I've seen in that you mixed the ingredients and then let it rise once (the recipe didn't say for how long) before kneading it. It turned out pretty well but wasn't the same as "broetchen".
I tried another recipe today and it was not good at all. Our next attempt will be to go back to the first recipe and try two types of flour.
Today was a respite from winter - up to 54 degrees. My new PIP calls for taking a walk every day that the temperature is above 38 and below 90, so I had a pleasant walk in the woods - the creek is still mainly ice.
Comments (2)
It was all of the ingredients which was what made it so strange - I'll try to remember to bring the Deutsch recipe next week and see what you think.
Posted by Cynthia | January 15, 2004 1:45 PM
Posted on January 15, 2004 13:45
Did you mix all the ingredients for to original rise or just some of the flour with water and a little yeast for a starter dough?
When you use all the ingredients, the dough rises until it doubles in size (usually 1-2 hours depending on temperature, barometric pressure, amount of yeast, etc., etc.) A starter dough (or poolish) often takes some twelve hours to rise (it starts with very little yeast) and gives the bread really good and complex flavor.
BTW, King Arthur Flour has greate baking resources on their website. You should check out their Yeast Bread Primer.
Posted by stepan | January 14, 2004 5:57 PM
Posted on January 14, 2004 17:57