Cheese rolls

A Saturday night “kinda thing”, if you ask me – flavored white rolls with cheese. Of course using my favorite formula for baguette dough, which has a levain added to it. It makes the dough come alive and produce bread of the highest caliber. If I only could get my shaping skills under control…

Cheese rolls (makes 4 a 120g)

• 250g strong white flour
• 50g white leaven, hydration: 100%
• 175g warm water
• 2.5g fresh yeast
• 5g sea salt
• 125g cheese, cut into 1cm-cubes (Emmentaler or a similar firm yellowish cheese, I’ve used a cheese sold here as “Bergkäse” (“mountain cheese”)
• 1/2 tsp sweet paprika
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/3 tsp cayenne pepper

Mix to a smooth dough without the cheese, then add the cheese and fold in. Prove for 60 minutes, then cut into four pieces and shape oblong. Prove for 60-90 minutes until light. Bake at 240°C for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 220°C and bake for further 7-10 minutes.

Mein Haferbatzen

Bread recipes are puzzles. The image of the finished loaf leads to an avalanche of possible ingredients, techniques and ideas. Why is it, that my thinking is off so often? When venturing into creating new recipes, the breads are quite different to how they were intended.

“Oh, but I already added quite a bit of very coarse meal. Still, the texture is too fine.”
“In the book this recipe read like Dick & Jane, but the outcome is sensational.”
“In the book this recipe looked very imposing and elegant, yet it’s a doorstopper.”
“Hm. I stretched and folded twice and used a wet dough. Still, this baguette does not have an open crumb like I had hoped.”
“What the…!! These baguette rolls were made in less than 2 hours and they are exceptional.”

However in this case, I am very happy, not only because this loaf tastes good but because it came out according to plan. “Batzen” is a German word for “big chunk”, pronounced something like “budsen”.

Rye meal sourdough

• 135 medium rye meal
• 135g warm water
• 5g mature rye sourdough, hydration: 100%

Mix and let stand covered for 16-24 hours at room temperature.

Soaker

• 100g very coarse rye meal or cracked rye
• 50g rolled oats
• 9g sea salt
• 200g hot tap water

Mix and let stand covered for at least 6 hours.

Dough

• Rye meal sourdough
• Soaker
• 200g whole-rye flour
• 65g strong white flour
• 75g-125g warm water to make a sticky dough
• 6g sugar beet syrup
• 4g fresh yeast
• soft (porridge) rolled oats for coating the loaf

Mix to a soft and sticky dough at slow speed for 10 minutes. Prove for 45 minutes, then mix again on slow speed for 5 minutes.

Sprinkle the dough with the soft oats, wet your hands and take dough out of the dough and let it drop into the baking frame or bread tin. If you want to make a free-standing loaf, make it a firm dough, otherwise it spreads too much. Sprinkle additional soft oats on top.

Bake at 260°C for 5 minutes, then reduce heat to 200°C and bake for further 65-75 minutes. Let cool completely and give it a rest for about 12 hours before cutting into it.

Vollkornbrot reloaded

Loaded with seeds this time – another Vollkornbrot. German bread like this one is sometimes referred to as “dense bread” because it does not have large holes. And yes, if only finely milled flour was used a bread with the texture of Vollkornbrot would not only be dense but almost hard to eat because it would fill you quickly with cooked flour that would probably expand in the stomach.

The idea of German whole-grain baking is different: A good amount (sometimes 100%) of the flour is replaced with something that is not flour like meal or grains, giving a soft and flavorful bite. The term “close-textured” would be fitting. Not that there is anything wrong with dense bread either of course and if you enjoy it, fine. I do – the 70/30 rye bread from a former post is dense. But Vollkornbrot like many other German breads is an effort of not having to eat dense bread.

I can easily have three thick slices of it and still have room for the breakfast egg or a somewhat lighter toast.

Vollkornbrot with increased whole-grain and seeds (1 medium loaf)

Soaker

• 100g rye meal, coarse
• 100g linseeds
• 50g sunflower or sesame seeds
• 250g water, cool

Mix ingredients and let stand covered in a cool place for at least 6 hours

Stiff rye sourdough

• 150g whole-rye flour
• 100g warm water
• 20g mature rye sourdough, hydration: 100%

Mix ingredients and let stand covered 18-24 in a warm place.

Dough

• 50g strong white flour (Type 550)
• 50g whole-rye flour
• 11g sea salt
• 10g sugar beet syrup
• 7g fresh yeast
• Approx. 50-100g warm water to make a sticky dough
• Soaker
• Stiff rye sourdough

Desired dough temperature: 30°C

Hand-mixing: Mix all ingredients with a strong fork for 30 seconds every 2 minutes for 20 minutes in total. The dough should be sticky but not excessively wet.
1st rise: 1 hour at 26°C
After the 1st rise, mix twice for 30 seconds with a 2-minute-rest in between.
Shape oblong or round and prove in a medium-sized baking pan or a square baking frame (I’ve used my wooden baking frame).
Bake at 240°C for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 190°C and bake for further 70 minutes.