Brötchen (German word for small bread) is a staple food in Germany. It's basically a smaller bread with a crunch crust and a perfectly dense, chewy, soft crumb. If you haven't yet tasted a traditional German Brötchen, you're missing out!
Depending which part of Germany you are from, these small bread rolls are known by various names: Brötchen (in northern and central Germany), Schrippe (in Berlin), Weck (in southwest Germany), and Semmel (in Bavaria). It’s claimed that there are over a thousand different varieties of these little German buns throughout the different regions of Germany. Mine is made with a mix of wheat and rye. The wholemeal rye flour provides a hearty, aromatic taste, tender, moist crumb and a crispy crust. If you want a 100% wheat Brötchen, try this one.
You can enjoy these rolls for breakfast with butter, jam, cheese, or deli slices, or as a dinner roll to sop up extra sauce or gravy. These Roggenbrötchen taste best fresh the same day they are made, but if you have leftovers, just spray them lightly with water and place in a 200C/400F oven for a few minutes and the crust will be crispy again.

Roggenbrötchen / Rye Rolls inspired and adapted from here and here

150 g Organic wholemeal rye flour 250 g Organic white bread flour (all purpose flour) 10 g Fresh yeast 1 tbsp Sugar beet syrup 280 ml Water, lukewarm 1 tbsp Olive oil 1/2 tsp Salt 1/4 tsp Caraway powder 1/4 tsp Anise powder 1/4 tsp Coriander powder

1. Mix whole rye flour and bread flour in a bowl. Make a well in the flour and crumble the yeast into it. Add sugar beet syrup and mix with some of the water in the well to make a paste. Cover and let sit for 30 minutes.
2. Add the rest of the water, olive oil, salt and spices, knead everything to form a firm dough. Cover the dough and let it rise for another 45 minutes.
3. Divide the dough into 6 even-sized portions. Shape each portion of dough into an oval roll and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let them rest for 30 minutes.
4. Preheat the oven to 230C/450F with an ovenproof bowl of water. Dust the buns with a little flour and cut each roll lengthwise with a sharp knife.
5. Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes. Briefly open the oven door for 3-4 seconds to let the steam escape so that the crust will be even crispier.
6. Reduce heat to 200C/400F and bake until golden brown, about 10-12 minutes. Remove from the tray and allow to cool on a wire rack.

I am sending this to Food Wednesdays at Kathy's blog-Hummingbird Studio at the Lake.

Unlike the green variety, white asparagus must be peeled before cooking and the woody base should also be removed as it is too stringy and hard to chew. Peel and boil the white asparagus for this simple and yummy recipe, then serve those “White Gold” with an easy blender Hollandaise spiked with sriracha sauce. If you are in a hurry, simply serve them with melted butter.
Hollandaise sauce, one of the 5 French mother sauces (Béchamel, Velouté, Espagnole, Hollandaise, and Tomato), is an emulsion of egg yolk, melted butter, and lemon juice. Despite having “Holland” in its name, Hollandaise sauce was first born in France and was originally known as Sauce Isigny, named after Isigny-sur-Mer, a small town in Normandy famous for its butter and cream. When Normandy’s dairy production was shut down during World War I, the sauce was renamed “Hollandaise” to reflect the usage of imported Dutch butter.

	Sriracha Hollandaise
1 kg White asparagus, washed and A large pinch of salt A large pinch of sugar 1 tsp Butter 1 tbsp Parsley, chopped, for garnish 1 Small chilli pepper, cut into rings or chilli flakes, for garnish 1 Large heirloom tomato, thinly sliced, optional	113 g / 1 stick Butter 3 Large egg yolks 2 tbsp Lemon juice, freshly squeezed 1/3 tsp Cayenne pepper Sea salt to taste 2-3 tbsp Sriracha (or other chilli sauce, like Harissa or sambal oelek)

1. Bring a stockpot of water to a boil, add the salt, the sugar and the butter. Meanwhile peel the white asparagus and cut off the woody bottom ends.
2. Place the peeled white asparagus in the boiling water and cook for 12-15 minutes until al dente. Melt the butter over a low flame until it begins to bubble. Remove from heat.
3. In a wide mouth mason jar, add egg yolks, lemon juice, cayenne pepper and sea salt. Blend the ingredients with your immersion blender while slowly adding the melted butter, a couple of tablespoons at a time, to the jar. Blend as you gradually add in butter, moving the immersion blender up and down. The sauce should thicken in just a minute or two.
4. Season the Hollandaise with sriracha or your favourite chilli sauce. Whisk until combined. Taste and add more sriracha if desired for more heat.
5. Drain the white asparagus and arrange on plates with spicy Hollandaise sauce on a bed of thinly sliced heirloom tomatoes if using, and garnish with chopped parsley and chilli rings.

One of the great pleasures of living in Europe is the wide array of breads in various forms, tastes, textures and colours available. Healthy rye bread is gaining popularity because of its wholesomeness, high nutritional value and may be more beneficial in weight loss than wheat. Breads made with rye flour have a longer shelf life and taste fresh longer than breads made with wheat flours. It is also often combined with other flours because of its low protein / gluten content.
Many so-called rye breads are actually a mixture of rye and wheat, or some other grain that’s easier to work with. Rye bread in Germany, according to the law, must be made with no less than 90% rye. Any bread with a lower percentage of rye flour is called Mischbrot, either Roggenmischbrot / mixed rye bread or Weizenmischbrot / mixed wheat bread.
Rye flour is darker than wheat flour and it has higher amounts of vitamins B and E. Earthy, tangy rye bread is often made with additions like honey, malt syrup, or cocoa powder, which add colour, aroma and flavour. Very often bread seasoning / bread spice / Brotgewürz, like caraway, dill, fennel, anis, coriander, or cardamom, is added to the dough according to personal or regional preference, and they make the bread particularly tasty, aromatic and also aid digestion.
While you can make bread with 100% rye, which is difficult to work or knead and the crumb tends to be denser, heavier and tighter, though taste more distinctly of rye, very digestible and nutritious if made as a sourdough. That means it needs a lot of help if you aim to get a fluffy, airy product. One of commen practices is the addition of some wheat flour. Wheat flour can be added in any ratio that suits your taste and liking to help form a better gluten structure and get a good rise but still keeps good rye flavour and aroma.
Light and soft inside with a very crunchy crust, this bread is a great choice for corned beef, roast beef, or pastrami sandwiches slathered with grainy mustard and topped with cheese. It freezes very well too. Wrap it in plastic wrap and aluminum foil, then store in a freezer bag for up to three months. Thaw at room temperature and reheat in the oven if desired.

Rye Mix Bread with Honey

inspired by Roggen-Krustenbrot mit Honig

300 g Dark rye flour (German #1150) 200 g All-purpose flour (German #550) 60 g Rye sourdough 40 g Liquid honey 15 g Fresh yeast 280 - 310 ml Lukewarm water 10 g Salt

1. In the mixing bowl of your table mixer fixed with a dough hook, add rye flour, bread flour, sourdough, honey, and fresh yeast. Mix at slow speed while you slowly add in water until the ingredients roughly come together. Increase the speed to medium and stir for 5 minutes. Now add in salt and continue to mix for a further 2 minutes until the a firm dough forms.
2. Turn out onto a work surface and shape into a ball. Grease the mixing bowl with a bit of olive oil and return the dough ball to the bowl. Cover with a plastic wrap and let it rise in a warm, moist environment until double in volume.
3. Fold the edges of the dough inwards several times and let the dough rise again for 1 hour.
4. Lightly flour your work surface and gently shape the dough into an oval batard or round ball. Place the shaped dough into a well floured bread basket with the seam sides up. Cover the dough with a slightly moist kitchen towel and let rise for about an hour.
5. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 240C/470F with a pizza stone on the 2nd bottom rack and a baking tray at the bottom.
6. Turn the puffy dough onto a floured parchment paper or the floured back of a baking sheet. Use a sharp knife, razor blade, or bread lame to score a couple of lines across the dough. (here is a scoring tutorial just in case you are interested) Place the dough onto the pizza stone and throw a few ice cubes into the baking tray at the bottom to generate some steam.
7. Close the oven door immediately and bake the bread for about 15 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 210C/410F and bake for 30-35 more minutes until the bread crust is deep golden brown. Remove and cool the bread on a wire rack.

Mischbrot made with 60% Dark Rye

Experience the flavor and texture of German farmer's bread like fresh from the German bakery! Dense yet tender, chewy, crusty, packed with nutrition and full of flavour, this Germany's most popular wheat-rye mixed bread (Weizenmischbrot or Graubrot) is wonderful served right out of the oven with your choice of butter, jam, Nutella, cheese, or cold cuts.
Traditionallly this bread is made with a rye sourdough starter, which gives the bread a very light and pleasant sour taste. But it takes time plus, not all the home bakers have a sourdough starter. This hearty mixed wheat bread recipe is the easiest one that you can bake at home and still produces the typical taste, aroma and texture of Bauernbrot with the addition of Backmalz or dry malt powder in English. Dry malt powder help promote a strong rise, enhance the crust browning and adding a mild natural malt flavour. I have read that maca powder is a good substitution for dry malt powder. But I haven't tried it. You can also use malt extract too and the best substitute of malt extract is sugar beet syrup (Zuckerrübensirup). Both dry malt powder and sugar beet syrup can be easily found on amazon.
You can also vary the proportions of rye to wheat flour according to your preference. Just keep in mind that wheat contains more gluten than rye, and therefore wheat dough tends to rise more than rye dough. As a result, bread made with a higher ratio of wheat is usually fluffier, and a with higher ratio of rye more compact. In Germany, rye mix bread (Roggenmischbrot) is usually made with at least 50% but less than 90% rye. Experiment with ratios and find out what you enjoy the most.

Frikadellen, aka “Fleischklops”, “Fleischpflanzerl” or “Buletten” – it depends on the region, are German meat patties, typically made with ground beef, pork, or a mixture of two, and shaped into slightly flattened ovals. Traditionally Frikadellen are fried in lard or tallow, but today they are commonly fried in ghee (Butterschmalz) or oil. In Germany Frikadellen are typically served with a potato salad, potato dumplings (Kartoffelknödel) or pommes frites. They are delicious warm or cold, can be made in advance and freeze well. Bacon gives the meat patties an extra burst of smoky flavour and adds juiciness, but not overly greasy.

1 Small onion, chopped 2 Garlic cloves, minced 2 tbsp Flat parsley, chopped 35 g Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated 700 g Minced beef 1 Large egg 30 g Keto beadcrumbs 1/2 tsp Dried thyme 1/2 tsp Dried oregano 1/2 tsp Salt 1/2 tsp Black pepper powder 12-14 slice Bacon, cut in half crosswise

1. Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Line a rimmed baking pan with aluminum foil or parchment paper so that cleanup is easier.
2. Peel and finely mince the onion and garlic. Finely chop the flat parsley. Grate the cheese.
3. In a bowl, add minced beef, egg, keto breadcrumbs, chopped onion, garlic, parsley, grated cheese, dried herbs, salt and pepper. Mix everything together until combined. Form the mixture into 12-14 Frikadellen, each about 5-6cm in diameter.
4. Wrap half a bacon slice around a frikadelle, turn around 45 degrees and wrap a second half-slice of bacon around the frikadelle, so the meat is enclosed by bacon. Repeat with the remaining. Place them onto the prepared baking pan with seam sides down.
5. Bake in the preheated oven until meatballs are no longer pink inside and bacon is crisp, 40- 45 minutes. Serve with your favourite dipping sauce and a side salad.

These pretzel breadsticks are warm, crusty with a satisfyingly chewy, soft center, just as traditional knotty pretzels, but easier to make and enjoy. Best served hot from the oven with cheese sauce or mustard if desired. We love it with extra butter.
The dough of soft pretzel is a rather simple yeast dough that can be made in an hour. The fun and tricky part is to dip the pretzels in a lye bath (In German this mixture is called Natronlauge) before baking, which gives the pretzels their typical caramel aroma, unique deep brown yet shiny colour and chewy texture. For a crunchy and aromatic crust, just like the one you usually find in the bakeries in Germany, you will have to use Natriumhydroxid (NaOH) instead of regular baking soda (NaHCO3). Natriumhydroxid (NaOH), also known as lye or caustic soda, can be dangerous if misused. So do wear eye protection and rubber gloves if you want to make lye solution for the pretzels. One much easier and safer solution is to use baked baking soda. Simply place baking soda on aluminum lined baking tray and bake for an hour at 120C/245F. When baking soda/sodium hydrogen carbonate/NaHCO3 is heated, it becomes the more concentrated sodium carbonate/soda/Na2CO3, which ensures a darker lye colour when dissolved in water, and better taste than baking soda could.

115 ml Water, lukewarm 115 ml Milk, lukewarm 18 g Fresh yeast (or 9 g active dry yeast) 15 g Barley malt extract 20 g Butter, melted 5 g Sea salt 430 g All-purpose flour

1l Water 50 g Baked baking soda Coarse sea salt

1. In the bowl of your mixer, add in warm water and milk. Crumble in the fresh yeast and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. Add in barley malt extract, melted butter, sea salt and flour. Mix on slow speed until the mixture just roughly come together, about 5 minutes. Increase the speed and knead until the dough has become smooth and elastic, 4-6 minutes. Turn out the dough on a work surface and shape into a round. Return the dough to the bowl and cover with a clean kitchen towel. Let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 30-40 minutes.
2. Preheat the oven to 120C/245F. Place baking soda on aluminum foil-lined baking tray and bake for an hour.
3. Punch dough down and divide into 6 even portions. Press one piece of dough into a rough rectangle and roll into a 20cm log. Pinch ends and center seam well to seal. Place it, seam side down, on a baking tray lined with permanent baking foil or parchment paper. Repeat with the rest. Cover the dough and proof until puffed, about 30 minutes.
4. Place 1 liter water in a large skillet and bring it to a simmer. Turn the heat off and add in hot baking soda. Stir until dissolved.
5. Preheat the oven to 220C/430F. Carefully transfer 1 pretzel stick at a time to the baking soda water and let soak for 5-7 seconds, then return them to the baking tray.
6. Sprinkle with coarse salt. Cut 3 diagonal slashes across the top with a sharp knife or a razor blade. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until pretzels are toasty brown and crispy.