One of the best things I find about Germany is her widest variety of bread. All sorts of forms, shapes, styles and tastes. Most German bread varieties are Mischbrote/mixed bread and two thirds contains rye flour. Rye flour is rather dark and usually blended with wheat to make a hardy rye bread loaf, which frequently baked with a wild yeast rather than commercial yeast. Rye is high in carbohydrates and provides small quantities of protein, potassium, and B vitamins. So it's very nutritious, healthy and delicious!
A very hot stone or brick oven is a necessity to bake the artisan bread.
The knife/razor blades I have bought from the supermarket is not the lamé, with which those professional French bakers use to slash the loaves before putting them into the hot oven, but with its snap-off blade, is perfect for the job.

1. Sprinkle yeast and sugar over warm water in a large mixing bowl. Stir it with a fork until foamy and set aside for 10 minutes. Add in rye and all-purpose flour. Stir at the low speed for about 1 minute. Tear off the old dough into smaller pieces and drop them in the bowl. increase the speed, stir and knead until the dough has become soft and elastic. Place the dough ball in a lightly greased bowl, cover and let rise for 35 minutes. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured board and knead in the salt until well-dispersed. Form the dough into a ball and return it to the bowl. Cover and let rise for 35 minutes.
   温水放入搅拌盆，洒入酵母和砂糖。用叉子拌化后静置10分钟。加入黑麦粉和中筋粉。低速搅拌约1分钟。老面撕小块加入搅拌盆，提速搅拌揉搓至面团柔软有弹性。放到一个抹了少许油脂的大盆里，盖上保鲜膜醒35分钟。取出面团放在洒了少许面粉的台面上，加入食盐慢慢揉匀。面团揉圆后放回盆里，盖上保鲜膜醒发35分钟。
   
2. Flatten the dough by pressing the air out, fold and round up into a ball. Cover and proof until doubled in bulk, about 45 minutes. Prepare a large baking tray lined with a parchment paper. Dust the paper with some rye flour. Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces. Flatten each small dough and shape each into an oval. Place them on the prepared tray. Cover with a kitchen towel and let rise until doubled.
   面团拍扁排出气体，将面团四折，揉圆后放回大盆，醒发45分钟至双倍大。准备一个大烤盘，铺上烤纸，洒些黑麦粉。将醒好的面团分割成12小块。每块面团拍扁排气揉成椭圆状。放入备好的烤盘，盖上餐布醒发至双倍大。
   
3. Place a shallow pan at the bottom of the oven. Preheat the oven to 210C/425F. Brush the tops of rolls with a little water. Slash the top with a razor blade. 5 minutes before baking the bread, pour one cup of hot water into the shallow pan. Close the door of the oven and let boil for 5 minutes to create steam. Bake the bread for 18 minutes until golden brown. Remove from oven and cool on the rack.
   烤箱底部放入一个浅盘，预热至210C/425F。在面团表面刷上少许水后，用刮胡刀片划痕。面包送入烤箱5分钟前，打开烤箱，往浅盘内倒入一杯热水，关闭烤箱门，让热水沸腾5分钟以产生蒸汽。面团入炉烘焙18分钟直到金黄。取出置于架上晾凉。

Salted Eggs are very popular in China and some other Asian countries. They are mainly boiled or steamed, and served with plain congee, or cooked with other ingredients. You can use both duck and chicken eggs, though the taste can be somewhat different, esp. the yolk....much less rich. The yolk is used as stuffing in Chinese moon-cakes to symbolize the moon.

1. Bath the eggs in a small bowl filled with rice wine. Coat each egg with a layer of sea salt and place them in a Ziploc bag and let stand in a cool place (not refrigerator) for about 3 weeks.
   用加饭酒给每个鸡蛋洗洗澡，然后滚上一层海盐。放到密保诺拉链式密实袋封紧。放在阴凉的地方（不要放在冰箱），等上大约3星期。
2. Remove eggs from salt bath and store them in the refrigerator if not ready to use immediately. Yolks should be a bright orange color and quite firm. The white should be slightly cloudy and still runny.
   腌制好了后的咸蛋，如果不全部用完，那么将盐滤掉后放到冰箱保存。腌制好的蛋黄应该是完全凝结了且颜色是很亮的桔黄色。蛋白液有点浑浊且呈流动性。

They are known in Germany as Brötchen, Semmeln, Broodje, Schrippen, Wecken or Rundstücke depending on the region. Brötchen can be found in small bakeries all over Germany. They have a crunchy crust and a soft interior.

• 280 g All-purpose flour
• 175 ml Warm water
• 3 g Active dry yeast
• 1 tsp Sugar
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 Egg white
• 2 tbsp Milk

1. In a small bowl, mix yeast, sugar, and 35 ml water. In a large mixing bowl pour into flour and form a well in the center. Pour the yeast mixture into the flour well but do not mix with the flour. Cover the mixing bowl and let stand for 10 minutes.
2. Add in remaining water and mix at the low speed for 2 minute. Sprinkle in salt and blend at low speed. Increase the speed and continue to knead the dough until smooth. Put dough in a lightly greased bowl and cover with a plastic wrap. Set aside for 45 minutes in a warm corner. Turn out the dough and lightly press to flatten out the large air bubbles. Fold four sides of the flatten dough over into the center. Round up and place the dough back in the bowl and 45 minutes later, repeat the folding. After folding, let the dough rise covered until doubled in the bowl.
3. Divide the dough into 6-9 equal portions and form into oval rolls. Place on a baking tray with parchment paper dusted with some flour. Cover with kitchen towel and let rise until doubled in volume, about 40 minutes. Preheat the oven to 220C/425F. In a small bowl, lightly beat the egg white with the milk to make the egg wash. Lightly brush the risen rolls with the egg wash. Just before baking, make a cross in top of each bun by snipping dough with scissors. Bake for about 18 minutes or until the tops are golden brown. Remove to a wire rack and cool.

Desserts are for sure not the type of food Chinese people eat on a daily basis. But this sweetened soup/thong sui is definitely very popular and very often served after meal as a dessert, or even in afternoon as a pick-me-up sweets.
Lotus seeds are made into paste used as a mooncakes filling, or stewed with chicken as kind of tonic soup. If you happen to have attended a Chinese wedding banquet, a sweetened soup prepared with red beans and lotus seeds will be served before everything else. Lotus Seeds( Lian Zi in Chinese language)symbolize the newlyweds being blessed with a child soon, and Red Beans (Hong Dou in Chinese language)stands for power and energy.

• 100 g Lotus seeds
  
• Pinch of baking soda
  
• 40 g Longan fruit, dried
  
• Some rock sugar

1. Put dried lotus seeds into a pot. Pour in enough tap water to cover the lotus seeds and add baking soda. Set aside for 2 to 3 hours. Drain, then wash thoroughly.
2. Add cleaned and soaked lotus seeds, together with dried longan and rock sugar in the electric pressure cooker. Close the lid and turn the knob to bean-cooking cycle to simmer about 18 minutes. Do not try taking the lid off until the pressure release completely. Serve hot or cold as desired.

Okara or soya pulp is the fiber remnant of soya milk or bean curd making. This high fiber and protein contained Okara
angiesrecipes has been just used to feed the pigs in China (well....at least some parts of China) or even worse, treated as waste. Its nutritious value starts attracting attention of consumers...well....not enough though....so here is another simple recipe for those who love bread......and of course okara too.

1. In mixing bowl, dissolve the sugar in warm water. Sprinkle in yeast and sit for 10 minutes. Add in flour, starter and egg. Stir until combined. Add in the rest of the ingredients, except 50 g of peanut butter, and knead at medium speed until a smooth, elastic and moist dough forms, about 5 minutes.
2. Shape the dough into a ball and place it in a well-oiled bowl, turning to coat completely on all sides with oil. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and set to rise in a draft-free warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1 to 1-1/2 hours.
   
3. Punch down dough. Turn out onto lightly floured surface and shape into a smooth ball. Cover and et rest for 10 minutes. Flatten to remove air bubbles. Roll into rectangles about 2cm thick. Spread 50 grams of peanut butter over the dough. Fold the bottom third of the rectangle up toward the centre, and the top third down to make a neat square. give the square a quarter turn to the left. Roll out the dough into a long rectangle. Again fold into thirds. Turn again and roll out into a 14x8-inch rectangle.
   
4. Now roll into a log and seal the ends. Slice the roll into 14 equal pieces and place one in each greased muffin tin or paper muffin cup. Cover and let rise 45 minutes until doubled. Brush the top with whole egg wash and bake in a preheated 180C/350F oven for about 20 minutes until golden. Remove and cool on rack.

1. Add dough ingredients A and B in a mixing bowl. Mix with dough hook at slow speed for 1 minute. Change to the medium speed, and continue mixing for 3 minutes until dough is formed. Add butter gradually and mix for approx. 5 minutes on medium speed until gluten is fully developed, i. e. elastic, smooth, non-sticky and leave from sides of mixing bowl.
   
2. Ferment the dough in a lightly greased plastic bag for 1 hour, leave in a warm place until dough is double in volume. Punch the dough down to release gases produced in the fermenting process. Divide dough into 9 portions, each 60 grams, and round up. Let stand for 10 minutes at the room temperature.
   
3. Press down each small dough to release gas. Using your hands, gently roll and form each into a narrow loaf, similar to olive, about 20-25 centimeters long. Let rise for about 40-60 minutes.
   
4. After rising, brush the dough with egg wash and sprinkle with some Gouda shreds. Bake in a preheated 175C/350F oven for about 15 minutes. Taking out and sprinkle with parsley and paprika powder.

Inspiration: Dan Lepard (the handmade loaf), and Baker's Manual

Sourdough breads take advantage of the unique tangy flavors produced by “wild” yeast and bacteria. Once you get to understand your own sourdough starter, the results would just get better and better....hmmm...that chewy, tangy, crusty....sourdough bread.

1. Put the starter, bread flour, half of AP flour, and one cup of water into a large bowl of mixer attached with dough hook. Mix well and let proof 2 hours at room temperature in a covered plastic container. Then transfer it into the refrigerator to ferment overnight.
2. Next morning you take the dough out and return it to the mixer. Add in salt, remaining water and flour, one fourth at a time, until you have a smooth dough ball. Put the dough in a large bowl covered tightly with plastic wrap and a damp cloth to follow. Let rise in a warm place for 3 hours until doubled in volume.
3. Scrape the dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Divide the dough into three or four pieces. Shape each into a ball and let the dough rest, covered with plastic wrap, for 30 minutes. Form each of dough ball into an oval and place them on the prepared tray lined with a linen cloth or baking paper dusted with flour. Sprinkle the loaves with flour and cover them loosely with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel. Let rise for 45-60 minutes.
   
4. Place a small pan for water on the bottom shelf of the oven and preheat the oven with baking stone. (I placed a layer of bricks at the bottom of my old oven. It works very well. If you need bake more bread, just place one more layer of bricks on a baking tray. ) to 220C/425F. Make a couple of slashes on the top of each dough. Five minutes before baking, pour 1 cup of hot water in the pan to form steam and provide a moist environment for the bread. Place the dough on a baking tray, brush with some water and bake for about 35-40 minutes on the middle shelf of the hot oven until golden brown, about 25 minutes. Remove the rolls from the oven and cool on a rack for at least 2 hours before slicing.

A Tangzhong starter / Water roux starter is a mixture of flour and water. That is to combine together one portion of bread flour and five portions of water by weight in a pot. Heat up the mixture to bring out the gelatinization of starch in flour. What makes the bread baked with this kind of starter difference is Starch Gelatinization, which helps to engage more water, namely more water will be absorbed, to provide a characteristic softer, more elastic-textured bread. Moreover, the bread will have long-lasting freshness.

• 50 g Bread flour
• 250 ml Water

1. In a bowl, whisk together the water and the flour until the mixture is well blended and lump free. Stir the mixture while it cooks over the medium heat to reach 65C/150F. It takes about 2-3 minutes.
2. Remove from heat and cover loosely with plastic wrap to prevent from drying. Store the starter in the refrigerator after after completely cooling down. To use the starter, measure out the amount called for in a recipe and let it warm to room temperature. Unlike sourdough starter, this special Tangzhong starter doesn't improve its flavour with age. So it's preferably to use up in 3 days.

Autumn. Some call it Fall. It is the one that many people enjoy very much. Pavements covered with brightly-coloured fall leaves, varieties of nuts, chill in the air, Halloween, seasonal moodiness, and the days get shorter....Still nothing express AUTUMN better and more than a piece of delicious spiced pumpkin pie in the afternoon.

1. Sift the flour, salt and sugar into a bowl. Add the butter. Rub into the flour with a fork until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. Add in ice water to the flour mixture and gently mixing dough after each addition until dough forms a ball. Wrap the ball of dough with greaseproof wrapper and chill it for 30 minutes.
   
2. Take out the dough and place it between 2 baking paper and roll out to a circle about 3mm thick. Place it onto a 9-inch heart-shaped baking tin, draping it gently. With the fingertips, ease the dough into the tin, gently pressing it smoothly over the bottom without stretching it. Trim the excess.
   
3. Prick the bottom of the pastry case all over with a fork. Return to the fridge for anther 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F.
   
   
4. Lay a baking paper or tin foil on the pastry case and put enough dried beans to cover the bottom thickly. Bake the case in a preheated oven 180/350F for 18 minutes, remove the paper or foil and beans. Prick the bottom again with a fork. Return to the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes. (Bake custard and cream filling can make pastry soggy, so the cases for these tarts are often given an initial baking before the filling is added. Such prebaking is referred to as baking blind. The purpose of using weights is to prevent the bottom of the pastry case from rising too much and becoming distorted, thus keeping its neat shape.)
   
5. Mix all the ingredients, except nuts, for the filling until all well-combined and pour into pie crust. Then sprinkle the top with pine nuts. Bake in a preheated 180C/350F oven for 45 minutes.