German Bread
The Germans are very proud of their baking culture. The word Brot
translates to mean 'bread', pain, pane, hleb and so on, but, more
than any other word ever translated, it conjures up a completely
different concept in the mind's eye of the reader, depending on
the culture they've come from:
- The
French picture a flute.
- The
British, a white tin or bloomer.
- The
Italians, the somewhat more substantial ciabatta.
- In
India, you have flat loaves, baked using ground lentils.
- In
Turkey or Iran you'll find a flat loaf more like a deep pan
pizza base.
- The
ancient Romans wound a very simple flour and water dough round
a stick and baked it over a fire to be eaten the next day.
- And
the German visualises a very heavy, very strong-tasting rye-based
loaf of very dark, very densely textured bread. It seems that
in Germany bread is a foodstuff, whereas everywhere else in
Western Europe, the Near, Middle and some parts of the Far East
(not to mention the American version, which defies description)
it is either a necessity, an instrument for eating dishes with
a high liquid content or just there so you don't have to spread
your jam on your fingers.
There
is a great choice of bread for all tastes and pockets available
in Germany. As mentioned above, the main ingredient is usually
rye flour. This gives a sour, strong taste, which is down to the
ingredients and the technique used to cook it, which is not like
the yeast-and-wheat-flour method known elsewhere. The denseness
is due to the fact that the heavy flour does not rise so readily.
The
base is a Sauerteig (sour dough). This is made by mixing rye flour
and water and leaving it to stand for almost a week. The bacteria
that form (if you're lucky) create the sour-tasting catalyst,
which causes the bread to rise. For a recipe and more information
about the Danish version of this check out Danish Rye Bread.
Housewives
who make bread will have a continuous culture going and will share
it among friends in the neighbourhood. As the dark, heavy German
bread keeps for up to a week, baking need only be done on Saturdays. |
