Is the world still okay at seven in the morning? Not with me. Although I have a choice of two bakeries and a self-service bakery just a five-minute walk away, I’m not really happy. Almost all of the rolls on offer taste the same, have risen lightly and become chewy and sticky after a short time.
Quite different in Stade near Hamburg. There, the scent of freshly baked bread wafts through Harsefelder Strasse early in the morning. Watched by an eight-year-old boy, who stops in amazement on the way to school, master confectioner Wolfgang Heyderich takes the second sheet of fresh bread out of the red brick wood-fired oven. It’s right outside the shop and conveys a feeling of “baking like it used to be”.
You can find out more about baking bread yourself on the following pages.
Table of Contents
Without propellants and additives
In addition to the succulent bread from the wood-fired oven, it is the rolls in the Heyderich bakery that are enthusiastically praised by customers. “They are so wonderfully crispy,” enthuses one buyer. For the past two years, Heyderich has been working strictly according to the rules of ” Slow Baking ” – an association based in Oldenburg, which now has 390 members nationwide.
Since then, the 43-year-old blond man with rimless glasses has dispensed with artificial blowing agents and additives, stabilizers and emulsifiers.
Instead, he relies exclusively on natural ingredients , long, gentle rising of the dough and traditional baking methods. “It was the Sunday rolls that made us rethink,” he says. The journeymen should have been in the bakery on Saturday night to make these rolls. To save them that, the dough was prepared in advance and kept in the fridge until Sunday morning. The fermentation takes place very slowly over a good 16 hours. “Our customers suddenly asked us why the Sunday rolls tasted so delicious,” Heyderich recalls. That they from the preparation of the dough to the bakingneeding about 48 hours instead of the 120 minutes that are usual today is now a matter of course for all employees. And customers are happy to pay 30 cents for each of these rolls, which stay fresh and crispy for so long, instead of the usual 17 cents in supermarkets.
Only natural raw materials
Today, Heyderich manufactures all of its products according to the principles of “slow baking”. Its shop window is adorned with a small snail, the symbol of the association founded in 2003. Since October last year, “Slow Baking” has wanted to use this logo to show its closeness to the “Slow Food” movement. The snail stands for deceleration, for more quality of life: for baked goods that have time to mature without any additives and thus meet today’s desire for naturalness. That is not a matter of course. For 40 years, more and more quick ready mixes have been used.
Not only do they dilute the many fine differences in the baked goods, but manual skills are no longer in demand. “We want to protect the core of the manual work without neglecting modern technology – and with a lot of time for the product,” explains Ingo Rasche, chairman of “Slow Baking”.
Heyderich also needed time to convert his business . Since he had just modernized his computer-controlled bakery, there were no additional investment costs. But it took some effort before he convinced his 26 employees of the new concept. Apprentices and journeymen learned traditional techniques that they did not know before. Some rethinking was also required from customers. Larger amounts of butter cake e.g. B. must be ordered two days in advance – after all, the dough needs twelve hours to rise. “Otherwise it tastes like nothing,” says Heyderich. “First of all, it is a great effort to change the recipes. But once it’s up and running, it’s no longer a problem,” he sums up. And it’s not more expensive than before.
No dough pieces from abroad
There are currently around 17,000 bakeries nationwide. A good seven years ago it was 40,000. Supermarkets, discounters and petrol stations are increasingly offering their own baked goods. Even if they work with industrial products that were often prefabricated in low-wage countries, they are a competitor for the bakery trade. The “Slow Baking” association was founded in order to stand out from the idea of maintaining jobs in the trades and placing traditional companies in a positive light.
The certified companies are based on the 30-page “Slow Baking” manual. All principles and work processes are formulated here in detail.
For example, it is stipulated that the “slow baking” baker is not concerned with maximum volume when it comes to rolls, but rather with flavor through ripening and a long-lasting crispy crust. Sourdough must always be fresh. Convenience products for the production of creams are forbidden – only natural, fresh ingredients such as milk, eggs and butter go into the bee sting. Customers should “experience” bread “Slow Baking” differentiates among its members between companies that belong to the association and want to have their products certified, bakers who already sell some “Slow Baking” baked goods, and bakeries that are completely in accordance with the guidelines of the bake club. There are currently 12 fully certified companies in Germany.
4 other bakeries and confectioneries have only had their products certified.
With a total of 390 members, these are – still – small numbers. However, Rasche is confident: “We want to motivate even more bakers to dig out their old recipes and come to ‘Slow Baking’. We want to get customers excited about our idea through targeted campaigns.” That means: In addition to regular “Slow Baking” seminars for bakers, there should be public tastings and taste training. “We want to get people into the bakeries so that they can taste again that smaller rolls are better than those pumped up with emulsifiers. They should experience bread,” explains Rasche. Just like in the Heyderich bakery, where the smell of fresh bread from the wood-fired oven inspires your senses for crispy rolls in the morning.
mixed rye bread
For the sourdough starter:
150 g wholemeal rye flour
Also for 2 loaves of bread of approx. 700 grams each:
200 g sourdough starter
700 g wholemeal rye flour
300 g whole wheat flour
20 grams of salt
20 grams of yeast
Rye flour and potato starch for processing
1. Mix 50 g flour with 100 ml lukewarm water. Leave uncovered for 48 hours at about 24 degrees room temperature.
2. Mix 50 g of this sourdough starter with 50 g flour and 100 ml lukewarm water, leave to stand for another 24 hours in a fresh bowl at 24 degrees.
3. Repeat the process with 150 g starter, 50 g flour and 50 ml lukewarm water, leave to rest for 24 hours.
4. Knead the sourdough starter with 300 g rye flour and 300 ml lukewarm water (approx. 28 degrees). Leave uncovered or slightly covered for 18 hours at room temperature. Weigh out 500 g, keep the rest of the dough (approx. 200 g) in a jar in the fridge for the next time you bake .
5. Gradually knead the sourdough, the remaining rye and wheat flour, salt and crumbled yeast in the food processor for 6 minutes, adding 450 ml of lukewarm water. The dough should be elastic and separate cleanly from the bowl (otherwise add more water or flour).
6. Cover and let the dough rest on a little flour for 15 minutes. Then cut in half and knead into two round loaves, placing in bowls (or breadbaskets) dusted with starch, with the remaining crease (bakers call it the “end”) facing up. Leave for about 50 minutes.
7. Place the loaves with the fold down on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Place on the 2nd shelf from the bottom in the preheated oven (250 degrees), pour a glass of water on the bottom of the oven and quickly close the door. Bake for 2 minutes, then hold the door slightly ajar with a wooden spoon and bake for another 5 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 200 degrees and bake the bread for about 45 minutes. If the crust gets too dark: cover with aluminum foil. The loaves are done when they sound hollow when tapped on the bottom. Let cool down.
Pumpkin Seed Country Bread
For a loaf of about 1.5 kg:
700 grams of rye flour
150 g pumpkin seeds
200 g whole wheat flour
3 TL Jodsalz
1. For the sourdough starter, mix 100 g rye flour with 100 ml lukewarm water in a bowl. Cover with a towel and place in a plastic bag. Leave in a warm place at room temperature for about 24 hours. Mix the mixture with another 100 g rye flour and 100 ml lukewarm water. Let rise again for 24 hours.
2. Stir another 200 g rye flour and 200 ml lukewarm water into the sourdough starter. And let it rise again for 24 hours. The sourdough is ripe when it smells sour and has small bubbles. Soak pumpkin seeds in hot water. Leave overnight. Sift the wheat and remaining rye flour into a mixing bowl. Add salt, two thirds of the pumpkin seeds and sourdough. (For a small loaf, halve the sourdough, chill the rest of the dough; see tip.) Knead briefly with the hand mixer (dough hook) on the lowest setting, then on the highest setting to form a smooth dough. If the dough is very stiff or difficult to knead, add a little lukewarm water. Knead the finished dough again briefly on a floured work surface.
3. Cover the dough and place in the mixing bowl in a warm place. Let rise about 2 1/2 hours – the dough should double in size. Because the “rising” depends on the heat, type of flour, and strength of the sourdough, it can take up to several hours. Shape the dough into a loaf without kneading. Place on a greased or parchment-lined baking sheet. Cut the top of the dough. Scatter the rest of the pumpkin seeds on top and press in slightly. Let the loaf rise again for about 1/2 hour.
4. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees (convection: 180 / gas: level 3). Place the tray on the middle rail. Pour 1 cup of water into the oven, close the door immediately. Bake about 60 minutes. Take the bread out of the oven with a towel and tap the bottom. If it sounds hollow, the bread is done. Let cool and cut (see step 4).
Storage pack tip
: So that you don’t have to keep making new sourdough, you can take a piece of the ripe sourdough and store it in the fridge for up to four weeks. From time to time “feed” the dough with a little flour.
Approx. 3 hours 2 (plus 3 days for the sourdough starter) – per slice: approx. 186 kcal – E 5 g, F 4 g, KH 32 g – Cholesterol: approx. 0 mg
Bread with fruits
Ingredients:
- 3 Eggs
- 125 grams of sugar
- 1 packet of vanilla sugar
- 0.5 tsp cinnamon
- 60g chopped almonds
- 250 grams of raisins
- 125 g chopped hazelnuts
- 2 figs
- some flour
- 1 teaspoon Baking powder
Preparation:
- Beat eggs until fluffy.
- Quarter the figs.
- Mix all the ingredients together until you get a smooth dough.
- Bake fruit bread in a loaf pan or simply shaped into a loaf at 200°C for approx. 50 minutes
