Moving

I am in the middle of moving to new apartment, so I have my baking/sausage making kit spread between 2 places.....Ill be back in May.

Kürbiskernbrot (Pumpkin Seed Bread)

So not to entirely ignore the German speaking, Schnitzel making, former Hapsburg ruled country of both my parents birth, I am going to make an Austrian style pumpkin seed bread. Austrian food has a lot in common with German food, but is also influenced by Hungarian and Slavic cooking, remnants of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. This being said I think Austrian bread can claim a unique place in gastronomy because of its use (in its slightly stale form) in the creation of every Austrians favorite comfort food.....the dumpling or Knödel. Dumplings however are not what inspired this particular bread, rather it was my father's search for/stubborn insistence that pumpkin seed oil should be cheap, easily found and plentiful here in Montreal, just as it is in his native Austria. Its not. I've looked. You can find it, but it is pretty pricey and can usually be found in a health food store or your local Hungarian/German butcher (??!!!!). So as ode to the elusive (affordable) pumpkin seed oil in Montreal, I propose this Kürbiskernbrot.


Pumpkin Bread Tunes: ACDC, Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (1976)


Kürbiskernbrot Recipe:


-2 1/2 tsp. Dry Active Yeast
-1 cup Lukewarm Water
-3 tbs. Honey
-1/2 tbs. Pumpkin Seed Oil or Olive Oil
-1 1/3 cup Unbleached Bread Flour
-2/3 cup Rye Flour
-1/3 cup Cracked Rye Seeds (soaked 24 hours in advance) (optional)
-2 tbs. Gluten
-1 tsp. Salt
-1/4 tsp. Ground Allspice
-1/4 tsp. Ground Coriander
-1/4 cup Toasted Pumpkin Seeds


I decided that since this was going to be a pretty flavorful bread, I didn't need to make a starter (read LAZY). Combine the yeast, water, oil and honey in a bowl and mix well. Let the yeast mix sit for 10-20 minutes until it starts to froth. Then add the rest of the dry ingredients and form a moist dough. Knead the dough until it becomes relatively smooth and stretchy, but don't over work it (5-10 minutes). Place the dough in a bowl and cover with a damp cloth or cling film. Let rise in a warm spot until double in size. Remove dough from bowl, knead briefly and form it into a loaf. Place it back into a bowl or a banneton (if you have one) and rise again till double. A banneton or brotform is a wicker basket, sometimes lined with linen, used to give the bread shape and some texture while proofing. Flip the dough onto a lightly floured baker's peel and cut slashes into the dough's surface. I use masa flour for the dusting on the baker's peel, it seems to slide off better with it. Put the bread into a 450 F. oven for 30-40 minutes. During baking i have been throwing a little bit of water on the bottom of my oven every 2 minutes or so. The water and steam it creates has been helping the bread to form a nice yielding crispy crust. Take the bread out when is sounds hollow to the tap.

The Great Black Forest Banger

Im calling today's sausage a Black Forest Banger inspired by the Baden-Württemberg region of Germany. Its a tasty pepper and coriander sausage with a good hit of garlic. I hope these are good, apparently Baden-Württemberg has the most Michelin starred restaurants (52 of the total 190) in all of Germany, so I have alot to live up to. Baden-Württemberg is famous for black forest ham (not to mention snail soup and Spätzle), which is a cured and cold smoked ham seasoned with pepper, coriander and garlic.

Baden-Württemberg Block Rockin' Beats: Toner Low, Toner Low (2006)


Black Forest Banger:


-1 kg Coarsely Ground Pork Shoulder
- Natural Pork Sausage Casings
-4 tbs. Chicken Stock, White Wine or German Lager
-1 Egg
-3 Cloves Garlic (crushed into a paste)
-2 tsp. Salt
-1/2 Tbs. Sugar
-2-3 tsp. Ground Coriander Seeds (toasted in a dry frying pan till fragrant)
-2 tsp. Ground Black Pepper
-1 tsp. Caraway Seeds

After stuffing the sausages I like to place them in a bowl and let them sit overnight uncovered in the fridge, it helps the casings dry out and shrink slightly. If you have room its even more ideal if you can hang the sausages in the fridge overnight.....smart even.

Black Forest Banger

Farmer Style Rye (Bauernbrot) Baking Day

The sourdough starter from two days ago is smelling nice and sour(kinda like fermenting beer), so I am ready to make the dough.

Bread Making Tunes: The Sword, Warp Riders (2010)

Farmer Style Rye Recipe:

-1 Portion of Sourdough Starter (see previous post)
-2 cups Whole Wheat Bread Flour
-3/4 cup Rye Flour
-4 tbsp. Vital Wheat Gluten
-100g Cracked Rye Seeds (soaked for 24 hours, then drained)
-1 tbsp. Caraway Seeds
-1 1/2 tsp. Salt
-1 tbsp. Olive Oil

Combine dry ingredients with sourdough starter and form a moist dough. Keep some extra rye flour on the side in case the dough is too wet. Knead dough thoroughly until dough is smooth and has a slight spring back.
Place in a bowl, cover with cling film or a damp cloth and let rise to double in size. Punch down dough and form into loaf. Let dough rise again while you pre-heat your oven to 450 F. Flour top of the dough, cut slashes and bake for 20 minutes at 450 F, then turn down oven to 350-400 F. and bake till hollow sounding when tapped.

Farmer Style Rye (Bauernbrot)

Today I put together a simple sourdough starter for a farmer style rye bread. Rye bread comes in many forms and is near and dear to the hearts of every Germanic bread eater. Rye breads range from the very dark, moist and slightly sweet pumpernickel to the Jewish-American white rye loaf often served with smoked meat or pastrami sandwiches. The most common rye breads we find are the mixed flour breads (Mischbrot), blending the rye flour with white or whole wheat flours to create lighter rye loaves. Rye breads are very commonly made with a sourdough starter and this, combined with its denser and moister crumb makes for bread that keeps well for a long time. Rye breads typically also include ground or whole spices, such as caraway and often have additions of coffee, molasses and cocoa.

Starter Song: Tiger B. Smith, Tiger Rock (1974)

Im going to leave this starter out for two days to try encourage some nice sour fermentation in the dough. Sourdough starters typically are cultivated over a week and longer and require feeding and care...Im just going to wait two days and add some vinegar if its not sour enough. Ill try out a long term sourdough starter later, when it gets a little warmer.

Farmer Rye Sourdough Starter:

3/4 cup Rye Flour
3/4 cup Bread Flour
1 1/2 cup Water
2 tsp. Active Dry Yeast
2 tsp. Brown Sugar or Honey

Combine water, yeast and sugar in a large bowl, mix well and let sit for 5-10 minutes. Add Flour, mix to form wet dough and cover with plastic wrap. Let sit in a warm place for 2 days.

I am planning to add some cracked rye seeds for extra flavor and texture. Before adding the seeds to the dough you need to do a few things to prepare them. Firstly you need crack the seeds open. I don't have a grain mill, which would make this process very simple, so I am using my mortar and pestle to crack the seeds. You don't need to pulverize the grains into a powder, the idea is just to crack open the outer shell of the seeds. The next step is to place the cracked seeds into a non-reactive container and soak them with water for 24 hours.