Living in Germany for a couple of years, we purchased German rye bread hot from the bakery nearly every day. However, the bakers always warned us to let it cool before eating it—it was some superstitious thing about stomach worms or such. My German was never good enough to really understand exactly, but it really didn’t matter, we were two American’s who loved our bread straight from the oven.
We’d hurry home, slather thick slices with unsalted butter from the outdoor market, and call it our Frühstück (first breakfast). Then we would head out for the day. For Abendbrot we would finish the loaf off and start all over again the next day.
Little did I realize that the flavor of this bread is developed the day after baking, we never had any left to find that out. That by the way, is key to flavor success with this bread: let it cool overnight before slicing it.
For St. Patrick’s Day, earlier this year, I used my rye starter to make a Marbled Rye Loaf for sandwiches. This recipe is nothing so fancy, but it is my kind of rye with deep flavor and no caraway seeds.
Graubrot (German Rye Bread)
It is quite common these days to make a German rye bread, known there as grey bread, or Mischbrot, with both wheat and rye. Mischbrot literally means mixed bread or bread that has been made with a mix of rye and white bread flour.
For this recipe I will be mixing freshly ground rye and white-wheat flour.
Ingredients |
Instructions |
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Sponge
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German Rye Bread Sponge
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Bread dough
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German Rye Bread
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*Replenish Starter
After using a portion of the starter, replenish it with equal weights of flour and warm water. For example, if you used a quarter cup of starter, add 1/3 cup flour and 1/4 water cup warm water to the starter. Stir with a wooden spoon, cover, and let stand in one place until bubbly 3 to 5 hours. Refrigerate after 3 to 5 hours until needed next.
The bread turned out great as you can see from the feature image at the beginning of this post. For cold-cuts, deli meats, and cheeses, this bread is an unbeatable companion. Tell us about your experiences using rye in the comment section below.
Author: Darryl Alder lives with his wife in Riverside Lodge, which is their home along the Provo River in Utah. He is a retired career Scouter and outdoorsman who spent many hours over a campfire using a Dutch oven and loves sharing recipes for the kitchen and the campfire alike. You can read many of his recipes on this site by searching for Sourdough Saturday or Recipes on the top right-hand side of the blog
1 comment
Mischbrot (lite rye) is pretty standard in Germany as daily bread. Still, German Whole Rye (Roggenvollkornbrot) or Bavarian Hausbrot is often used in the evening for making open-faced sandwiches with deli meats and cheese. This hearty bread takes more time to rest and ferment than some breads; but requires much less involvement in actual preparation time.