Crusty Wholemeal Bread

Stereotype Number One: Germans LOVE their bread. Definitely true! We love it in every possible shape or form, salty, sweet, with or without grains, rye or lye. If we see English bread (e.g. Hovis or Warburtons), we won’t consider it as real bread and call it Toast. We have this type of bakery product in Germany, but we will hardly ever eat it untoasted. The overall opinion is that untoasted Toast feels gluey and will stick to your gums forever. Germans want bread to be crusty and crunchy on the outside and soft in the inside. Tempted to try it?

Here is a really easy and quick recipe for a wholemeal bread that both satisfies my taste buds and doesn’t try my patience. Being a very impatient person, I cannot stand waiting for a dough to rise, just to knock it back down and let it rise again. If I want my beloved bread, I want it within the next hour. Enjoy baking and experiencing a little bit of German bread culture :-)

Ingredients:

• 1 sachet of dry yeast (7g)
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp honey
• 600 ml of lukewarm water
• 2-3 tbsp lemon juice
• 60 g seeds (linseeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, chia seeds, etc.)
• 600g wholemeal flour
• Oats

1. Mix lukewarm water with yeast and activate it by stirring honey into it. Leave it for 5 minutes.

2. Mix flour, salt and seeds in a large bowl. I am a big fan of oats, which is why I sometimes replace 50g of flour with oats.

3. Add yeast water and lemon juice, and mix it until the dough is smooth, wet and sticky. Leave it for 5 minutes before filling it into a loaf tin.

4. Boil some water in a little pot and place it on the bottom of your oven. Do not preheat the oven!

5. If you want, you can top the bread with some more oats. Make two or three light incisions and put it in the oven. It needs to sit on the lowest level. Now you can turn on the oven. Bake it at 225-250°C for 60 min until it has a nice crust and sounds hollow when you tap it.

6. Let it cool down and enjoy!

Tip: Since the bread is quite filling, I usually half the bread and freeze one part. The longer the bread waits to be eaten, the more likely it will become mouldy and you have to bin it. Don’t waste food! Freeze it, enjoy the first half and defrost the second one when your belly shouts for more :-)