Soft Pretzels - Kommenskringler

Soft Pretzels - Kommenskringler

I believe the soft pretzels originate from Germany. The danish version contains caraway seeds. Back in the days, you could get them at most bakeries in Denmark, but nowadays, you only see them at old traditional bakeries.

Growing up, we had them occasionally,  because my mom loved caraway seeds, but I hadn’t had them for years before I met my husband, and he reintroduced me to them again.  

I love the soft, sweet bread with the characteristic taste of caraway seeds.

Here is how I made them

Ingredients:

• 500 g all-pupose flour

• 100 g butter

• 50 g live yeast (or 12 g dry active yeast)

• 4 tablespoons caraway seeds

• 2 tablespoons sugar

• ¼ teaspoon salt

• 300 g milk 

• 1 egg (for egg wash)

Directions:

Warm the milk and melt the butter in it.  Mix together flour, sugar, salt and caraway seeds. 

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry  and knead the dough for about 10 minutes on medium. The dough should be soft and almost sticky.

Divide the dough into 12 pieces. Shape each piece into a pretzel, and let the pretzels rise until doubled in size in a warm place. 

Brush pretzels with egg and sprinkle with caraway seeds. 

Bake the pretzels for about 10 minutes at 485℉ (250℃). 

Let cool on a wire rack.

Meyers seedless rye bread

Seedless rye bread

I've made rye bread before, but this time I wanted to try the seedless kind. My dad didn't like to many seeds in his bread. And if you have a child who just started getting solid foods, you want to start off with a softer version of the traditional rye bread.

The bread is soft and light with a mild rye bread taste.

This recipe is from Claus Meyers Bagebog

Ingredients:

• 1100 g water - finger-warm

• 30 g yeast (live yeast)

• 1 dl sourdough

• 500 g all-purpose flour

• 1100 g rye flour

• 30 g sea salt

Directions:

Pour the water into a big bowl, and mix in the sourdough and the yeast. Add the all-purpose flour, rye flour and salt, mix it well. If you do it by hand, kneed the dough for about 10 minutes. If you kneed it in a stand mixer, mix it 3 minutes on low and then 5 minutes on high. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel an let it rise/ferment for about 3 hours.

Divide the dough in three and form loafs. Put the loafs into baking pans. Cover the pans and let the dough rise/ferment for another 3 hours.

Preheat the oven for 350℉ and put the breads in the oven and bake them for about 45-50 minutes.

Take the breads out of the baking pans and brusk the tops with melted butter.  Let the breads cool completely.

Danish Rye Bread

Danish Rye Bread

Open-faced sandwich with roast beef 

Growing up in Denmark we had open-faced sandwiches for lunch every day. Like this Roast beef with horseradish, remoulade and pickles cucumber. OK this was not an everyday dish. Normally the sandwich was more simple, like liver pate with pickled beets or egg with mayo. 

Moving outside Scandinavia I was forced to figure out how I could get the Rye bread (Rugbrød).  

The easy way out was going to IKEA to get their Shake 'n Bake Rye Bread, and this was the route I went for the first years. 

Baking the Tartine Bread gave me an introduction to baking with sourdough, and it was a segway into baking Rye Bread from scratch.

I didn't want to make the same bread as my mom made back in the days. It was way too white, and looked more like a wheat bread than a rye bread. 

My inspiration came from Kvalimads Best Rye Bread.  I made some changes to his recipes. This is how I make the bread:

Sourdough starter: 

Allmost all bakers of the danish rye bread has their own sourdough starter. Many people get the starter from a friend or relative. A starter can last for decades if treated right.

I opted for the easy way out, buying a starter from King Arthur Flour, and fed it with half rye and wheat flour. By now my starter is a year old, and some of my friends got some of it. It takes a couple of bakes to get the right acidity and taste if you start your own starter from scratch.

This recipe makes 2 big rye bread. 

Sourdough leaven: 

• 200 g sourdough/starter (the starter you keep in the refrigerator and feed every other week) 
• 400 g water
• 125 g rye flour
• 135 g all-purpose flour

Dough:

• 1600 g water
• 600 g sourdough leaven
• 265 g rye berries (hele rugkerner)
• 150 g cracked rye (knækkede rygkerner)
• 75 g flax seeds
• 75 g sunflower seeds
• 275 g wheat berries (hard red spring wheat berries) (hele hvedekerner)
• 170 g bulgur (100% whole grain quick cooking bulgur wheat)
• 375 g rye flour (dark rye flour)
• 400 g all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoon (57 g) salt
• a splash coloring/kulør - optional
• Topping pumpin seeds, 

Directions:

Day 1, morning: 

The process 

Feed the starter to make the leaven. The leaven is ready to use when the leaven is bubbleing and smells like beer - after about 8 hours at room temperature. Cover the leaven with a clean towel. 

Soak the rye- and wheat-berries and seed in water in a large bow (I use to bowl because of the big amount). Cover the bowl with a large plate. Let them soak at room temperature until the leaven is ready.

Day 1,

night: 

Save about 200g leaven and put it aside in a sealed container. This will be your sourdough starter for the next batch of bread. It will keep without feeding for about 14 days in the refrigerator. 

Add the leaven to the soaked berries and seed. Cover the bowl with a large plate. Let the mixture ferment overnight at room temperature . 

Day 2, morning: 

Add the salt, coloring and the flour to the dough and mix thoroughly, to make sure all the flour is fully incorporated, let rise for about two hours.

Eva Professionel rye bread tin

Add the dough to two rye bread baking forms. (I use Eva Professionel Rye Bread Tin which holds 3,3 liters).

Let the bread rise for about an hour, covered with a clean towel. The longer you let it rise, the more sour the bread becomes.

Poke a few holes with a cake tester or knitting needle, to  prevent the crust to rise and crack.

Brush the bread with water and sprinkle with pumpkin or sesame seeds.

Place the baking form in a preheated oven for 1 hour 15 minutes at 350°F. 

Turn off the heat, remove the breads from the baking forms, spray with water on all sides and place them back in the oven directly on the rack for about an hour while the oven cools.

Take the breads out and wrap them in an clean kitchen towel. This will help softening the crust. Let breads cool completely.

It's best to wait cutting the bread until the next day. 

Enjoy the bread with your favorite deli meat or cheese. 

Testing the leaven the man in the cup showed up. 

The man in the cup

Crisp bread - Knækbrød

Crisp bread for breakfast.

Being a scandinavian I have known crisp bread all my life. We had it with cheese or deli meats for lunch or breakfast. Most common was the Swedish Wasa brand, which you can find in most stores here in the US.

While visiting my sister-in-law, she baked crisp bread - and I loved them. She gave me this recipe from the danish flour manufacturer "Amo." 

Ingredients: 

• 200 g all-purpose flour
• ½ cup oil (sunflower- or rapeseed)
• ¾ cup Water
• 50 g Oats
• 50 g pumpkin seeds
• 50 g flax seeds
• 50 g sunflower seeds
• 50 g sesame seeds
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1½ teaspoon salt

Directions: 

Crisp bread.

Mix all the ingredients in a stand mixer - add the water little at a time.  

Divide the dough in two. Roll the dough as thin as the pumpkin seeds allows, between to sheets of parchment paper. 

Carefully remove the top parchment paper an cut the dough in desired size with a knife or use a cookie cutter to make different shapes. Slide the parchment paper with the dough unto a baking sheet. If you want to sprinkle puppy seeds or other seeds, you have to brush the breads with a little bit of water before sprinkling.

Bake the bread for 20 - 25 minutes at 400°F.

When the crisp breads are done, remove from oven and let cool completely on a rack and store in an airtight container.

The ultimate Hamburger Buns / Light Brioche Buns

The ultimate Hamburger Buns / Light Brioche Buns

There are certainly thing I never made my self. Hamburger buns was one of those things. It was so easy to grab a bag of buns in the store. But after we figured out how to make our favorite burger on the BBQ, we needed a better bun, one that didn't crumble under the patty.

I found a recipe on Foodfanatic.dk, the recipe originated from NY Times and chef Michael Symon.

The first times I made these hamburger buns, the dough was very sticky, so I made some corrections. This is how I made them:

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons Milk
• 1 pack Dry Yeast (7 g)
• 240 g Water (warm)
• 2 tablespoons Sugar
• 465 g All-Purpose Flour
• 35 g Butter (salted, room temperature)
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon salt (8 g)

Toppings: 

• 1 Egg (beaten)
• Sesame Seeds or what ever topping you like. 

Directions: 

In a bowl, combine warm water, milk, yeast and sugar. Let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. 

In the stand mixer bowl, whisk flours with salt. Add butter and mix it with a flat beater until the flour looks like crumbs. Stir in yeast mixture and a beaten egg until a dough forms. Knead the dough for 5-8 minutes on medium, (8-10 minutes if kneaded by hand), until smooth and elastic. 

Shape dough into a ball and let the dough rise covered for 1-2 hours until doubled in bulk.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Using dough scraper, divide dough into 8 equal parts. Gently roll each into a ball and arrange 2 to 3 inches apart on baking sheet. Cover loosely with a clean kitchen towel and let buns rise in a warm place for 1 to 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 400℉ (200℃) with rack in center. Beat remaining egg with 1 tablespoon water and brush some on top of buns, sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake, turning sheet halfway through baking, until tops are golden brown, about 15 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!

Gourmet Burger.