Authentic German Black Bread Schwarzbrot Recipes

GERMAN WHOLE GRAIN BREAD - SCHWARZBROT: 1 LOAF

Steps:

• 12 to 24 hours before you want to bake your bread, fill the ingredients for the pre dough into a very large bowl. After adding the water, stir all ingredients very well.
• Cover the bowl and set it aside at a warm place.
• [To refill your sourdough: Put your remaining sourdough into a small bowl and add 75 g of all purpose flour and 75 ml of water. Stir and put it back into it's jar. Let the Sourdough stand in the kitchen for 24 hours, then put it back into the fridge until you bake with sourdough again.]
• 24 hours after mixing the pre dough, bring the 80 ml of water to a boil, fill the flax seeds in a bowl and pour the boiling water over the flax seeds. Let stand for 1 hour.
• Now add all the remaining ingredients - exept for the salt - into the large bowl with the predough. Also add the Flax seeds and mix all very well.
• Add the salt and mix very well, use your hands if possible. The dough is more of a mash or pap than regular dough. If the dough is too dry, add a little more water but don't make it too wet. Watch the video to see the right consistency.
• Grease the baking pan and fill it ¾ high with the dough. Use some water and a brush and brush the water on top of the dough.
• Cover the baking pan and let stand in a warm place until your dough has significantly increased its size.
• Preheat the oven to 50°C / 120°F or to the lowest temperatur to which your oven can be set.
• Brush some water onto the bread again and then put it into the oven for 90 minutes.
• Increase the oven temperature to 150°C / 300°F and backe the bread for 60 minutes.
• Lower the oven temperature to 100°C / 210°F and bake for another 2.5 hours.
• After the bread has baked, let it cool completely, then put it in a plastic bag overnight.
• The next day you can use the bread or freeze it for later.
• Tip: You can also add some whole hazelnuts to the bread dough!

AUTHENTIC GERMAN BLACK BREAD (SCHWARZBROT)

Steps:

• Combine the water, sourdough starter, and one half of the cracked rye. Mixture will be soupy. Cover and allow to set at about 70° F for 8 to 10 hours.
• After 8 to 10 hours, the mixture will have absorbed water and be similar in consistency to porridge. Save 1 cup of this mixture for the next batch of bread, then add salt and the rest of the cracked rye.
• Allow the dough to ferment at about 70° F for 4 more hours. At the end of this time, work and squeeze the dough with your hands to develop its cohesiveness. The dough is nothing like wheat bread dough. It is very moist and slippery and cannot be kneaded. When a handful is squeezed, it will squirt out between your fingers.
• After working the dough for several minutes, pack it into bread forms, preferably glass. There's not much rising that goes on and too much air space in the bread would be detrimental to the texture. The moistness and acidity of the dough and the long baking time will strongly rust steel pans and etch aluminum ones. Pack the dough into the pan tightly and smooth the top with a spatula. Lay a piece of parchment paper over the top of the form and then cover tightly with aluminum foil. The aluminum foil keeps the bread from drying out and the parchment paper keeps the aluminum foil from dissolving into the bread. Bake at 225° F for 3½ hours.
• Turn the oven off but allow the bread to remain inside for a couple more hours. Carefully remove the bread from the pans and place on a rack to cool and dry. Ideally, you should wait a day or two until the bread becomes firmer before attempting to slice it.

AUTHENTIC GERMAN BREAD (BAUERNBROT)

Steps:

• First, make the sourdough starter. Crumble the yeast into a large bowl. Whisk in 1 quart of warm water and 2 tablespoons of sugar until dissolved. The water should be just slightly warmer than body temperature. Gradually whisk in 4 cups of flour, continuing to mix until all lumps are gone. Cover with a dish towel, and let sit for 24 hours at room temperature.
• After 24 hours, stir well, cover, and let stand another 24 hours. It will be a thin, light-colored sourdough which is then ready to use.
• In a large bowl, stir together the rye flour, remaining 4 cups of all-purpose flour, salt and sugar. Mix in the sourdough starter using a wooden spoon, then stir in 2 cups of warm water. I transfer the dough to a heavy-duty stand mixer to mix the first couple of minutes, then it can't handle the heavy dough and I start using my hands by turning the dough out onto a floured surface. A clean countertop works best. Knead the dough, adding a few tablespoons of water at a time if it is too stiff. Fold the dough over, pull it apart, whatever you can do to get it kneaded up good. Total kneading time should be 15 to 20 minutes to get a smooth dough. Place the dough in a large bowl, cover, and let rise until doubled, 1 to 2 hours.
• When the dough has risen, scrape it out of the bowl and back onto a floured surface. Knead for about 5 minutes. This is important to activate the gluten. Shape into 1 or 2 long loaves. Place on baking sheets, and let rise for about 1 hour, or until your finger leaves an impression when you poke the bread gently.
• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Bake the bread for about 45 minutes for 2 loaves, 1 1/2 hours if you made one big loaf. Don't worry if the crust is dark. The bread will be delicious and so will the crust. Cool completely before cutting. I always freeze half.