Bauernbrot Recipe (German farmer-style rye bread) (2024)

FAQs

What is the German name for 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.

"German Farmer Bread similar to what is found in when purchasing Bauernbrot in a Bavarian bakery in Germany. Great with butter and cold cuts, or just plain butter. My sons' favorite is with salami and aged "Moon Cheese"."

Despite its name, the Burebrot is of relatively recent origin: it was developed in 1955 by the Ecole Professionnelle de Richemont in cooperation with the Swiss Bakers' Association as a way to make use of surplus milk. It is now available in most Swiss bakeries and supermarkets as a bread for everyday consumption.

Pure rye bread contains only rye flour, without any wheat. German-style pumpernickel, a dark, dense, and close-textured loaf, is made from crushed or ground whole rye grains, usually without wheat flour, baked for long periods at a low temperature in a covered tin.

Rye bread is considered more nutritious than wheat bread. As well as being super filling, it also contains more fibre and B vitamins than wheat breads. And whilst it's not entirely gluten free, it does contain less gluten than regular wheat bread alternatives.

It is great served with butter, mustard, and cold meats. It's also delicious when toasted in the morning, and spread with lashings of butter and honey.

for breakfast: you can find fresh bread rolls in every bread basket on German breakfast tables. Germans cut them in half horizontally, smear butter on them, and top them with jams, honey, quark, sliced cheese, or cold cuts. Basically, they eat them as open-faced sandwiches.

European rye breads tend to be dense, sour, somewhat moist, and earthy in flavor. American rye breads tend to use rye more as a flavoring ingredient added to wheat flour. The flavor is lighter, far less sour (if sour at all), and less dense. There's just a touch of earthiness to it.

So Germans to this day tend to eat sourdough bread made with rye, spelt and wheat flours and packed with grains and seeds. German bread is heavy and has substance; it (literally) outweighs fluffy focaccia or ciabatta. That hefty tradition never caught on in the rest of Europe.

German bread is unlike any other bread known to Europe. It is dark, chewy and dense, composed mainly of whole grains, such as rye, spelt, and millet. Wheat is taking a back-seat compared to other countries, where it is the dominant grain, resulting in lighter, whiter and starchier (and less healthy) bread types.

Why is German bread different? ›

Regarding bread, German cuisine is more varied than that of either Eastern or Western Europe. Most German breads are made with sourdough. Most breads contain both wheat and rye flour (hence Mischbrot, mixed bread), and often also wholemeal and whole seeds such as linseed, sunflower seed, or pumpkin seed (Vollkornbrot).

Rye is a close relative of wheat and barley. It has a deep, rich taste and is packed with vitamins and nutrients. Rye became a staple food in Europe during the Middle Ages, where it was cultivated in Central and Eastern Europe and was used to produce both bread and alcohol.

This can affect the bread by adding a "yeasty" taste if you put too much into the dough. General amounts of yeast are around 1 - 2 % of the flour, by weight. Too much yeast could cause the dough to go flat by releasing gas before the flour is ready to expand.

There are many varieties of rye bread in Germany. Pumpernickel is one of them, though very particular. It is sourdough, purely rye bread, made of mill rather than flour, with no other additives than rye, water and salt, backed for very long in low temperature in the closed iron containers.

The critical difference between pumpernickel and rye bread is that rye bread is a catch-all term to describe any bread made with rye flour, whereas European pumpernickel bread is a specific type of dark rye bread made with rye meal, usually without any wheat.

Pumpernickel, a steamed, sweet-tasting bread, is internationally well known, although not representative of German black bread as a whole. Most German breads are made with sourdough. Whole grain is also preferred for high fiber.

Germany's Roggen-Vollkornmehl flour is equivalent to pumpernickel flour or a whole rye meal. It is a flour made from the whole rye grain, including the bran and germ.