Brötchen photo by Marion Jackson

A recipe of wonderful crusty German Brötchen by Marion Jackson, in English and German.

Ingredients:

1000 g Mehl / flour
12 g instant Hefe / yeast (3 TL/tsp)
25 g Backmalz / dry malt powder
15 g Salz / salt
635 g warmes Wasser / tepid water

Preparation:

1. First mix the instant yeast and the dry malt powder with the flour and put the mixture in a bowl for the stand mixer/kneading machine. Put the salt on top of the flour and start kneading with the dough hook while adding the water. Knead for approx. 3 min, the dough should separate from the bowl.
2. Cover the bowl with clear foil and let sit for at least an hour, the dough should double.
3. Then put the dough on a lightly floured surface and knead shortly with your hands, separate dough into 16 pieces (ca.100g each). Roll each piece into a little log, place on baking sheet and press flat.
4. Leave enough distance between each piece. Now cover the baking sheet and let them rise again for 1 hour.
5. Preheat oven to 245 degrees Celsius.
6. Just before baking cut the top of the Broetchen lengthwise with a razor blade.
7. Put the baking sheet in the oven and reduce temp. to 230 degrees Celsius. After 2,4 and 6 minutes spray some water on the Broetchen with a spray bottle (do it fast so the heat stays in the oven) overall bake time 15 – 18 minutes until desired colour is reached.
8. You can freeze them and just before serving put them in the oven for 15 min. at 150 degrees Celsius, they will be crispy and hot.

Zubereitung:

1. Als erstes die Hefe und das Backmalz unter das Mehl mischen, die Mischung in die Schuessel des Standmixers/Knetmaschine fuellen und das Salz aufstreuen. Das Wasser langsam dazu und mit dem Knethaken ca. 3 Min. verkneten. Der Teig sollte sich vollstaendig vom Schuesselrand loesen.
2. Mit Klarsichtfolie abdecken und mindestens eine Stunde an einem warmen Ort gehen lassen, Teig sollte sich verdoppeln.
3. Dann den Teig auf eine leicht bemehlte Flaeche, nochmal mit der Hand kurz durchkneten und in 16 gleiche Teile teilen (ca. 100g pro Stueck).
4. Jedes Teil abdrehen und eine kleine Rolle formen, dann aufs leicht gefettete Backblech kurz plattdruecken und genuegend Abstand zwischen den einzelnen Broetchen lassen. Nochmal 1 Stunde mit Handtuch abgedeckt gehen lassen.
5. Backofen auf 245 Grad Celsius vorheizen.
6. Direkt vor dem backen, die Broetchen mit einer Rasierklinge einmal laengs einschneiden.
7. Broetchen in den Backofen schieben und auf 230 Grad reduzieren. Nach 2,4 und 6 Minuten mit einer Spruehflasche Wasser auf alle Broetchen spritzen, so 8 Spritzer. (Moeglichst schnell, damit die Hitze im Ofen bleibt).
   Insgesamt 15 – 18 Minuten backen, je nachdem wir braun man sie moechte.
8. Ich friere die Broetchen immer ein und backe sie vor dem Fruehstueck 15 Min. bei 150 Grad Celsius auf, dann sind sie schoen knusprig und heiss.

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Weizenbrötchen – German Rolls
Brötchen (Crusty German Rolls)

This delicious bread is made from mashed potatoes and flour. The combination may seem a little unusual but the end result is extraordinarily soft and springy bread.

Ingredients:

300 g potatoes, peeled, boiled
1 tsp dried fast-action yeast
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp sunflower oil, plus extra for greasing
1 tsp fine sea salt
300g all-purpose flour, plus extra for kneading

Preparation:

1. Cut the potatoes into equal chunks and boil. Drain them in a colander over a bowl and reserve the cooking liquid. Return the potatoes to the pan and toss over a very low heat for 2-3 minutes until any excess liquid has evaporated.
2. Pour 5 tbsp of the warm cooking liquid into a large bowl and leave to cool for a few minutes. When it’s lukewarm, sprinkle in the yeast. Stir in the sugar and leave in a warm place for about 10 minutes until a light foam appears on the surface.
3. Mash the potatoes with the oil in the saucepan until the mass is as smooth as possible, then stir in the yeast mixture and salt.
4. Mix well with a spoon and gradually add the flour, a few tablespoons at a time, stirring well before adding more. When the dough becomes too stiff to stir in the flour, turn it out onto the work surface and knead the remaining flour into the dough. Do not add more water, or the dough will become too sticky to work with.
5. Knead the dough for 10 minutes until soft and pliable. Place it in a lightly oiled bowl, cover loosely with a kitchen towel and leave to rise in a warm place for 45–60 minutes, or until well-risen and spongy to touch.
6. Knead back the dough and shape it into a rough ball. Flatten the ball on a floured surface until it is about 2 cm thick, then bring the sides up to the middle to give a rustic surface to the bread. Pinch lightly to seal and sprinkle on some wholemeal flour, for additional texture, on the outside of the loaf. Place it on a lightly oiled and floured baking sheet, rough-side up, and leave to prove in a warm place for a further 30 minutes.
7. Preheat the oven to 220°C. Score the dough with a knife along the pinched line. Bake the loaf for 35 minutes until well-risen and crusty on top. Cool on a wire rack.

Related recipes:
Rosinenbrot (German Raisin Bread)
Weizenbrötchen – German Rolls
Bauernbrot

Nusszopf is a classic German cake with hazelnut filling. It is made out of braided yeast dough and filled with almonds or hazelnuts. It’s a wonderful coffee time idea.

Ingredients:

Dough
4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
42g fresh yeast
1 cup lukewarm milk
1 egg
1/3 cup butter at room temperature

Filling
2 cups ground nuts
3 tbsp. sugar
2 tbsp. cocoa powder
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 egg
1/4 cup milk

Glaze
4 tbsp. powdered sugar
2 tbsp. lemon juice
2 tbsp. water

Preparation:

1. Mix warm milk with the yeast in a large bowl until well combined. Add flour, sugar, salt and the egg and mix. Add the butter and knead for about 5 minutes. Cover with a kitchen towel and let rise in a warm place for 30 to 60 minutes.
2. Mix the nuts, sugar, cocoa powder, cinnamon and the egg. Add the milk gradually, the mix should not get too runny but should be still easy to spread.
3. Preheat the oven to 200°C. Roll out the dough in a rectangle and spread the nut mix on top. Roll up tight from one side. Place the roll on a greased baking sheet in front of you and cut the roll from the middle to one end with a sharp knife. Braid the two parts by laying one over the other while turning the inside out. You should see the layers with the filling when done. Do the same with the other side. Bake for 35 minutes on the lowest level.
4. Mix powdered sugar with lemon juice and water. Spread it over the hot braided Nusszopf.

Image credit

This braided sweet yeast bread with raisins can be your favorite breakfast. It’s super moist, it’s fluffy and it has a subtle sweet taste.

Ingredients:

6 cups all-purpose flour
500 ml milk
150 g butter at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsp dry active yeast
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup raisins
1 egg (for brushing the bread before baking)

Preparation:

1. Mix the ingredients (except for raisins and egg) together.
2. Let rise in a warm place until it doubles in size.
3. Add raisins and distribute evenly.
4. Cut the dough in half, then each half in three pieces and roll out thin long ropes. Braid each half of the dough, and then let rise for another 20 mins.
5. Beat the egg slightly with a fork and spread it on the top of both loaves.
6. Bake for 40 mins at 175°C.

Related recipes:
Weizenbrötchen – German Rolls
Bauernbrot
Kartoffelbrot – German Potato Bread

Spritzkuchen are fried pastries topped with powdered sugar or cinnamon or lemon icing. They are made of dense dough similar to that of doughnuts, but they are piped from a pastry bag.

Ingredients:

Dough:
250 ml milk
a pinch of salt
1 tablespoon sugar
50 g butter
200 g flour
4 eggs
1 packet of vanilla sugar
700 ml oil for deep frying
parchment paper

Icing:
300 g powdered sugar
3 dessert spoons lemon juice

Preparation:

1. In a pot over medium-high heat add milk, salt, sugar and butter and wait till they melt.
2. Reduce the heat a little bit and add the flour and stir with a spoon till you have a thick yet smooth dough.
3. Remove from heat and let it cool for 5 minutes, then add the eggs one by one and the vanilla sugar while mixing with an electrical mixer.
4. You will now have a sticky, thick but smooth dough. Fill it in a pastry bag with a wide star tip.
5. Cut 12 10×10 cm squares out of parchment paper and brush them with a thin layer of oil.
6. Pipe the dough into circles over the small paper squares.
7. Heat the oil on medium heat and fry the piped pastry around 2-3 minutes on each side till golden brown.
8. Once cooked remove with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper and then leave to cool on a wire rack.
9. Sieve the powder sugar and mix with the lemon juice and some hot water. Mix until smooth, then brush the glaze over the crullers.

Schwäbische Dätscher (also called Bätscher), or Swabian Cream Cake, is a thin yeast flat bread spread with sour cream and topped with onion or leak and bacon.

Ingredients:

Dough

350g wheat flour
20g fresh yeast
1 teaspoon salt
40g butter
125ml milk
Filling

200g sour cream
1 egg yolk
salt
1/2 bunch chopped chives
100 g bacon (optional)

Preparation:

1. Melt the butter and add it with the flour and salt to a large bowl. Dissolve the yeast in the lukewarm milk. Add this mix to the bowl and knead it well. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and let it rise at a warm place for an hour and a half.
2. Preheat the oven to 250°C. Roll the dough and cut it to 4 pieces. Roll the pieces out to little circles about 10 cm in diameter. Press the middle of the dough a bit so that the edge is a bit higher (to avoid the filling running out).
3. Mix the sour cream with the salt, bacon (if using) and chives, and apply it on top of the dough. Bake for about 20min, until the dough is golden and the topping has a nice color.Tip: instead of the chives you can also use caraway or spring onions.

Hands down the best red currant cake out there – Träubleskuchen! The etymology of its name is very curious.  In Swabian, anything can – and will – be diminuted by adding the suffix -le to the noun. Thus a car – Auto – becomes an Autole, a little car, and a house – Haus – a Häusle, a small house. Red currants look a little bit like small grapes, which are Trauben, hence in Swabian they are called Träuble, or small grapes. A word of warning, if you are ever in Germany: before asking for this cake, check your map. Outside the Swabian-speaking parts, red currants are called Johannisbeeren, and nobody will have a clue as to what you mean by a “small grape cake”.

Ingredients:

Dough

200 g flour
60 g sugar
½ packet ( 8 g) baking powder
1 packet ( 16 g) vanilla sugar
125 g butter
1 egg

Filling

600 g red currants (washed and de-stalked)
3 large egg whites
75 g sugar
125 g ground almonds

Topping

3 large egg whites
75 g sugar

Preparation:

1. To make the dough, mix together all ingredients until smooth, form into a ball, and refrigerate until required.
2. When you are ready, carefully roll out the pastry on a slightly floured surface and fit it into the baking pan. Press the dough into the pan, then cut off the excess.
3. For the filling, beat the egg whites until stiff, then slowly add the sugar while still mixing. Add the red currants and the ground almonds, and mix into the egg whites until well distributed.
4. Put the berry mix on top of the dough and cover with topping (beat the egg whites until stiff, then add the sugar).
5. Bake at 200°C for 60 minutes, checking to make sure the topping doesn’t burn. You might have to cover it with a bit of tin foil after a while to prevent it from getting too dark.
6. Serve with coffee.

Another coffee time staple – Apfelkuchen!  Made with fresh apples baked into a dense butter dough and topped with sugar, this moist and buttery cake is the perfect dessert.

1. Preheat the oven to 170C. Butter and line a 24 cm round baking pan.
2. Coat the apple wedges in the lemon juice and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, beat together the butter and sugar, using an electric hand mixer, until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs and beat until smooth. Sift in the flour, baking powder and salt and mix well. Slowly add the milk, mixing well after each addition, until you have a smooth batter.
4. Transfer the batter to the baking pan. Arrange the apple slices on the batter in a spiral pattern.
5. For the topping, mix together sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle over the batter.
6. Bake for 40–45 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean and the top is golden brown. Leave to cool for 15 minutes in the pan. Run a knife around the edges of the cake and turn it out of the pan onto a wire rack.
7. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Sandkuchen is a classic German coffee cake. It is called Sandkuchen (literally “sand cake”) because of its color that reminds of sand. This cake is very easy to make and great for baking beginners. You can make it with or without a glaze. Any glaze is great for this cake or add some streusel too.

Ingredients:

Dough

250 g butter  (room temperature)
250 g sugar
1 package vanilla sugar
1 pinch salt
1 tbsp lemon juice
4 medium eggs
200 g flour
100 g potato starch
1 tbsp baking powder

Glaze

250 g powdered sugar
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp hot water

Preparation:

1. Mix butter, sugar, vanilla sugar and salt until creamy.
2. Add lemon juice or lemon flavor, then eggs one after the other and beat a bit more but no longer than 2 minutes.
3. Mix flour, starch and baking powder and add to the dough.
4. Grease a rectangular baking form and sprinkle with breadcrumbs (or use baking paper), fill with dough and bake in preheated oven at 180 C for 50-60 min.