Greensage45
Deeply Rooted
- Joined
- Mar 14, 2009
- Messages
- 1,308
- Reaction score
- 5
- Points
- 113
I tell you, sometimes things in your memory are not quite as they are in reality.
When I was a child from 6 to 10 years of age I lived in Germany. My parents were Army folks and often as kids we would be given Brchen, a german hard crusted bread. It seemed to be sold everywhere.
I have longed for this bread and longed for this bread. I have gone through several recipes trying to capture that very bread from my past. I think I might have almost gotten there.
But first, ..... I should tell you how horrific it went last night. This latest recipe has me starting the yeast/flour sponge about 8 to 24 hours prior to working the bulk of the flour into it, and of course the salt. I let it sit 8 hours and began adding flour. I hand-kneaded for over 15 minutes and the dough was the most perfect I have ever seen; sticky yet yielding. Then I let it rise for another 2 hours.
I was down to the part where I was placing 1 cup of water into a preheated pan for humidity, and inserting the rolls. They were perfectly formed and sliced across the top. I put the rolls in and attempted to spray the sides of the oven with water (as called for by this recipe), and I accidentally hit the light bulb. BOOOM! The light bulb shattered into a million pieces all over my rolls.
I could have cried. Actually I did. I had no alternative but to toss it all away, turn off the oven, and just call it quits. I skipped fixing dinner last night because this was going to be the highlight of the meal (LOL
I was fixing Sloppy Joes).
I finally calmed down and relaxed over some Melon. That was dinner. Then at midnight last night I finally could not sleep and got up and started my next batch of Yeast/sponge.
This time, minus the glass, I managed to turn out a great product.
It sounds so minimal, but given the entirety of the day, I think it was horrific; I am glad that day is done and over with. Lunch was of course sloppy joes and the Brchen was fabulous.
Ron
When I was a child from 6 to 10 years of age I lived in Germany. My parents were Army folks and often as kids we would be given Brchen, a german hard crusted bread. It seemed to be sold everywhere.
I have longed for this bread and longed for this bread. I have gone through several recipes trying to capture that very bread from my past. I think I might have almost gotten there.
But first, ..... I should tell you how horrific it went last night. This latest recipe has me starting the yeast/flour sponge about 8 to 24 hours prior to working the bulk of the flour into it, and of course the salt. I let it sit 8 hours and began adding flour. I hand-kneaded for over 15 minutes and the dough was the most perfect I have ever seen; sticky yet yielding. Then I let it rise for another 2 hours.
I was down to the part where I was placing 1 cup of water into a preheated pan for humidity, and inserting the rolls. They were perfectly formed and sliced across the top. I put the rolls in and attempted to spray the sides of the oven with water (as called for by this recipe), and I accidentally hit the light bulb. BOOOM! The light bulb shattered into a million pieces all over my rolls.
I could have cried. Actually I did. I had no alternative but to toss it all away, turn off the oven, and just call it quits. I skipped fixing dinner last night because this was going to be the highlight of the meal (LOL
I was fixing Sloppy Joes). I finally calmed down and relaxed over some Melon. That was dinner. Then at midnight last night I finally could not sleep and got up and started my next batch of Yeast/sponge.
This time, minus the glass, I managed to turn out a great product.
It sounds so minimal, but given the entirety of the day, I think it was horrific; I am glad that day is done and over with. Lunch was of course sloppy joes and the Brchen was fabulous.
Ron
