Kaisersemmeln/ Kaiser Buns

Kaisersemmeln in the foreground as part of an Easter breakfast spread.

What an amazing bun. It's versatile, easy and quick to make, and impressive to look at. The only tricky part is making the knot, but it's very easy once you get the hang of it- form long, well-floured "snakes" of dough, tie a loose knot and tuck the loose ends into the middle, maybe pulling them through and back again if they're long enough to get more loops.

This dough is relatively low in gluten, so it isn't as eager to return to its shape- that would pose a problem for the rolling-out.

High gluten flour helps keep together doughs with large portions of whole grain flours (which lack gluten) and chewy, porous breads, but in this case what you want is a soft bun, hence the all purpose or type 550 flour. (Note: if you live in the GTA, Starsky has a really good selection of European flours! I need to make a 'resources' page sometime.)

A brief note on what the numbers on different forms of flour mean- they refer to the amount of ash (that is, mineral) content in the flour that remains when a sample is combusted. This doesn't mean that the flour is mixed with ashes! Rather, the amount of minerals remaining roughly translates to the amount of the grain kernel left in the dough after milling, since that's where the majority of the minerals are. So, a higher number means a larger quantity of germ/endosperm and bran in the flour, defining its "whole-graininess". Different types of wheat and other grains also vary in mineral/ash content, so the number makes it easier to gauge the properties of a dough made with some flour rather than working with limited information about its origin, processing etc. The French, Italian, German and other classifications vary, but all have the same pattern of decreasing number meaning a finer, more refined flour.

Regardless of if you use all purpose or type 550 flour, this is an amazing bun, with a great flavour and texture that makes it perfect for a holiday breakfast (what I usually make them for), sandwiches, burgers, and so on... they also go down as one of my mum's favourites. So, that should really motivate you to try making them.

Kaisersemmeln
From Chefkoch.de

For the Sponge:
75 g. All purpose/Type 550 flour
75 g. Whole wheat or whole grain spelt flour
135 ml. Warm water
10 g. Fresh yeast, or 3 g. Active dry yeast

Mix all until well incorporated and let rest, covered, for 30-45 minutes.

For the Final Dough:
Sponge 
350 g. All purpose/Type 550 flour
140 ml Water
20 g. Butter
1 Tsp. Diastatic malt powder or honey
10 g. Salt

Add all but the salt and butter to the sponge and knead together. Add salt and knead for about 8 minutes, then add the butter in pieces and knead for 2 more minutes. Let dough rise, covered, for 20-30 minutes.

Divide the dough into 10 equally sized pieces. Form balls and let rest for 10 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 250℃. Roll out each ball of dough by hand on a floured surface into a long "snake". When it's long enough, you should be able to tie a loose knot. Tuck the two "tails" of the knot into the centre of the dough, and moisten it with a bit of water to help it stick. If your dough is rolled out far enough, you can pull the tail(s) through the centre hole and back up again to make more twists. (Alternatively, you can use a kaiser bun stamp, but rolling it out and tying a knot helps to give it a nice texture.) Repeat with the remaining dough. Dust with flour and let rise 45 minutes. 

Bake for 10 minutes, adding steam with a spray bottle of water at the beginning and end of the period. Reduce the heat to 200℃ and bake for another 10-15 minutes, covering the buns with aluminium foil or a baking sheet on an upper rack to stop the browning. 

Flaxseed and Honey Buns

If you like buns with a sweet, nutty flavour and a soft, dense texture, look no further. These bad boys are made with as much flaxseed as I could pack in for some delicious omega-3s as well as taste, and have the mild sweetness of honey. They're also made with a large portion of whole wheat flour for a relatively wholesome breakfast.

 

You can use more or less ground flaxseed, to taste. You can also try to add some different seeds on top, or some walnut pieces to the dough. In any case, these are the best toasted with butter and honey.

Flaxseed and Honey Buns
Adapted from Moje Wypieki

2 1/4 C. Bread flour
1 1/4 C. Whole wheat flour
3 TBSP Honey
3/4 C. Milk, warm
21 g. Fresh yeast, or 7 g. Active dry yeast
1 Egg
1/2 C. Water
1 1/2 TBSP Nut oil or melted butter
1/2-1 C. Ground flaxseed
Whole flaxseed, to sprinkle on

Mix yeast, milk and honey. Set aside for 15 minutes.

Whisk together the flours, salt and ground flaxseed. Add the yeast mixture, egg, water and oil and knead until smooth. Let rise covered 1 1/2 hours, or until doubled.

Separate into about 16 pieces and shape into balls. sprinkle with flaxseed and let rise covered for 30 minutes.

Bake at 180℃ for 20 minutes, or until golden.

Körnerbrötchen/Grain and Seed Buns

I had many recipes for körnerbrötchen, so many that I forgot which actually turned out to be the best of the bunch... but I can now guarantee that this was the champion among them. The long rise time and preferment create a surprisingly soft and light bun, with the whole wheat and spelt flour still providing plenty of flavour. The grains and seeds can be varied depending on what you have have (sometimes I like to add walnut pieces) and so can the flours- you can also use just whole grain spelt or whole wheat instead of both. The use of diastatic malt and steam in the oven creates a thin, crispy crust to contrast with the tender insides, and an extra sprinkling of seeds on top creates toasty, nutty flavour. While I may not be going to a real German bakery any time soon, these are good enough to pass.

Körnerbrötchen
Adapted from chefkoch.de

For the Preferment:
160 g. All purpose/type 550 flour
160 g. Water
2 g. Fresh yeast, or 1/4 Tsp. Active dry yeast

Mix all well and allow to stand, covered, at room temperature overnight.

For the Soaker:
150 g. Mixed seeds, e.g. Sunflower, flax, sesame, poppy, pumpkin
50 g. Grain flakes, e.g. Rolled oats, rye, barley (Note: I used 200 g. of a King Arthur mix of grains and seeds for both these quantities)
18 g. Salt
200 g. Water

Dissolve the salt in the water. Toast the seeds and grains lightly in a large, unoiled skillet pan over medium heat until fragrant, if desired. Mix the seeds, grains and salty water and let stand covered overnight.

For the Final Dough:

All of above preferment and soaker
450 g. Bread flour
100 g. Whole grain spelt flour
50 g. Whole grain rye or wheat flour
250 g. Water
10 g. Fresh yeast, or 3 g. Active dry yeast
1 Tsp. Diastatic malt powder or honey (optional)
1 TBSP Vital wheat gluten (optional)

Additional flour, oil to grease bowls
About 1/2 C. Grains and seeds, for tops of buns

Mix water with yeast and malt/honey, if using. Mix the flours and gluten in a large bowl or stand mixer and add the water, along with the preferment, and knead until homogeneous. Add the osaker and continue kneading until smooth.

Let rest for 2 hours in an oiled, covered bowl, stretching and folding the dough after 40 and 80 minutes have passed.

Stretch and fold the dough one last time, them stretch out into a large rectangle over a floured surface. Divide into 12-16 pieces with a sharp knife, either triangles or rectangles. Cover and let rise for 1 1/2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 220℃. Dampen the tops of the buns with a spray bottle and sprinkle on additional grains and seeds.

Bake for 10 minutes, spraying at the beginning and end with water from a spray bottle to create steam. Reduce the temperature to 200℃ and bake for another 10-15 minutes.

Neo-Classic (Vegan) Crepes with Pear-Walnut Filling

My experiments with vegan cooking and baking continue! This is a recipe I've tried in both sweet and savoury styles and it goes really well either way. Besan/gram flour/chickpea flour is an excellent egg replacer in a lot of things, and also helps give an eggy flavour/colour as well. It's also nutritious, so. 

I'm a legume lover in any context (and chickpeas are one of my faves) so this recipe was a natural choice. While it doesn't taste anything like chickpeas (probably for the best here) it's absolutely fantastic. 

I modulated the recipe to suit a sweet filling with some vanilla soy milk on top of the water, vanilla extract, and a tablespoon of sugar. I added a spoon of flaxseed meal just because I love it so, and also because it tends to help along the binding of egg-free baked goods et cetera. The potato starch is mostly responsible for that here, however- so you can skip it if you aren't as enthusiastic about flax as me.

Try substituting half the wheat flour for buckwheat for something different. I made them that way in the savoury manner with some vegan cheese and herb-roasted cherry tomatoes and it was delicious. Really, anything you'd put in a standard crepe goes. Here I tried a filling of diced pears, spices and walnuts that's worth a shot since they're in season, and tastes a bit like an autumn pie filling. Nice.

Now for the caveats- it took me a good two practically-inedible misfolds of crepes to get the heat and oil level just right, so don't give up. Try thinning the batter, or lowering/increasing the heat, until you get them to not stick and also cook nice and evenly. Take your time- they go really fast once you get it right, even faster than regular crepes. I made mine a bit on the small side, too, so that they'd be less likely to tear- but I made a couple of big ones and they were just fine. 

I plan to try further variations, maybe with a pseudo-cheese filling using vegan cream cheese, apricots, and so on. I made some with a sour cherry-apricot jam mix and it went well, but a little cheesy action never hurt anyone. 

Neo-Classic Crepes
Adapted from the Bean by Bean: a Cookbook by Crescent Dragonwagon

1 TBSP Flaxseed meal (optional)
2 TBSP Potato starch
1 TBSP Oil, either neutral or with a nice flavour (like olive or nut oil)
about 2 2/3-3 C. water (I used 2 2/3 C. water and 1/3 C. soy milk)
1/2 C. Chickpea flour/besan
2 C. AP flour (I used 1 1/2 C. of AP white flour and 1/2 C. graham flour)

2 Tsp. Vanilla extract and 1 TBSP sugar, if making sweet
1/2 Tsp. Salt (increase to 1 Tsp. if making savoury)

Oil and/or melted vegan butter, to fry

Pulse potato starch, flaxseed meal, oil and salt with 2/3 C. of water in a blender or food processor.
Add the flours, sugar and vanilla (if using), and an additional 2 C. water and blend until completely smooth. Keep adding water (I used vanilla soy milk here) until the consistency is of thin/table cream.

Use right away or refrigerate for up to a week. (I refrigerated it overnight, which I think helps relax the gluten.) When ready to cook, use a cast iron or nonstick pan. Heat to medium high and once hot, add a small amount of oil. Pour some batter onto the oiled pan and tilt to spread around. Cook until the surface no longer looks "wet", then flip. After another 15-30 seconds, take off the pan and place onto a plate to be filled.

Pear-Walnut Filling
Note: this is enough for about half of the above batch of crepes. Make more as you see fit.

5 Small pears, peeled, cored and diced
2 TBSP Sugar
1 Tsp. Vegan butter (optional)
1 Tsp. Vanilla extract
1/2 Tsp. Cinnamon
Generous pinch of cloves
Small handful of walnuts, crumbled to bits

Heat the sugar, spices and vegan butter (if using) on medium-high. Add the pears and mix well. Stir to coat evenly in sugar-spice mixture and cook on medium-high until the juices released are thickened. Add walnut pieces and vanilla and take off heat, covering with a lid, and leave for 5-10 minute to soften while you work on the crepes.

Whole Wheat Butter Biscuits - Petit Beurres

Whenever my family goes to Europe, we somehow end up buying whole wheat butter biscuits. It's just a given. When we go to a grocery store to get some supplementary snacks for our touristing, it's always these- I suspect because the "whole wheat" gives them that health aura that overshadows the "butter biscuit" part for my dad. Well, it's still a biscuit- but I'm not complaining. They're delicious.

I found that they tasted even better than the regular butter biscuits- more nutty and texturally interesting, with the whole wheat flavour complementing the butter well. I decided that I had to try to do it myself, before starting a mad search to buy them at Starsky or the like. They probably have them somewhere, but this way I can ensure they're really all-butter and free of additives.

I used graham flour (from hard red wheat) in my first batch- though I suspect the ones I bought were made with a mixture of whole wheat and white pastry flour, since the texture was way different. Not bad- but different. They're a lot less delicate, but taste fantastic, and everyone who tried them thought them superior to the bought ones. The taste of the butter works very well in the thin, browned biscuit, as well as the taste of toasted whole wheat. The cane sugar was a touch to give a little more complexity to the biscuit, but isn't necessary. The baker's ammonia is likewise an idea I had to make the cookies more biscuit-like and crispy, but baking powder will also work. I didn't roll all mine out to equal thinnesses, regrettably- next time I'll make sure they're all uniformly thin, since many turned out too thick. Getting them very thin will help make them crispy, which is one of my main goals.

The dough is nice in that it holds its shape well, allowing you to make all kinds of cut-outs. I tried out my new cookie cutters, courtesy of the magic of internet shopping, to make both the classic squares and some cute Miffy and panda shapes. Even after baking, the details were there- Nice. There's these stampers you can use to spell messages out on cookie dough that would work great here. It also reminds me of that Polish folk-design stamping rolling pin that I really want. Somebody stop me. 

In my next batch I'll try out soft, white wheat whole grain pasty flour. If that isn't quite right, I'll try a 50/50 blend of white and regular whole wheat and work from there. Until then, these are good enough to hold their own- they'd be awesome in the place of graham crackers for a richer, less sugary taste in crusts or for s'mores. Adding cinnamon or cardamom might also be nice, instead of the vanilla. I'll be making them again to have with tea regularly, freezing any extras for later since they've got enough wheat germ to go stale otherwise.

Even if you don't normally like whole wheat baked goods, try them. Whole wheat can be a very good thing, trust me. It belongs here.

Whole Wheat Butter Biscuits- Petit Beurres
Adapted from Simply So Good

100 g. Butter
1/3 C. Water
100 g. Sugar (I used 60 g. white and 40 g. cane)
1 Tsp. Vanilla
1/2 Tsp. Salt
1/2 Tsp. Baking ammonia, or baking powder
250 g. Graham flour, or any fine whole wheat flour

Melt butter in saucepan. Add water (reserve 2 TBSP), sugar and salt.

Let cool to room temperature. Dissolve ammonia in reserved water (this isn't necessary for baking powder) and add along with vanilla and flour. Knead together and refrigerate at least 3 H.

Preheat oven to 180℃.

Roll out very thin (about 2 mm) and cut into desired shapes. Bake for 8-10 min on parchment..

Graham Crackers

These are some of the most useful things for the aspiring American-style baker. Commercially available almost everywhere are boxes and bags of crackers and crumbs, used to make crusts for pies and tarts, bases for bars, all manner of no-bake sweets, not to mention s'mores. However, a brief look at the ingredients list and you'd never guess that these were originally meant to be a sort of pure, all-natural food created by a reverend to help stave off lustful urges (well, if you say so...). Mind you, the original crackers didn't contain nearly so much sugar either, but that's an adjustment that I certainly don't mind. Otherwise they wouldn't be nearly so good for baking with.

Though the original recipe used only white sugar, some of the distinctive graham flavour comes from molasses and/or honey, so a bit of brown sugar and honey is called for. You also need whole wheat pastry flour (or alternatively, white whole wheat flour) since the whole wheat content is one of the hallmarks of graham crackers. One might not be familiar with the leavener- baker's ammonia. Baker's ammonia usually refers to ammonium carbonate, but I used ammonium bicarbonate (a.k.a Hirschhornsalz or hartshorn), which works just as well - it's sold more and more commonly at well-stocked grocery stores, especially those with lots of Italian or North European products (as the ingredient is used extensively in biscuits there). You need to dissolve the ammonia in water to prevent any lumps from being left in the dough- you really don't want to bite into that. But mixing it with the liquid portion is all you need to do. 

The cinnamon is a matter of taste, but I don't think it'd taste like a proper graham cracker to me without it. Likewise, you don't need to sprinkle it with cinnamon sugar, but it does add a nice touch of flavour and texture.

This recipe is remarkably easy to make vegan- egg replacers won't work everywhere, but since you only need one egg here as a binding agent, an equivalent amount of egg replacer works just as well. This was very handy when I was making these for my Jain friend, so that she could also enjoy some campfire s'mores (along with vegan marshmallows). That also means you don't need any fresh ingredients whatsoever, so you can whip these up whenever. With such an untemperamental and easy to work dough, the only caveat is letting them dry properly for full crispiness- but that's completely effortless, just switch off the oven and let the door stay open a while. Think about how cool you'll look when you tell everyone you make your own graham crackers. It's some domestic goddess level stuff right there.

If you need any more motivation to make these cheap, delicious, preservative-free biscuits in lieu of shifty, extra ingredient-laden, and often expensive storebought ones, consider that they last weeks in a well-sealed container, and months in the freezer. You can keep them on the ready for whenever you feel like making a cheesecake base, an oven-broiler emergency s'more, or something decadent like a seven-layer bar. I have a boxful in my freezer right now! Go for it.


Graham Crackers (easily vegan!)
Adapted from King Arthur Flour

2 C. Whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 C. Sugar
1/4 C. Brown Sugar
2 TBSP Honey
1/2 Tsp. Baker's ammonia (ammonium carbonate) or ammonium bicarbonate
1/4 C. Vegetable oil (or melted butter)
1/4 C. Water (or orange juice)
1 Tsp. Cinnamon
1 Egg, or egg replacer equivalent (I used Ener-G Egg Replacer)
Additional cinnamon sugar (optional)

Whisk together the flour, cinnamon, and sugar. Add the egg (or replacer), honey, and oil. Dissolve the baker's ammonia thoroughly in the water (make sure there's no clumps, lest they burn your mouth if you bite into them) and add. Mix well until a cohesive dough forms, and chill for about 15 minutes to make it easier to work with.

Preheat the oven to 160℃. Divide the dough into two halves. Between sheets of baking parchment, roll out the first piece of dough as thin as possible without tearing it. Remove the upper sheet of parchment, and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar (if desired). Poke with a fork all over and repeat with the second piece of dough. Bake both sheets of dough for 10 minutes. 

Remove from the oven briefly and score lines with a sharp knife to make rectangles of the desired size of your crackers- don't separate them, you can snap them apart later. Place back in the oven for an additional 20-25 minutes, switching the positions of the trays in your oven halfway through for even baking. The crackers will be slightly browned when done, but still soft to the touch- don't keep baking, as they get crisp during the cooling process.

Turn off the oven and let the crackers cool gradually with the oven door ajar. When the air in the oven is at ambient temperature (hover your hand in front of it to see how warm it is) remove the crackers. When completely cool they can be snapped along the lines you cut earlier into individual crackers, or you can leave them as sheets. Keep in a well-sealed container for about 3 weeks in a dry place, or freeze for several months.