Bauernbrot (German Farmer Bread)

Name: Bauernbrot (German Farmer Bread)
Prep time: 1 h
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 1 h 50 min
Yield: 6-8 serving(s)
Ingredients: 20 1/4 fluid ounces water (luke-warm); 1 (1/4 ounce) packet active dry yeast; 3 1/4 teaspoons non-iodized salt; 5 1/2 cups bread flour; 2 1/4 cups rye flour

Submitted by Grunig

"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"."

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photo by mammafishy

Ready In:: 1hr 50mins
Ingredients:: 5
Serves:: 6-8

ingredients

20 ¹⁄₄ fluid ounces water (luke-warm)
1 (1/4 ounce) packet active dry yeast
3 ¹⁄₄ teaspoons non-iodized salt
5 ¹⁄₂ cups bread flour
2 ¹⁄₄ cups rye flour

directions

Dissolve yeast in water.
Knead flour and salt into water mixture creating a smooth dough (Optimal when dough easily comes out of the mixing bowl).
Let rise in a warm place for 20 min in a covered, greased bowl.
Place a baking pan in bottom of oven and preheat to 480 Deg F.
Reknead the dough for a short time and form into a loaf. (or 2, a shorter baking time will result).
Place on a greased baking sheet (baking stone). Cover with damp cloth and let the dough rest until doubled in height (aprox 30-60 min) Tip: for a nicer crust brush the loaf with buttermilk, yogurt or coffee periodically. Do not let the surface of the dough dry out.
Place the dough and with its baking sheet in the oven. Then pour some boiling water into the baking sheet that is already in the bottom of the oven. (to quickly create steam in the oven)
Lower the oven temperature to 430 Deg F.
Bake the loaf until desired brownness (40-60 min).
To test for doneness, knock on bottom of loaf. If it produces a hollow sound it is ready to remove from oven and place on cooling rack until cool.

Questions & Replies

For Connie O - for some reason food.com is refusing to permit replies to some questions. Sometimes the nutrition software misses an ingredient. In any event, this is more like 20 servings, it's almost 9 cups of flour. You can also reduce the salt - older recipes use more salt than we tend to today. I typically use 1/2 tsp salt for 3 cups flour.

duonyte
I am kind of wondering about your nutrition information. You put down that there is only 6mg of sodium in a bread serving of 190g. How can this be? You have us add 19.49 grams of Salt, that would be a total of 19490 mg. If I divide this by let's say your stated 8 servings, it would mean that 190 grams of bread would have a total of 2436.25 mg of sodium. That is super unhealthy. Especially when you should not have more than 2000 mg of salt per day. Is there maybe a missprint in your recipe?

Connie O.
Don't you mean makes 1 load and not stating 1 serving as no one is going to sit down and eat the entire loaf at one time. So you calories needs to be per slice not loaf, and approximate number of slices per loaf.

clk_49

Reviews

Over the last three weeks I’ve made this bread 5 times. I didn’t have rye flour the first two times, so the first time I substituted an equal amount of whole wheat in place of the rye. It turned out very good, and raised beautifully. The second time I did equal amounts of bread flour and whole wheat. Again, it turned out well. The third time I had rye flour, but I killed the yeast. (Must have got the water too hot!) Naturally, this loaf was extremely dense. The fourth and fifth time I followed the recipe to a tee and got excellent results. Also, I’ve varied between baking it in one loaf and two smaller loaves. Definitely more manageable in two! An added tip: Even though the bread doesn’t expand much in the oven, I have taken to scoring it. I’ve noticed less air pockets in the bread when scored, versus when not scored.
joelknox13
I've made this bread four times now (four weeks in a row). Once in the bread maker and the other times in the oven. Hands down it's best in the oven (nicer hand made texture and great crust). The first couple times I had a hard time getting it to rise but this last time it rose beautifully. I realized the difference this last time was after letting the bread sit in a warm place for 20 minutes, I fully kneaded it not only with my hands but also took the rolling pin to it for about 2 minutes. This must have activated the yeast and the prior times I only kneaded it for a few seconds. My husband is from Germany (has not even been the U.S. for two full years yet) and he has really missed the good German bread from Germany. He loves this bread and says it tastes exactly like the bread he always ate in Germany. Thanks for a great recipe!!

tevs5276
I picked this recipe for the April 2008 "Flower Power" challenge and I wasn't sorry I did. Excellent bread! I made ruebens with this recipe, using recipe #211647 and recipe #211645. Thanks for sharing a keeper!

mammafishy
Thanks sooooo much for this recipe!!! It is totally authentic tasting and almost perfect. I did find it to be a little crumbly so I did some research and found that adding 2-3 T. of potato flour gave it a better texture. My German m-i-l says her neighbor adds a cooked, grated potato when she makes this type of bread Also, kingarthurflour.com has some awesome stuff called Rye Bread Improver and Rye Sour that you can use to add a little more rye flavor, if you like it that way. I baked grunig's bread with these extra ingredients and my in-laws were in awe of it when they visited from Germany last week. Thanks again for this superb recipe!!

Kayline
It is a good recipe, but it needs more water. The dough should be soft and elastic. It makes a great sandwich bread. I made the bread this weekend.8.1.2013

Lusi23