Guten Tag, Leute! Apologies for the delay in this newsletter. I'm writing this from the other side of the Atlantic. The next several newsletters will be a travelogue of my time in Germany. Get ready for Brot content.
For a long time, I associated the pantheon of great breads with certain places. Think French baguettes and croissants, Italian focaccia, San Fransisco sourdough, the array Indian flatbreads, and Swedish cardamom buns. When I first went to Germany in 2017, I got off of the train from the airport and saw a bakery at the station. I was amazed at the array of different breads they offered. From those Bahnhof chain bakeries to small artisan ones, I remain shocked at the breadth of breads available in Germany, Austria, and German-speaking northern Italy: Simple rolls and pretzels, to massive seeded wheat loaves and brick-like pumpernickel, and on an on.
In my experience, when you ask people about German food, they talk about sausage, sauerkraut, and potatoes. While I love all three of those things, they should start with bread. Like every culture around the globe, each area of the German-speaking world has their own carbohydrate traditions that vary from region to region and village to village. What keeps German breads interesting is that they embrace different grains—wheat (Weizen), rye (Roggen), spelt (Dinkel), and breads of all shapes, sizes, and formats. The breadth of flavors and textures astounds me.
But don't take my word for it. In 2014, UNESCO recognized German bread culture as an intangible cultural heritage because of it's uniqueness and diversity. The German bakers' trade association estimates that bakers create more than 3,000 different types of bread. The nation boasts about 10,000Â bakeries, with about 35,000 outlets. And this isn't even to mention the incredible baking cultures of Austria, Switzerland, the region of South Tyrol, and other German-speaking places.
I don't think German bread gets enough respect. It deserves nothing less than admiration. So I decided to enroll in an intense two-week German bread baking course at the Akademie Deutsches Bäckerhandwerk in Weinheim Germany. The Akademie is essentially the national baking school, that trains German master bakers. (To open your own bakery here, you have to be a master baker, so you need your breaducation.) The Akademie created this course for international baking professionsals who want to learn more about German bread...but need a course in English.
Join me on Instagram to follow along this journey. Hold on to your Lederhosen because the next several newsletters feature all things German bread, German baking, and a detour into German wine.
Don't worry, I won't leave you without a recipe.
In a funny coincidence, this recipe was published the day before I flew off to Germany. Then almost a week later, I learned to make Stollen the authentic German way.
Stollen, in the style of Dinkel’s Bakery
Here is my recreation of the World Famous Stollen, from Dinkel's Bakery in Chicago, which closed in 2022. Stollen is a sturdy, fruit-filled, spiced German bread traditionally sold around Christmastime. Bakers slather the loaf in melted butter and douse it in granulated and powdered sugar. Dinkel’s used a traditional mix of booze-soaked almonds and golden raisins, plus candied pineapple and cashews, which are not found in most classic German Stollen. I made six of these loaves before getting this recipe right.
And in case you forgot, Dinkel means spelt in German.
Follow this link to read the entire story and get the recipe in the Chicago Tribune.
Viel Spaß beim Backen,
Martin