Quick question: What do you think about German bread?
I need to know!
I fell in love with German bread when I set foot in the country in 2017. After spending three weeks studying German bread baking and visiting bakeries in Germany, I am even more enamored with German bread than ever.
Before I share what I learned at German Bread School (and by eating as much bread as I could), I need to know what you think.
I'm clearly biased, so I need your perspective.
What do you think about German bread? (Or German-inspired bread?)
Does it even cross your mind?
Have you ever tasted German bread?
Why doesn’t it get the love and respect it deserves? (Or does it?)
Let me know in the comments, via email, or on Instagram. I'm collecting the responses for future post.
If you don’t have time to write something (which I hope you do), here’s a quick poll.
I grew up in Germany so I’m probably biased but I love German bread - especially German rye bread. It’s somehow unique - not as sweet as rye bread in Scandinavia tends to be and sour in a more pronounced way with less of a molasses flavour than Eastern European rye bread tends to have. And I find German rye bread pairs exceptionally well with butter, ham and cheese (but less so with sweeter toppings like jam or nut butters if you ask me).
That being said, in my own bread-baking and sourdough experiments I have somehow focussed on the SF / Tartine style loaves - custardy open-crumbed, barely sour etc. and have made very few German style breads.
Hadn’t had any opinion until I was in Germany for 6 weeks and learned it was phenomenally delicious! Who knew? I didn’t. They also had wonderful paper goods, and had been ahead of the US on environmental issues. No plastic cups for condiments at fast food restaurants— catsup went into a tiny edible waffle cups. Other innovations as well. But, back to the subject, the bread was a revelation!