Partybrot: German Bread Recipe
Friday, December 23, 2011 - 01:16
German recipes aren't a common occurrence in my kitchen. Most often, they come about when I'm dreaming up recipe ideas for a special occasion or a dish for a school party. Each year, my daughter's school has all the German students make a recipe to bring in and share. This year, Frau said no German Chocolate Cake, since that’s what everyone wants to bring.
Last year, we made Homemade German Pretzels and those went over very well. Since my daughter and I suspected that many other students would bring desserts, we opted for something a bit different: partybrot, a german bread recipe. This is actually very easy, but something I would have never tried normally. I can’t tell you what they taste like as they have to go to school tomorrow, but I can tell you they smell wonderful. It was hard resisting the temptation to pull one of those sections off!
A bit about this german bread: Traditional partybrot (it’s pronounced “broat” like boat) is coated with an egg wash just before baking and sprinkled with poppy seeds and sesame seeds. Since I was short on the poppy seeds, I went with sesame seeds and coarse salt. Hopefully Frau and the students won’t mind! I think I baked this one a tad long, so I have rewritten the recipe to reflect what I believe to be the right time.
After preparing the dough and letting it rise, separate it into 19 pieces. (Check out my tips, below, on how to do this uniformly). Then place them in the buttered pan, cover, and let them rise. After they’ve risen, brush them with egg wash and sprinkle seeds (sesame and poppy). then bake. Fabulous!
Tips: The easiest and most accurate way to separate the dough into 19 equal pieces is by using a simple kitchen or postage scale. Place the dough on the scale to get the full weight. Convert the total weight from pounds to ounces, then divide the total number of ounces by 19. That will give you approximately how many ounces each of the pieces should weigh. Weigh the pieces of dough on a scale to get this more accurate. It works perfectly and it will yield nice uniform sections!
Partybrot: German Party Bread (adapted from That’s My Home)
1 cup milk, separated
2 1/2 teaspoons dry yeast
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 tablespoons sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 teaspoons salt
4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 egg beaten for egg wash
Warm milk in the microwave for 30-40 seconds until lukewarm. Sprinkle yeast into 1/2 cup of the milk in a bowl. Leave for 5 minutes; then stir to dissolve. Combine remaining 1/2 cup of milk with melted butter and sugar. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Beat in eggs until evenly combined. Mix flour and salt in large bowl. Make well in center and pour in dissolved yeast and butter mixture. Use wooden spoon to mix in flour to form a soft, sticky dough.
Turn dough out onto floured work surface. Knead until smooth, shiny and elastic about 10 minutes. Knead in extra flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, if dough is too sticky. Resist adding too much flour, as dough should not be dry, but soft. Put dough in an oiled bowl and cover with dish towel. Let rise until doubled about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Punch down, then let rest for 10 minutes.
Grease a 9.5″ springform pan with some melted butter. Divide dough into 19 equal pieces (see tip below). Shape each piece of dough into a smooth ball by pressing down with the heel of your palm, then rolling around against the counter to create the ball. Arrange shaped rolls in prepared pan by making an outer ring of 12 rolls, an inner ring of 6 rolls, placing last roll in center of 2 rings. Cover pan with dish towel and proof until doubled about 45 minutes.
Brush top of each roll with egg glaze and sprinkle alternately with sesame and poppy seeds. Bake in preheated 425° F. oven for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Place pan onto a wire rack to cool slightly. Remove the springform from the rolls and place on a plate. Serve immediately.
Amanda Formaro is the crafty, entrepreneurial mother of four who loves to bake, cook, make kids' crafts and create decorative items for her home. She is a crafting expert and guru in the kitchen, and is the Home & Garden channel editor for Craft Gossip, and owner of FunFamilyCrafts.com. You can see her crafty creations on Crafts by Amanda and her delicious recipes on Amanda's Cookin'.
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