Three great recipes for sourdough bread from three neighbouring countries, not that all-rye sourdough bread as I usually make. However I was using my rye sourdough culture and – of course – added rye flour. Let’s start with a German recipe resulting in two quite impressive loaves:

A year ago – Winter Light and Lemon Cake

Two years ago – Winter’s Here. Time for Spicy Rye Bread

Three years ago – Flammekueche

Heidebrot or Heath Bread adapted from www.hefe-und-mehr.de will make two perfectly shaped loaves even without extra yeast just swimmingly! Visit the website to get the original recipe. Attention: the recipe requires an overnight rest in the fridge (you will need both time AND space in the fridge =)

These are my changes: I refreshed my starter with rye flour instead of regular flour as well as added more rye flour and rye bran to the dough. As I didn’t have buckwheat flour (and was too lazy to make sort of buckwheat meal from grinding the groats), I substituted it with… more rye flour : ) I skipped the addition of fresh yeast as my sourdough was feeling just alright when I refreshed it with such an amount of rye flour.

Result: Two crusty loaves in perfect shape! Add yeast if you’re not so confident in your sourdough culture and also do not skip the  buckwheat flour which will certainly add even more flavour!

The slash on the crust ‘opened’ in a wonderful way on both loaves:

It seems I’ve made photos of this bread from all the angles:

The crumb is moist but airy:

And just imagine the aroma of the freshly baked bread, sourish and rich!

And now let’s try a recipe from Germany’s neighbour, Poland. Although not that artisan-like looking, this bread beats the first recipe by its flavour. I guess the addition of kefir just decided everything!

Polish Bread With Kefir And Flaxseeds adapted from healthy-craving.blogspot.com will make a very tasty, meaty, moist and salty bread. For the entire recipe visit the blog. Attention: this recipe requires time!

My changes: Again I added rye flour and omitted the yeast. I didn’t scatter flax seeds over the top, just slashed it. That’s it!

My bread took extra 20 minutes to get ready: I took it out of the pan and flipped it over (glass pan sometimes makes a moist bottom). The top became a bit too dark but it didn’t hinder the taste.

The crumb: super-moist, dense and chewy!

Result: With all the good there is from the chewy flax seeds! And wonderful with cheese for breakfast too! : ) Just be careful with the top crust!

I think you can even see it on this photo that the slices are really… meaty!

Next stop – France. Let’s add some herbs too or rather rosemary, the French herb par exellence! You will not only get the taste of it with every other bite but will also enjoy the flavour while the bread is in the oven. I took photos of this loaf already after it spent some time in the freezer.

Pain au Romarin or Bread with Rosemary adapted from www.karenskitchenstories.com will make an aromatic breakfast bread. Go to the link to read the entire recipe. Attention: this recipe requires time!

My changes: I refreshed the starter with regular and rye flour and left it for less than 8 hours. As for the final dough, I used less water but did not add any rye flour this time. I used just a little bit of rosemary as sometimes too much of it brings some bitter taste.

I cut the rising time a bit as I was running out of time. As I don’t have a Dutch oven, I used a round glass pan plus an iron cast pan covered with foil.

The crumb: on the dry side, airy.

Result: In contrast to the first two recipes, this is a ‘white’ bread with less sourdough flavour of the three. However, it has this zesty taste from the rosemary that gets between your teeth from time to time. Make it your breakfast bread!

No matter which recipe you choose, you will no doubt enjoy it. A thick slice of flavour-laden bread with cheese or just plain as it is might be the best delicacy that there can be!

More recipes coming!

G.