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Bread Advice Please

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

I CANNOT find the gorgeous dark, dense, multi-grain, seeded type of bread I love to eat when I am back in Seattle. It's very Dutch, and when I'm in the Netherlands, I eat it daily with butter, cheese, veg and fruit. It's one of my favourite meals on earth. See pic.

I can bring back the best Dutch cheese - vacuum packed from the cheese farmer right outside my Dad's apartment. But the bread is the problem. I need to make it.

Soooo, has anyone got a good recipe for this type of bread? Should I get a bread maker?

Me and yeast have a turbulent relationship so yeast tips are appreciated.

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54 replies

Latest reply was from Staysfit

Joyce B

Veteran

Angie what is that bread called? Maybe King Arthur Flour has a recipe for it or it's in one of their books?

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

Thanks, Joyce. I would like a tried and tested recipe by someone I know, though.

Joyce B

Veteran

I hope you will find it and I would love to try the recipe as well.

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

Lets hope this thread helps us, Joyce. If I remember correctly Texstyle and EmilyK bake bread. But they might bake white breads....

Emily K

(website)

Veteran

Angie, I make all kinds of bread, but not one that sounds as you describe. I do have one yeast-baking tip, though...use spring water. Our tap water has been sufficiently chlorinated that I believe it retards yeast activity. There's a big difference when using bottled spring water. (Or maybe you have a Brita, that works also.) Also, if you are using a big 'ole ceramic or steel bowl, it is worth it to pre-heat the bowl with hot water before proofing the yeast--a big, cool bowl can suck all the heat out of your proofing water and your yeast will be slow.

If no one chimes in, I can look for a suitable recipe in a bread book that is tried and tested.

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

Thanks, Emily. Good tips. Do you use fresh yeast - and if so, where do you buy it?

Should I get a bread maker?

Anonymous

I make bread with my KitchenAid stand mixer and sometimes with my Zojirushi bread machine. I much prefer the mixer. I just taught myself to make bread with the manual that came with it, and then branched out from there. King Arthur Flour provides well-tested recipes and great tips. I'd be very surprised if they didn't have a recipe for the type of bread you describe. We are able to get great whole grain seeded bread at our local Kroger for only $1.88/loaf, so I don't bake bread as much as I used to. When I retire 2 years from now, I'll get back to baking. I love making bread and pizza dough.

annagybe

(website)

Veteran

Not a baker. But have you visited Larsen's Bakery?
I remember they have dark breads

Emily K

(website)

Veteran

Angie, I prefer Fleischmann's dry yeast. Or Red Star. I have only ever had one failure to rise or to perform as expected. My mom uses fresh yeast. She buys it at Central Market in Shoreline.

*I* would not use a bread machine. Making bread by hand allows you to create artisanal results--and all sorts of breads--just by varying the proportions of 3-4 ingredients and a few steps. (The process is magical, once you get a feel for it, and also extremely forgiving.) In contrast, I think bread machines turn out very serviceable white sandwich bread and also varieties of quick-breads. The avid cooks I know who use bread machines knowingly trade artisanal results for convenience.

rachylou

Veteran

No no, no bread maker! Waste of money! What you might want to experiment with is baking bread stove top in a cast iron pot.

What trouble have you had with yeast? I don't use fresh yeast because it's impractical.

I'm thinking your bread may be a rye bread... try a search on 'bruin brood' or 'volkorenbrood'...

Sara L.

Veteran

Well, I'm of the other opinion - I have a bread maker and I love it. I use mine all the time. However, I'm not home during the day and would never make bread if it weren't for the bread maker. I put all the ingredients in, set the timer, and voila! homemade bread to go with dinner when I get home. Sometimes I use it to make dough, like for pizza or rolls, and then bake it separately in my oven.

Emily K

(website)

Veteran

My book, Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads, gives a recipe for Dutch Roggerbrood, "a solid loaf of unleavened rye to be sliced wafer thin and served buttered with thin slices of ham and cheese. It is one of three kinds of breads served at a Dutch breakfast." This bread is unleavened (yea! no yeast!) and is steamed for 3 hours and baked for one.

ETA: A second Dutch recipe from the same book is for Sprouted Wheat Bread. "This loaf is all whole wheat--from the whole-wheat sprouts cultivated for several days to a dough made only with whole-wheat flour. It is a delicious deep-crusted loaf with a rich wheat flavor found only in an all-wheat loaf." And then you have to grow your own sprouted wheat! For 3-4 days! And save the sprouting water for the bread! Hmmmm..no wonder I haven't made this recipe.

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

Thanks, Emily. I can get pumpernickel here. And good pumpernickel too. I love it. The bread I want to create has yeast. It's fluffy and dense. Problem is that the bread I make never rises. You can build houses with the bricks of bread I've made. Perhaps you have a multigrain brown bread recipe? Dark. Rye flour is fine.

BC, good to know. Why do you prefer the mixer?

Sara, I can imagine how handy a bread maker can be when you work all day.

Rachy, do you make bread on the stove? Sounds fab.

Anna, I've heard of that Bakery. Ballard is fffaaaaarrrrr away from Madrona unfortunately.

Elle

Veteran

I don't have that recipe but will follow this thread religiously. I love that type of bread. I do bake bread and have had my share of brick loaves. Here are some suggestions (which you may already know).

Start any dry yeast with warm water and sugar to make sure it bubbles, use room temperature ingredients, and most importantly, knead it sufficiently to develop the gluten. Some of the flours (like rye) that you might use in this kind of loaf have less gluten than white flour so you need to whack the heck out of it (to use technical terms).

This kind of dough (particularly with seeds in it) will also need a longer and slower period to rise and it will help if the recipe contains honey, sugar or molasses to feed the yeast.

Emily K

(website)

Veteran

Angie, In your attached photo, is that the bread in the upper left? So it is not a large loaf...and it is coated with the mixed seeds which looks to include sunflower seeds? How much sweetness does this bread have? Would you think that there is molasses or brown sugar or honey as an ingredient?

I have a few recipes in mind, although my taste runs towards ciabatta and classic French loaves, and Hawaiian bread!, and also to dark, sweet, molasses-y breads.

Joyce B

Veteran

The yeast I use for heavier breads is Saf instant gold. I have made spelt challah with it.

Anonymous

Angie, kneading dough with the stand mixer gives me better control of the dough - how much flour or water to add. I don't have that level of control with the bread machine. I love my bread machine for what it's good for, but I love my stand mixer more.

As for yeast, I use SAF instant yeast. I've used Fleishmann's active dry yeast, too. I store yeast in the freezer and get out what I need ahead of time to let it come to room temp.

If you're just starting out, it's a good idea to have a thermometer to test the water temp before adding the yeast. This is for recipes where the yeast is dissolved in water before being added to the flour.

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

Thanks for the excellent yeast tips Joyce, BC and Elle.

Emily, the bread in the pic is actually a large triangular roll, which the B&B bakes themselves. DELECTABLE. Sunflower seeds on top. The bread was not sweet, but I am NOT opposed to sweet bread. It just needs to be very dark and quite dense. (I'm not generally a fan of white bread). Thanks for your help.

rachylou

Veteran

If your bread isn't rising - and yet the yeast is fresh - you might need to fake a proofer. Put the dough in the oven with an empty bowl - with the oven off - then pour boiling water into the empty bowl and close the oven door. Warm and steamy. You may need to refresh the boiling water from time to time.

Stove top is a fun way to do bread. That's how they did it before the home oven

annagybe

(website)

Veteran

https://www.larsensbakery.com/breads/

annagybe

(website)

Veteran

Well there's the Lynden Dutch Bakery. But it's so far north that it's practically in Canada

annagybe

(website)

Veteran

Bothell?
http://www.hillcrestbakery.com/
There's also a Dutch restaurant in Lynden, must have been a settlement back in the day.
Heck I want to go to Lynden now

Emily K

(website)

Veteran

Angie, Maybe you can ask the B&B to share their recipe and we "test bakers" can have a go with it.

shiny

Veteran

I totally know what you mean, when I lived in Vienna, I too loved the bread, and have never been able to find anything quite like it in the States.

I am no baker but did have a bread machine at one point and agree it's a waste of money, and will not produce this dense sort of bread.

My understanding (before I gave up) is that yeast is local. You need a starter, direct from across the sea source. Also the chlorinated vs spring water -- never considered that but may play a role!

Bread is ALIVE.

Gaylene

Veteran

Well, I spent months trying to recreate the "breakfast bread" we ate with cheese every morning in Norway. Some recipes required ingredients which were impossible to source in North America, while one required a rye starter which needed to be monitored for three days. *eyerolling*

But, honestly, the one my family liked best was this Lazy Man's Bread based on a Nigella Lawson recipe that I found on The Transplanted Baker's blog years ago. There's no kneading, rising, or shaping, but you get a moist, seedy, dense bread without the sourness of the traditional Danish rye loaf. It's amazing with cheese--and did I mention it's dead simple.

Lazy Man's Bread
*Makes one-midsized loaf

1 cup plus 2 Tablespoons (250ml) buttermilk
1 cup plus 2 Tablespoons (250ml) water
2 cups (250g) whole-wheat flour (I use a grainier local stone-ground flour)
1/2 cup (50g) rye flour
2 1/4 teaspoons (1/4 oz./7 g) active dry yeast
1/4 cup (50g) rolled oats (not instant)
1 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon sugar (I've used different sweeteners--apple butter, brown sugar, appelstroop, or molasses--pick whatever you like)
8 Tablespoon blend of any of the following (preferably all of the following):
-wheat germ
-sunflower seeds
-flaxseeds (linseeds)
-pumpkin seeds
-wheatbran

1. Mix the milk and water together in a measuring cup, and combine all the other ingredients in a large bowl.

2. Pour the liquid into the dry ingredients, stirring all the while, to make a sticky mixture.

3. Butter your loaf pan well, scrape the dough into the pan, sprinkle a few extra seeds and oats over the surface of the bread, and place in a cold oven.

4. Turn on oven to 225F/100C and after 30 minutes, turn it up to 350F/175C for one hour.

5. When the loaf begins to get nice and brown, take it out of the oven, run a butter knife along the sides of your pan and carefully remove the bread. (*Nigella recommends poking the bread with a cake tester or fine skewer to make sure it's done, ie: the skewer will come out clean). I like to return the loaf to the oven for an extra 10-15 minutes without the pan to get a dryer crust. Allowing the bread to cool thoroughly on a rack will prevent the insides from getting gummy.

This recipe is easy enough to experiment with so adapt away until you get the graininess, sweetness, and seediness you prefer.

Emily K

(website)

Veteran

Gaylene, That sounds fantastic--I'm going to try it for sure.

rachylou

Veteran

That does sound like a great recipe, Gaylene. I quite like Nigella Lawson. Think she's brilliant for cooking at home.

DizzyLizzy

Gaylene, that recipe sounds both delicious and easy to make. I'll be trying it for sure.

rachylou

Veteran

...Oh and yes, Gaylene, I gave up making baguettes at home. Because 1) it's hard for me to make just one loaf of bread (what can be done with even just SIX a week, I ask) and 2) the starter was more demanding pet-wise than Lilypup...

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