Recipe: Basic Broetchen - Another recipe for Hui

Hi Hui,

Here is another recipe for you. After reading about Laugen I kept finding recipes for Laugen Broetchen and Laugenbrezen. I think that the name gets altered from country to country. I believe that this recipe for Broetchen is similar to Laugenbrezen but it is in the shape of a roll and not a pretzel. I thought it was interesting that I found this recipe on a Japanese woman's web-site, hence the chopstick reference! Of all of the web-sites that had Broetchen recipes hers was the most detailed, and since breadmaking can be difficult I thought it was nice she took the time to explain everything. Good Luck!

Basic Broetchen Recipe

200g of flour
4g of dried yeast
3g of sugar
3g of salt
120-130g of lukewarm water
10g of lard

Place flour, dried yeast, sugar and salt in the bowl, and throughly mix them with a wooden spatula.

Add the lukewarm water (35-40 ) quickly to the bowl. (In summer, use "cold" water.)

When the ingredients are moistened, get the dough together with a hand.

Put the dough on a flat board filmed with flour.
Knead for about 5 minutes. When it becomes a little smooth, add the lard. Then knead again for about 10-15 minutes. Knead just like washing it on a washing board. Sometimes throw the dough at the board.

This is an important step and determines the texture of the finished bread. At first the dough is very sticky, but don't be tempted to give up
after 5 minutes!

Pour the warm water (around 40 ) in a large bowl.
Place the dough into the bowl,which has been lightly brushed with oil so that it won't stick,
and cover with a plastic wrapper. Put this bowl onto the large bowl. (Or leave the bowl in
a warm place.)

The dough is well risen. (This takes about 40min.-1hour.) When the dough is ready, it should be doubled in volume and not spring back when pressed with a fingertip.

Do not put the dough in a very hot environment in an attempt to speed up the rising process ! ( It will give an unpleasant flavor to the bread and may damage the yeast action.)

Divide the dough into 6 pieces. (50-55g)

Shape them into balls. Leave them for about 5 minutes covered with a clean cloth.(Bench Time)

With a lightly floured chopstick, hold it down
in the middle of a ball.

Place a each dough apart on the the baking tray
with a baking sheet on the bottom. Leave the tray in a warm place covered with a wet cloth. Or you may put it in the oven with a cup of hot water.

Bread is usually proved one more time before baking. This takes 30-40min. Take care the dough will not be dried.

Bake 15min. in the 180 (this is what it looked like on the web-site, I'm thinking they mean 180 degrees celsius) preheated oven. If they are burned, cover them with a piece of
aluminium foil.

Remove the bread from tray and cool on a wire rack at once.

Home-baked bread doesn't keep as long as the bread available in the market as it has no preservatives. It's best to be eaten on the day of baking, or toasted on the next day. If you want to keep them longer, you had better freeze them. Please enjoy "hot from the oven" !