Bauernbrot (German Farmer's Bread)
If you love hearty bread, Bauernbrot is for you! This German rye bread brings authentic flavor and texture together in one easy-to-make loaf.
German Bread
Germans love their bread dense and hearty.
Rye flour is a common addition to their loaves, giving them a darker color and very heavy texture.
In fact, rye is such a common bread ingredient that German breads are classified by the amount of rye content they contain.
- Weizenbrote - "wheat bread" - at least 90% wheat
- Weizenmischbrote - "mixed wheat bread" - wheat and rye bread with 50-89% wheat
- Roggenbrote - "rye bread" - at least 90% rye
- Roggenmischbrote - "mixed rye bread" - rye and wheat with 50-89% rye
- Vollkornbrote - "whole grain bread" - breads made with ground whole grains
(Information from GermanFoodGuide.com.)
Since we're big fans of hearty bread, we really love the fact that there's no wimpy bread when it comes to traditional German bread.
Forget American white bread!
In fact, Germans sometimes refer to their wheat bread (weizenbrote) as "white bread", since it is so much lighter in color and flavor than the rye breads.
When we traveled in Germany, we were often offered the choice between white or brown bread for breakfast or with lunch. We typically went with brown bread, since we love hearty bread, and we thought that "white bread" would be what we think of as white bread here in the States.
Imagine our surprise when we decided to try something different for one meal and ordered "white bread". What we received was still a golden brown, grainy wheat, just not quite as dense and heavy as the rye breads that we had been eating!
German Farmer's Rye Bread
Bauernbrot means "farmer's bread", and, as the name implies, it is more common to find this kind of bread on farms. It is a bit heartier than a standard landbrot (or "country bread") because farmers need a bread that will stick with them!
We found that farmer's bread tends to fall in the Roggenbrote or Roggenmischbrote categories, meaning that it is so hearty because it is over 50% rye.
And, like many German breads, it uses a sourdough starter to give the bread rise and develop a beautiful, lightly sour, flavor.
As if rye and sourdough don't pack enough flavor, many of these breads are also seasoned with one or a mixture of spices known as "German bread spice".
What is German Bread Spice?
One thing you will notice when eating German rye bread is that it has a very characteristic flavor. Many of the recipes we found called for "German bread spice", which seemed to be key to creating that authentic German flavor.
German bread spice is a mixture of spices that typically includes caraway, anise, fennel, and coriander. The sweet, yet savory flavor of these spices adds a wonderful depth and sweetness to the rye bread.
In addition to adding flavor, they are wonderful medicinal spices that aid in digestion.
Rye bread packs a lot of fiber, and mixing these spices right into the bread gives your digestive system a little extra help breaking all that fiber down.
Our Bauernbrot Recipe
In Germany, breads can differ drastically based on region, meaning that a bauernbrot from one area's farms won't necessarily taste like a bauernbrot from another region's farms.
Our bauernbrot recipe creates a dense and hearty bread that is heavy on the rye but has enough wheat flour mixed in to create a balanced, hearty bread. And, of course, we included German bread spice to give the full effect of authentic German flavor.
We do use a sourdough starter for this bread, as is quite traditional in German bread making, but if you're not used to working with sourdough, don't worry. Our recipe walks you through making the simple sourdough starter, and this starter only needs to rest for 24 hours before making the bread.
That means no multiple days of feeding and care before you can finally get your bread into the oven!
If you love hearty bread that is perfect for winter soups or spreading with creamy cheese spreads, then we are confident that you will love this German rye bread recipe!
Bauernbrot (German Farmer's Bread)
Ingredients
For the Starter
- 1 c (115 g) unbleached all purpose flour
- 1 c (120 g) rye flour
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 c water, warmed to 80F
- 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
For the Dough
- 1 c (120 g) rye flour
- ½ - ¾ c (57 - 86 g) unbleached all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon whole caraway seeds
- ½ teaspoon ground anise
- ½ teaspoon whole fennel seeds
- ½ teaspoon ground coriander seeds
- 1 ½ teaspoon salt
For baking
- 1 egg white beaten with 1 tablespoon water (for the egg wash)
- Cornmeal (to dust the baking sheet)
Instructions
- Mix all starter ingredients in a large bowl. Cover the starter with plastic wrap and let it rest on the counter for 24 hours, until very bubbly.
- Using a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, add all the dough ingredients to the starter, starting with ½ c all purpose flour. Add the remaining all purpose flour as needed to help the dough come together. Knead on the mixer for 1-2 minutes, until a soft and slightly sticky ball of dough forms.* (Alternately, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead by hand for 5-7 minutes.)
- Shape the kneaded dough into a ball. Cover it with a damp tea towel and let it rise in a warm, draft-free place for roughly 2 hours, until puffy and nearly doubled.
- Knead the dough a couple of times (using added flour on your hands has needed) and shape it into its final round shape, pressing to flatten the round slightly. Place the shaped dough onto a cornmeal-dusted baking sheet. Brush the top of the dough with a little of the egg white mixture and cut a few slices in the top of the dough, using a serrated knife. Let the shaped dough rise in a warm, draft-free place for 40-50 minutes, until puffy.
- Near the end of the final rising time, preheat your oven to 425F.
- Bake the bread at 425F for 20-30 minutes, until the bread sounds hollow when tapped or a thermometer inserted into the center of the bread registers 180-185F.
- Remove the bread from the baking sheet, and let it cool at least 10-15 minutes on a wire rack before cutting and serving.
Notes
Sarah founded Curious in 2010 as a way to save her recipe creations and share culinary experiences. Her love for cultural cuisines was instilled early by her French Canadian Grandmother. Her experience in the kitchen and in recipe development comes from over 10 years working in professional kitchens. She has traveled extensively and enjoys bringing the flavors of her travels back to create easy-to-make recipes.
Hello. In the process of making this. Would it be a problem to let the starter ferment for two instead of one day? Thanks
Hi Diana. I'd be afraid 2 days would be a bit much for the starter to go without feeding it. If you want to leave it that long, I would suggest letting it ferment for 6-12 hours, then refrigerate it for a day, then letting taking it back out to the counter to ferment for the final 12 hours before using. If you try it this way, let me know how it turns out!
Hi. I ended up letting the sourdough go for about 30 hours due to my schedule. It was great! I also added 1 Tbs of vital wheat gluten when adding the second flours and 1 TBS of dill pickle juice. I know that's for Jewish rye but it needed some additional moisture. I couldn't tell bit my husband loved the hint of sour. I let it raise in a Brotform and baked on a pre-heated pizza stone. It's a keeper! A friend just gave me a sourdough starter so I might use that the next time I bake it. It had a beautiful crunchy crust and perfect inside texture. Will likely be a staple! Thanks for the tips!
Thanks for sharing what you did! So glad you enjoyed it!
Hi Sarah,
What adjustments would you suggest for baking this in a sandwich loaf pan?
Hi Srikanth. For a loaf pan, it might just take slightly longer to bake. I would suggest checking it every 5 minutes or so after 35 minutes and using a thermometer to make sure the internal temperature of the loaf is at least 180F. Then you know the inside is done.
Very disappointed with this recipe. My husband and I are experienced bakers of bread, and followed the recipe to the letter. The results was something that resembled a round brick. I lived in Germany for many years, and always love a chance to replicate the delicious breads of that country. Yes, German bread is dense but this.......was inedible. The starter itself looked very promising, but after kneading in the rest of the ingredients, it just didn't seem right. I will go back to using my old recipe for Bauernbrot.
Hi Kim. I'm sorry you and your husband had such trouble with this recipe. We re-tested it last night for dinner and while the kneading time could be cut down slightly (which we have adjusted the times in the recipe) our bread came out just fine. It's hard to say what went wrong with your loaf. I have had trouble with extra-dense rye breads if I don't let them rise for long enough, so possibly your rising location was cooler and the noted times weren't quite enough to get a rise. I'm not sure about your other bauernbrot recipe, but this loaf is over 50% rye, which means it will be more dense than a rye loaf with a lower percentage.
Wow! This is the tastiest ryebread I have ever made! Reminded me so much of the bakery I lived opposite in Germany 25 years ago. Top marks for the recipe!
Thanks Alex! So glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Great rundown on German breads! Learned a lot about them even after eating them in the USA and Europe for many decades.
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed our info!
How long after making the starter can it be left before using after the 24 hour period?
Hi Jane. You will want to use your starter pretty soon after the 24 hour period. Leaving it a few more hours shouldn't be that big of a deal, but more than 1-2 and it really will need to be fed.
Thank you, I made or rather started the bread within an hour after the 24 hour period, but I must have scewed up somewhere, the starter was nice and bubbly but my dough did not rise. I am going to bake it anyway and will make bread crumbs I guess. I made it using my processor which is what I always use fro bread making.
Hi Jane. Using a food processor is not recommended for sourdough breads, as the blade will sever the gluten strands, which are necessary to create the structure for the rising of the bread. Likely that is why your bread didn't rise.
Hello, what if I already have a starter that’s similar - one that I would like to use in lieu of the one mentioned. How much of the starter I already have should I use?
Thanks!
Hi Sam. You could use 1 cups (or roughly 1 pound) of starter. Just be sure that the hydration is similar to the recipe, otherwise you may have to adapt your liquid in your bread dough. Enjoy!
I want to try this recipe but just as I started I noticed that it only had 1 cup of water, could this be correct? I am used to 65-75 hydration.
Hi Tom. Yes, this is correct. If you live in a particularly dry climate, you can increase it a bit, but with the fermentation, the flour hydrates nicely. This bread is also intended to be a bit dense. If your preference is for a 65-75 hydration loaf, and you are familiar with baking bread and comfortable adjusting the dough, then go ahead and give it a try with a bit more water. The texture may not be quite as traditional, but if you enjoy it more, that's the important part. Enjoy!
Can this bread be baked in a dutch oven?
Thank you.
Hi Grace. I would believe you could bake this in a Dutch oven. However, I am not familiar with baking bread that way. I would sugggest you follow the baking times in a recipe for a whole wheat Dutch oven bread if you'd like to try it. Let us know how it turns our for you!
Hi I was wondering can I use instant yeast compared to active dry yeast.
Hi Jennifer. Yes, you can use instant yeast in place of the active dry. Enjoy!
One question do you put the damp towel on the dough or cover the bowl with it
Hi Christa. You could do either. This dough is fairly stiff, so we like to simply leave it on the counter, covered with a lightly damp towel to rise (if our kitchen is warm enough). If the kitchen is cooler, then we’ll put it back in the bowl and cover the bowl, so we can more easily put in in a warmer spot. Enjoy!
I would love to make this bread as my grandfather was a master baker in East Germany. Do you think the recipe would be significantly altered with whole wheat flour instead of AP flour and if I left out the anise, fennel seeds and caraway seeds? I would love to add them, but don't have any on hand. Thanks and I can't wait to try a slightly different version of this bread!
Hi Hanni. What a fun way to remember your grandfather! Leaving our the spices will change the flavor, but the bread will still work well without them. You could replace the AP flour with whole wheat, just add it slowly as you knead, because whole wheat flour will absorb more of the liquid, so you will likely need less than is called for. (Using whole wheat flour will also probably cause the bread to rise a bit slower and be a bit more dense after baking.) Enjoy!
This recipe sounds just like what my mother has been describing to me. Can this dough be divided to make buns?
Hi Michele. We have never tried making this as buns, but I would imagine you could. I would start checking them after 10 minutes in the oven for the smaller size. Enjoy!
Ok, I had never made bread like this before and all I had was AP flour, but I followed the instructions carefully and I have an old cast iron Dutch oven. I have to tell you that this was the best bread I have ever eaten. Beautifully crusty on the outside and soft with outstanding flavor and great consistency on the inside. I used sugar instead of honey. I am over the moon about this recipe. Thanks so much for sharing it. I will be making this often.
So glad you enjoyed the bread Janet!
strongly advise that you leave out the honey.
Honey when heated becomes toxic.
This is well known in the world's oldest system of health, Ayurveda of India.
Hi Roger. Thanks for sharing your concerns. We are aware of the Ayurvedic tradition that heated honey is something to be avoided, but for this recipe we opted to stick with the traditional German preparation. If you would prefer to avoid heating honey, you can always substitute the honey for granulated sugar in this recipe.