Swabian Poor Souls – ‘Schwäbische Seelen’

There are several theories regarding the origin of this bread’s strange name: Seelen, translated as poor souls. It appears to be of a religious nature and linked to All Souls’ Day, a commemoration day met on 2^nd November in the Catholic Church calendar. In the region of Swabia food, including Seelen bread, was given as a symbolic offering tothe  poor souls in purgatory, because congregations believed that this would bring them a rich harvest in the following year.

However, to be honest it is not the religious connection that interests me, but the taste and specific texture of this lovely bread. Seelen are large, savoury bread rolls sprinkled with caraway seeds and coarse sea salt.  On the inside they are particularly fluffy and moist owing to the use of very soft dough and spelt flour instead of wheat. In the Stuttgart region Seelen are often eaten for breakfast fresh from the bakery. Another popular variation is to eat them as hot sandwiches filled with ham and cheese. Personally, I would describe this bread as the Swabian equivalent to the baguette or ciabatta. I like serving Seelen with vegetable stew or soup especially in the autumn and winter.

This recipe makes about 6 large Seelen

500g white spelt flour

20g fresh yeast (or one sachet dry)

300 ml warm water

2 tsp salt

For sprinkling: caraway seeds and coarse sea salt

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water and knead all ingredients for about 10 minutes to get soft and fairly sticky dough. Leave to rise in a warm place for about 60 minutes. After 20 minutes and 40 minutes of rising knead the dough again briefly with wet hands. 

When the dough has risen turn it out onto a lightly floured wooden board. With wet hands shape it into a square of about 20 cm. Use a wet knife to cut the dough into six strips. Wet the hands again and transfer the strips onto a baking sheet lined with baking paper. Don’t worry if the Seelen at this point look like a sticky mess, this is quite intentional and they will look rustic once baked.  The sticky dough gives the Seelen their distinctive, chewy texture and open crumb. Cover with a clean dish towel and leave to rise for another 20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to about 240 degrees and place a bowl of water on the bottom shelf. 

When the Seelen are ready to go into the oven wet them again with your hands and sprinkle with caraway seeds and coarse sea salt. Bake for about 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Tarte flambée – Flammkuchen

Flammkuchen is a cross-border specialty that can typically be found in the French Alsace region as well as in the Baden and Pfalz regions of Germany. Although it is not entirely typical of my own home region, I wanted to include it in this blog because a) it is incredibly tasty and b) it is a somewhat more elegant version of my last recipe, the Zwiebelkuchen. Flammkuchen literally translates as ‘flame cake’. This is because, traditionally, they were baked in wood-fired stone ovens while the flames were still too hot for baking bread. Villagers thus made most of the firewood; and the time it took to bake a Flammkuchen allowed them to gauge when the oven was ready for the bread. 

I remember going to a traditional restaurant serving Flammkuchen in the city I grew up in. The waitress kept bringing out large Flammkuchen on wooden boards to be shared by everyone around the table until we asked her to stop. The meal was usually finished with a sweet variation of the tart, topped not with onions and bacon, but with cream and fruit. We didn’t get to go there often and it always was a really special treat.

If only I had known back then how quick and easy those Flammkuchen are to make. Only very recently, having just returned from a cycling holiday through the vineyards of Alsace and Baden, I decided to give it a go and I was amazed how easy it is to recreate an authentic looking and tasting Flammkuchen. (I am also now, with hindsight, amazed at the prices they get away with in Alsace). This crispy and savoury tart can be served with a salad as a main meal, but it is also excellent as a snack with a nice glass of wine.

The following recipe is for two pizza-sized Flammkuchen (they are very thin so two people will easily eat this with a salad as a main meal).

For the dough:

200g flour (I used a mixture of type 00 and plain white)

120 ml water

A few pinches of salt

2 tbsp oil

For the topping:

150 g crème fraîche or sour cream

1 large onion, halved and cut into thin slices

80 g bacon lardons or bacon cut into thin strips

Salt and pepper

Mix the flour with water, salt and oil and knead until you have a smooth and elastic ball of dough that is not sticky (add more flour or water if required). Cover in cling film and leave to relax for a while.

Preheat the oven as hot as it will go – 270 degrees are ideal.

 

Divide the dough into two pieces and roll these out on a floured surface as thinly as you possibly can – they should be almost paper thin. This takes a bit of patience, because the dough is reluctant at first to keep its shape. Top the dough with the crème fraîche or sour cream – two heaped tablespoons per pizza-sized Flammkuchen are enough. Traditionally the onions and bacon are added raw, but I find that cooking them first results in a better flavour (this is probably because it is difficult to recreate the extremely hot temperatures of a bread oven in a conventional kitchen). Melt some of the fat off the bacon in a hot frying pan, then remove the bacon and soften the onions in the same pan for a couple of minutes. Top each round of dough with half of the onions and bacon and season with some salt and freshly ground black pepper.

For the crispiest results (unless you have a proper pizza oven) the Flammkuchen are best baked on a pizza stone – a large and thick ceramic tile that is preheated in the oven for at least 45 minutes. However, it is also fine to bake the Flammkuchen on a preheated baking sheet. It is easiest to transfer the raw Flammkuchen into the oven if you place the rolled dough on a chopping board covered with baking paper before you add the toppings. You can then pull the Flammkuchen with the paper directly from the board onto the hot stone or baking sheet.

Bake for about 10 minutes or until the edges are crispy and brown and the toppings are bubbling. Cut into pieces and eat straight away.

Swabian onion tart - 'Zwiebelkuchen'

Zwiebelkuchen is a seasonal dish that can typically be found in the wine-growing regions of south-west Germany in early autumn. It is the perfect accompaniment to new wine, which is unfiltered grape juice in an early stage of fermentation with an alcohol content ranging from four to 11 percent. New wine, also known as Federweisser (white) or Federroter (red), is only available directly from wine producers and for a few weeks in September and October. This drink is traditionally served and consumed in the popular ‘Besenwirtschaften’, or ‘broom taverns’. These taverns are set up in the barns, garages or even living rooms of wine growers in the autumn, when they are allowed by law to serve their produce without a license for a short period of time. Traditionally, a broom is placed outside the building in order to signal that a tavern is open for business. In addition to wine simple savoury snacks are also served and the Zwiebelkuchen is a firm favourite. I have not been able to source new wine in the UK so far, but the tart also goes very well with a glass of chilled Riesling or a light red, such as a young Pinot Noir. It would probably also team up nicely with a good vintage cider!

The recipe below can be baked in a round form or in a rectangular tin. Choose the size of your tin depending on how deep you would like the onion filling to be. I have used a 32 cm tart form in the photo. The tart is best served warm but it also tastes good reheated on the next day.

For the dough:

20g fresh yeast (or 1 sachet dried)

250 g plain flour (you can also use whole wheat or spelt)

1 pinch sugar

1 tsp salt

50 g butter

150 ml warm water

For the filling:

600 g onions

40 g butter

1 tbsp plain flour

2 eggs

100 ml single cream or crème fraiche

Salt

Caraway seeds

80 g bacon lardons

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water and combine with all the other dough ingredients. Knead for a few minutes until you have a smooth and elastic ball. Leave the dough to rise in a covered bowl until it has doubled in size. Line your greased tin with the dough (not too thick, but not as thin as for pizza).

For the filling chop the onions into small squares. Cook slowly in the butter over a medium heat. The onions should become translucent, but they should not turn brown. It is important to take your time with this – make sure the onions are nice and soft.

 

When the onions are cooked, stir in the flour and leave to cool slightly. Add the cream and eggs and mix well. Season with salt and with some caraway seeds – make sure you taste the mixture as the onions require quite a lot of salt. Pour the filling into the tin and sprinkle with more caraway seeds and the bacon lardons. Dot with some extra butter, if you like. Bake at 200 degrees for 40-50 minutes.

Pretzels - 'Laugenbrezel'

For those who know Germany (and its baking landscape) my first recipe clearly gives away where I grew up. The Laugenbrezel – a savoury shape baked from yeast dough and with a distinctive brown and chewy crust – can be found mainly in the south of Germany. The best brezels, even if I say so myself, come from the south-west, from Baden-Württemberg (and not from Bavaria!) and particularly from the Stuttgart region. Legend has it that the Laugenbrezel was invented by a baker from Bad Urach, a small town not too far from Stuttgart. Having committed a crime he was sentenced to death by hanging. However, as this was the baker’s first offence the local monarch agreed to give him a last chance: if he succeeded in baking a cake through which the sun could shine three times his life would be spared. The baker went to work and the brezel was the result of his labour.

I love brezels and (apart from my parents) they are what I miss most when I remember Germany. There is only one small complication, which has previously held me back from making my own and homemade version: the distinctive brown and chewy crust of a real brezel can only be achieved properly if it is dunked in a 4% caustic soda solution before baking. Some say that boiling some baking soda in water brings similar results... But this hasn’t made me happy. So finally, on my last trip to Germany, I acquired caustic soda solution in a pharmacy and successfully got the odd-looking bottle covered in hazard signs through Eurostar security... I have not tried to buy food-grade caustic soda in the UK. You might be able to get it from a friendly pharmacist, but I am fairly sure it can also be bought online. You only have to be persistent. It is definitely worth it.

Edit (4th March 2012). A few weeks ago I tried baking the Brezels with a baking soda solution, just because it is so difficult to get the 'proper' caustic soda outside of Swabia. The texture and flavour is not quite the same and they are not quite as shiny, but the result was not too bad. It is certainly better than no Brezels at all! Unlike the caustic soda solution, which is applied cold (indeed, it would be dangerous to heat this up), the baking soda is used with boiling water. Boil 3 tablespoons of baking soda in 2 litres of water for about 10 minutes. Then boil each raw Brezel in this solution for about 20 seconds and leave to drain. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt and bake as below.

This recipe makes about 16-20 medium-sized brezels:

1 kg plain flour (you can also use spelt flour or a mix of both)

35g fresh yeast (or 2 sachets dry)

A pinch of sugar

500 ml lukewarm milk or water or a mix of both (I used half milk, half water)

75 g butter

2 teaspoons salt

coarse sea salt for sprinkling

4% caustic soda solution (about 300 ml)

Dissolve the yeast in the warm liquid and knead all ingredients until you have a firm and relatively dry dough. Leave this to rise in a covered bowl until it has doubled in size (30 minutes to 2 hours).

Divide the dough into 16-20 pieces and roll each piece into a strip around 50 cm long. The centre of the strip should be thicker and the ends should be thin. Form each strip into a brezel shape and leave to rise for a few minutes on a baking sheet covered in baking paper (other shapes, such as oblong rolls, plaits or knots are also possible and typical for this kind of bread. These are also quicker to make).

In order to make the brezels’ bath in the caustic soda solution easier it is best to freeze the unbaked brezels for a few minutes (this makes them easier to handle). Put the caustic soda solution into a large enough plastic food container with a tight-fitting lid. Bathe each brezel in this solution for about 30 seconds (turning once). Make sure to wear rubber gloves and maybe goggles, because ‘unbaked’ the solution should not get in contact with the skin or eyes. I also use metal spoons to dunk and turn the brezels and to retrieve them from the caustic soda. The rest of the solution can be kept with a firm lid on until the next time. Just make sure you label it well and keep it out of children’s reach.

Slit the thick part of the brezel (its ‘belly’) with a sharp knife or razor blade so it can rise and will not split randomly on the sides. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt and bake in the oven at 200 degrees for about 20 minutes (or until the kitchen smells fantastic and the brezels have their typical, dark brown colour).

Enjoy them warm and with some cold, salted butter. They are great for breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner and as a snack :)

PS: They really should be eaten on the same day, because they go hard quickly. They can be frozen and reheated in the oven, but best results can be achieved if you freeze the brezels before baking and then dunk them in the soda solution whilst still frozen and bake them fresh.