Today is „World Bread Day“! Seven years ago Zorra started this blog event, in which 113 bloggers followed her call. Last year 343 Bloggers from across the globe participated. This year’s goal is 365. Let’s hope this works out!

So what is the idea behind „World Bread Day“ blog event? Besides bringing bloggers (food & non-food alike) and bread baking enthusiasts together, the real idea is to honor our „daily bread“. Not in the biblical sense, but to show that in every culture bread is essential and that it has a history of its own. Most of us take bread for granted, but not everyone in the world has our near unlimited possibilities. So bake bread and spear a minute or two to think about how lucky we are.

In matters of bread baking I´m a real novice. I´ve baked baguettes, yeast bread or quick breads like soda bread but that’s about it. Here in Germany we have such a rich variety of bread types, which not only comes from the different type of grains which are cultivated here or the long tradition of the bakers’ guild, but also lies in our history. Germany or Germania to that time existed of many small states and each state had their own tradition of baking bread. The most important person in every town or village was the miller (German Müller). This doesn’t just explain why Müller (Mueller) is the most common surname in Germany but also shows the significance of bread.

To honor this day, I broadened my bread experience and made my first sourdough bread.

My favorite bread is rye bread. I think there is nothing better than fresh rye bread spread with a little butter and salt. Nomnom. So that was my choice for my first sourdough (levain) bread. In my favorite bakers book „Bouchon Bakery“ I found what I was looking for. While reading the thorough information about making bread, I thought why not go the whole mile and start the levain from scratch. Well that was the initial plan. Because I am quite lazy and got a little intimidated, I ended up buying dried sourdough starter and followed the recipe on the back of the packet. Well nearly, by mistake I swapped the amounts of whole rye flour and wheat flour. It also turned out a bit dark, inside a bit dense, but was still edible and quite tasty. Using store-bought sourdough and making a rye bread in less than 3 hours seems to me just a step-up from using a ready bread-mix, but hey it’s a start. Isn’t that also what this „World Bread Day“ is about, to set one’s wits onto bread baking? So in order to learn more about this, I bought me a new cookbook dedicated to making bread 🙂 And now my first homemade real sourdough is bubblingaway in the kitchen.

If you’re interested in the recipe I used, here it is…

Rye Bread | Roggenmischbrot

• 20g fresh yeast (frische Hefe)
• 100ml hand warm water (handwarmes Wasser)
• 500g whole rye flour (Roggenvollkornmehl)
• 250g wheat flour (Weizenmehl 1050)
• 100g dried whole rye sourdough (Vollkorn-Roggen-Sauerteig, getrocknet)
• 2 tsp. Salt (2 TL Salz)
• 500ml hand warm water (handwarmes Wasser)

Dissolve the yeast in 100ml hand warm water. Mix the flour, sourdough and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add the yeast and remaining water, mix until the dough starts to come together, then turnout on the floured workspace and with floured Hands need, approx. 10 minutes.

Cover the dough with a slight damp cloth and let it rest about 25 minutes. Give it a quick need and form it to a loaf, cover again and let it rest in a warm place (28°C) for about 35 minutes.

Fill a deep oven pan with water, put it in the oven and preheat the oven to 250°C. Transfer the loaf to a baking sheet and quickly close the oven door. After 15 minutes open the door to vent the steam and turn the heat down to 190°C. If required carefully fill the pan with additional water. Back for 55 Minutes. After 45 minutes open the oven door to vent again, and keep it ajar with a wooden spoon. Turn the heat down to 160°C.

Let the fresh loaf cool down at least 1 hour before cutting off your first slice.