German Brotchen

    German brotchen is a hot milk bread that kneads together yielding a smoothly elastic dough.  This makes great rolls and buns.  The best is to eat it warm with your favorite cheese or jam.  I have searched online for other brotchen recipes.   An internet search did not turn up a brotchen recipe for awhile but now several are available.  However, none are identical to the one I got on that wonderful trip to Germany in the 80’s from a nice German lady who bickered with her US Army officer husband over the conversion of measures from metric to English.  By far, the best travel souvenir I ever brought home.

Here I share my recipe for you to enjoy:  

GERMAN BROTCHEN
Mix first three ingredients. 
1/2 c.  warm water                         

1 1/2 cup warm milk

1  1/2 Tbsp yeast

Add:  3/4 tablespoon sugar

          1 teaspoon salt

When well blended

Add 1 cup flour            

Beat this with a wooden spoon until bubbles appear in the pancake like batter.

Add more flour a cup at a time to make a dough you can no longer stir.

(This recipe uses 5-6 cups of flour total)

Knead for about 10 minutes,  adding as little flour as possible;dough should not stick to hands.  The dough should be firm, and spring to the touch. Place in a lightly oiled bowl to rise for 90 minutes.  The dough should more than double in size.  Degas and remove from bowl onto a floured surface.  Knead 4 or 5 times and divide into 8 pieces for burger size buns or 16 for dinner rolls.  Sprinkle baking sheet with cornmeal generously and evenly space rolls.  Allow to rise again covered with plastic wrap you have brush lightly with oil.  Preheat oven to 350.  When the oven is to temperature, bake 20 - 30 minutes or until lightly golden.  I throw a 1/8 cup of water three times in 20 second intervals into my gas convection oven to promote crust development.  Remove to cooling rack.  Enjoy!