Oktoberfest Time Coming Up. Brotchen time

Attended a meeting at school last week. My daughter is taking German, this is her third year. Every year we have an Oktoberfest at school. This year we will be having another one. I will be posting some German recipes the rest of this month through October. Hubby and I lived in Germany for a few years. I love the food and the bread was one of my favorite thing. Brotchen and meat in the morning was a staple. The Brotchen would be delivered to the door knob in the morning. So when we got up we had fresh Brotchen.
I thought I would post a recipe for German Brotchen. I like to use an Artisan based bread dough. This makes it really easy to have fresh Brotchen daily. The only thing to remember is that using the eggs in the dough will mean you will have to use it within five days. But that's not too bad because that mean fresh breakfast bread for five days.

German Brotchen.

Mix together;
3 egg whites the lukewarm water to measure 3 cups total.
Add 1 Tablespoon of Coarse salt, 1 1/2 Tablespoon of dry yeast and 6 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour.
Now stir these together and allow to rise at room temp for 2-5 hours. then cover with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator for about 2 hours before first use. (Can be refrigerated for up to 5 days).

To bake;

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 to 30 minutes. (Place a Baking stone for preheating if you have one. This will help hold the heat temp in the oven and allow the bottom to crisp.)
2. Now take dough out of frig and pull off about peach size balls.Shape into ovals and place on a Silicone baking pad or Parchment lined cookie sheet. Let rise about 20 minutes (you can go up to 60 minutes for the rise- the longer the rise the airier the brotchen) Just a note here- German brotchen is known to be denser in texture.Therefore the shorter time is more authentic.
3. Next brush to tops with beaten Egg White and you can add seeds of your choice at this point.
4. Using a serrated knife cut across the top of each oval.
5. Place in prepared oven (on top of stone if you have one) and mist with water ( I use a spray bottle here). Bake for 25 minutes until browned (a deep caramel color).
6. Remove from oven and place on a drying rack to cool.
7. Enjoy.

Make about 24 rolls.

Nutritional Info

• Servings Per Recipe: 24
• Amount Per Serving
• Calories: 110.5

• Total Fat: 0.0 g
• Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
• Sodium: 301.9 mg
• Total Carbs: 23.8 g
• Dietary Fiber: 1.1 g
• Protein: 3.8 g