At a nursing home in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany, you receive a basket of freshly baked bread and breakfast every morning. There was a unique bread, they explained that the name Seelen or "Soul" came from their hometown in Swabia, handmade from a variety of flours – Spelt wheat, rye and wheat. Because of its unique artisan nature, the traditional method of making can take up to 24 hours and involves multiple rounds of processing of the dough, with the final molding done by hand.
Roll up your sleeves and bake this unique bread. Hand-mixed and rough shapes, sprinkled with coarse salt and coriander, and then tossed into a hot oven, they appear hard, thin crust and a damp interior. Perfect to enjoy with tomatoes, arugula, cheese or vanilla butter, to make a sandwich or rip open and soak in a hearty soup.
The hands-on process is fun, and the end result is great: hard, thin crust and delicious, moist and open crumbs. Here are three recipes – the first is a traditional spelling, the second is a variant of harrobi cheese and mint, and the third variant has rye that tastes close to the soul bread you might find today in Freiburg, Germany.
Ingredients for formulation
The first whole grain dough
Acid yeast species
- 10 g acid yeast head
- 25 g whole wheat Spelt flour
- 25 g water
Main dough
- 50 g fermented seeds
- 200 g whole Wheat Speert flour
- 25 g whole wheat flour
- 200 g water 150g + 50g
- 5 g salt
The second comes with cheese and mint dough
Universal flour yeast species
- 10 g acid yeast head
- 25 g water
- 25 g medium gluten flour
Main dough
- 50 g universal flour yeast seeds
- 125 g whole wheat white sonora flour
- 100 g universal flour
- 150 g water
- 40 g chopped harromic cheese and mint
- 5 g salt
The third type of rye dough
Rye yeast
- 10 g acid yeast head
- 25 g whole grain rye flour
- 25 g water
Main dough
- 50 g rye yeast seeds
- 200 g of Maxpelt flour
- 100 g whole wheat flour
- 175 g water 150 g + 25 g
- 5 g salt
Production steps
1. For acid ferment and multi-purpose enzyme seeds, mix the ingredients to let them ferment. For rye yeast seeds, mix the ingredients and ferment at 28°C for 8-10 hours, with an additional 10 grams of yeast seeds available at will.
2: In a large bowl, mix flour, water (minus the remaining 50 g), fermented seeds and salt thoroughly.
3. Close the lid, let stand for about 20 minutes, then stretch and fold until smooth, doing this again after 40 minutes.
4: About 1 hour after the initial mixing, add the retained water. Knead the dough into a dent and stretch and gently fold around the dough for about 5 minutes until the water is completely mixed.
5. Continue to stretch and fold intermittently for more than 3 hours, if you make changes with cheese, fold it within about 1 hour at this stage (2 hours after initial mixing).
6: Let the dough ferment for the last hour (until about five hours after the initial dough is mixed), degass the dough and refrigerate overnight.
7. When you want to bake, preheat the oven to 232°C for about 20-30 minutes and put a baking stone or inverted baking dish inside.
8: Pour the dough on a baking sheet covered with baking paper, wet your hands and the top of the dough, then use your hands to divide the dough into four long pieces of dough, without trying to lift them off the wet baking paper. Sprinkle with parsley and coarse salt, then spray water on top of the dough.
9: Bake at 232°C for 20-25 minutes, then take out and let stand on the drying net for 2 hours.