Swartzbrot

Not sure what's going on? Try here!

Possibly the most common breakfast that I've read about in the Chalet School books is rolls. Often with cheese. Despite their infuriating insistence on calling oatmeal porridge, they observe the continental custom of having bread and cheese sandwiches for breakfast. It may seem pretty weird to some people - but it's actually not that bad. It would also be really great if you were trying not to have too much sugar. Not so great if you're trying not to have to much salt. It's also quick, easy and can be made in advance. 

Is there anything not to like? 

Seriously- they really knew what they were doing these guys. 

I've not had that much experience with vegan cheese- I've had Tofutti brand before- and liked their cream cheese, and their slices were okay. But the store where I used to buy that have stopped selling it. I saw a supermarkets own brand of vegan cheese- and thought I might give it a go... there must have been some scope for using some vegan cheese in MoFo - right? 

Um... wrong. Especially THAT cheese. 

I decided that I would try out some of their cheese spread and a block of (bright orange) hard cheese. As soon as I opened the packet of the hard cheese... it got thrown out. It.... there was no way that I was using that. For anything. The cheese spread actually made contact with another food stuff... but then Mom tried it by accident- and I decided that after she had tried it there was no way I was following her. The batch- and the rest in the container - had to go. 

I may have been put of store bought vegan cheese for life. It's just not that great. 

(I've heard there are some great ones in the US- however- we can't get those over here in the UK.) 

I decided to make cashew cheese. My thinking was that nothing (NOTHING) could be worse than the stuff that I bought from the store. 

I made the 'Ultimate Cashew Cheese' from Dreena Burton's 'Plant Powered Families'. Just to let you know- it's thousands of times better than the store bought stuff. I mean- even when I accidentally added way too much apple cider vinegar (I got knocked when I was pouring) it tasted good. 

So when I had the cheese sorted- it was time for the rolls. 

It didn't specify whether it was white or brown bread- or not that I've found yet from the books that I've read. 

So I went with an Tyrollean Swartzbrot. 

Or at least I think I did. I used a combination of two recipes - one of which is in German. I've not studied any German since I was 14. So if this is actually nothing like it was supposed to be... all that I can say is that I'm sorry! 

Swartzbrot

Mainly adapted from this recipe

• 1 1/2 cups of rye flour
• 1 teaspoon of quick yeast
• 1 1/3 cups lukewarm water
• 1 1/2 cups of strong white flour
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon of ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon of allspice
• 1 teaspoon of nutmeg
• 1/2 a teaspoon of ground cloves
• 1/2 a teaspoon of ground ginger
• 1/2 a cup of mashed potato
• 1 tablespoon of treacle or molasses (I used Sweet Freedom Dark)
• More strong white flour to knead in- you could possibly be using up to another 1/2 cup here 

• Mix together the rye flour, quick yeast and water together in a bowl- cover with cling film and leave- either all day or overnight
• Mix in the bread flour, salt and spices. 
• If it isn't too sticky- transfer the dough to a heavily flowered surface- if not- get as much flour on your hands- and start kneading. You might be kneading a lot of flour in- if you need to add more to make it knead-able. If possible- do this for at about five minutes. If it really isn't possible to knead it properly- know it about with a wooden spoon as much as you can. 
• Add the potato and the treacle. And knead this in for about five minutes. You're going to have to use more flour here as well. (Rye flour has a low gluten count and so is wetter and stickier than normal bread doughs) (or that's what it says on the packet any way.) It should be at least a little but elastic. 
• Recover and leave in a warm (ish) place for 1-2 hours- until it's doubled in size. 
• Knock it back down and either shape it or place it in your baking pans (so far I've always found that it's to sticky for shaping) 
• Let rise for another hour (so this is no quick fix bread!) whilst you preheat the oven to 250C
• Cook the bread for 15 minutes before you turn down the heat to 210C. How long you cook it now depends on if you've kept the bread as one loaf- or split it into rolls (and it's perfectly okay to cook them in muffin pans). If it's one loaf- for another 25 minutes. If it's rolls- probably about 10 minutes less. Keep checking them- they're done when they sound hollow underneath. If you're cooking them in cake pans- hope that when they sound hollow on top they sound hollow underneath too!