by A bread with mountainous origins… Vintschgerl style breads found across Austria (many versions from across Central Europe & the Alps) are a traditional round flat loaf of rye sourdough often flavored with spice seeds. With a large-pored crumband rye content of approximately 70 percent, these loaves stay fresh for several days. Therefore, were well-suited as provisions for longer journeys & hikes over the mountains.
AND… scroll to bottom (below the recipe) if you want to read about the oldest bakery in Salzburg where this loaf and other traditional al loaves have been baked for nearly 1000 years!
RECIPE TIP… if you simply roll this dough out thinner and bake till crispy brown you have something called Schüttelbrot , an even longer lasting cracker bread which is yummy for cheese nibbling!
RECIPE:
VINTSCHGERL …traditional Austrian sourdough rye loaves with spices like fennel & caraway
• 400 g sourdough starter
• 500 g rye flour
• 280 g wheat flour
• 20 g fresh yeast
• 18 g salt
• 5 g fennel
• 5 g caraway seeds
• 5 g fenugreek
• 700 g lukewarm water
Preparation:
Mix the starter dough and all the other ingredients to form a soft dough, dust with rye flour, cover and leave to rise for 30 minutes.
Form balls of dough of 100 g each, dust with rye flour and place on a baking tray lined with baking paper. 30 minutes approx to rise
Preheat the oven to 220 degrees C and bake the Vintschgerl in a dry oven for approx. 45 minutes.
Cool then store in a simple brown paper bag.
This recipe is from Salzburger Getreidemühlen – Salzburg Grain Mills (flour producer) who shared the recipe from the cookbook “Grow rye and brown bread grind bake enjoy”
By Rita Kichler – Helmut Reiner – Verlag Anton Pustet
St. Peter’s Bread…
On an early morning walk through the narrow sleeping city streets, the closer to the Dom (the Cathedral) you get you realize your nose comes alive by the sweet smells of fresh loaves. If you are wise you will follow your nose to a quiet corner beyond the Dom, under the shadow of the mountain Fortress above, through an iron gate, where you find an ancient water wheel roaring in motion under the watchful wooden eye of St Peter himself , go down the little steps and through the green door. You’ve found Stiftsbäckerei St. Peter, one of the oldest continuous bakeries in the world.
Here in an ancient basement bakers are making delicious magic 5 days a week as the Monks did over 800 years ago(possibly even longer!).
The tradition can be tasted in every bite. With water still sourced from the Almkanal stream that in 1160 was rerouted through the mountain, to the monastery, via a hand dug tunnel to power the mill that would grind the grain… as it was centuries ago it still is today. Perhaps not by monks but the proud bakers of Stiftsbäckerei St. Peter still produce bread as they did over a thousand years ago. All traditional methods from start to finish. Impressively they still use the restored water mill to grind organic grains from a farm in Lower Austria. Consistency & supply is key so a constant year’s supply is managed & warehoused.
Here in this ancient cellar kitchen the bread is given time to proof properly, the deep, wood fired wall oven is stoked by the baker’s knowledge and watched with the modern thermal gun he occasionally shoots into the oven mouth to check temperature.
I stood in awe watching as he continuously pulled out about 30 loves with his 15 foot paddle , the other baker helping with the dusting and racking so they cooled properly. Loaves were being bought as quickly as they came out of the oven.
Delivery men with bikes would occasionally pop in to fill up their insulated bike bags. And the sweet yeast smells were intoxicating making me loose all inhibition when it came to my purchase. Traditional breads like Holzofrenbot (dense rye) and Vintschgerl (sourdough rye loaves with spices like fennel & caraway) both delicious slathered with morning jam and butter or with meat and cheese as your lunch . They bake Brioches with dried fruits and i also discovered the very traditional Austrian “fruitcake” known as Fruchtebot which is best left for weeks on the shelf before serving.
I imagine heaven could smell like this… but until then I will make it a priority to visit Stiftsbäckerei St. Peter instead Salzburg as often as I can!
