Brötchen Option

This post is a little different from the rest. I have to put it out there first that this wasn't exactly cooked by someone else, although they did do all the preparation and all I had to do was cook or, in this case, bake. 

It isn't, in any way, a totally instant meal too. More like a half-and-half. Small breads or Brötchen, as they are called here, are popular at breakfast. These Knack&Back Brötchen have their dough prepared beforehand and packed, so all the customer has to do is bake them. These are unlike instant breads, which only need 5 minutes tops to toast. They're also unlike cake mixes, or Cake-In-A-Box as they are sometimes known as. These are lumps of raw dough, sold chilled and to be consumed soon after purchase. 

What's different about these is that, unlike instant cake mixes, there is no additional ingredient like sugar, water or yeast to add. For the uninitiated baker like me, this is the perfect introduction to baking your own bread. No search for the ideal bread pan, no gathering of the proper utensils and yes, no complicated measurements to stress over (I mean, would it really matter if I'm 10g short of flour?). Yes, it's win-win-win all the way *happy dance💃 *

So here's all that's needed to be done. Open the packing and do a little reshape (just a little bit) of each bundle of dough that's packed, arrange them onto a tray and pop them into the oven. And voila! Your very own Brötchen is ready. 

I eat mine with my favourite egg-bacon breakfast topping, and there's the choice of salmon mousse as well. It goes pretty well too with Wurst (breakfast sausage).

Here's my lowdown on the Brötchen: texture-wise, it's close to the ones you can get from the Bäckerei; crusty on the outside and real fluffy on the inside. 

I've discovered that this fragile combination of crust and fluff is the very important signature of good bread. Not enough crustiness on the outside with a nice fluff inside, and your pastry is considered too soft. Nice crust outside but too packed up inside means your bread is too hard. By general German standards, both mean your bread is inedible. 

For this particular Brötchen brand, the combo is almost perfect - after slightly more than 15 minutes in the oven (directions dictated 10 - 15 minutes), I got my perfect crust on the outside. Impressive. 

The dough texture within wasn't too bad, either. Fluffy with enough air space to give it a springy feel when I do my spreads but not too "empty". Unfortunately, that's where its goodness ends; it wasn't as perfect as the ones from the Bäckerei. I felt the dough still had a little gummy feel, much like the ready-baked supermarket breads, albeit a great deal less. 

As anyone knows, buying direct from the Bäckerei is the ultimate in pastry enjoyment. Nothing tops buying from a Bäckerei - the breads are fluffier, fresher, perfectly flavoured and textured, as are their cakes and cookies. Seriously, this is a huge yardstick to measure up to. 

So, here's the most important part: how do these Brötchen babies compare with the REAL fresh goodies from the Bäckerei? About 30% below the Bäckerei standard. Which is pretty impressive if you compare to ready-baked breads standing around in the supermarkets (those would be at 50% below Bäckerei standard). 

Strangely, I am willing to overlook this shortcoming. Given the fact that I: 

(i)     don't need to buy/gather extra ingredients 

(ii)    have no stress over measurements

(iii)   can have my bread, fresh and warm, in just 15 minutes or so whenever I wake up (even on a Sunday, I might add!) , 

I really have no real objections to these little bundles. 

Bäckerei (or bakery) goodness at home, from home. Almost. 

On some days, that's good enough for me.