After the sourdough virus “infected” me, I just could not wait to go on vacations to Romania and take over my mother’s kitchen, equipped with a way better electric oven, than my gas one in Berlin.
I was curious to explore known recipes with the available ingredients (mainly flour types) in Romania, bake new ones, and try to convert traditional ones (with commercial yeast) to sourdough. Also, I did not worry, that I bake too much and what to do with the products, because my hungry family was taking care of that problem.
Another aspect I like in baking at home is getting direct and honest feedback from my father, mother, sister, cousins, and nephews right away, so I can improve recipes.
Here are some bakes I made during the Christmas time of 2020, 2021, and 2022 and in the summer of 2022. Most of the products I bake in Berlin too, however, the pictures here are from Romania, from my mum’s kitchen.
Whole grain potato bread
This bread is made after the recipe of Lutz Geißler . Since rye and wheat whole grain flours are available in Romania, and also potatoes from the garden of my parents, this bread was my first idea to bake. Also, it has a quite short preparation time (sourdough is ready overnight, dough is prepared in the morning and baked at noon). I optimized the baking by borrowing a Dutch oven from my cousin. The result was just fantastic, not just in the optics but also in taste!
Nettle whole rye bread
Made after another excellent recipe from Lutz. I had more or less the same considerations to bake this bread as the one already mentioned: whole grain rye flour and dried nettle from the garden were available.
The strong nettle infusion combined with the whole grain flour gave the extremely healthy bread an earthy note. In some variations, I also added caraway seeds to the dough, since they are a quite common ingredient in the local cuisine too. And I played also with the design, putting an “Ampelmann” (street light man from Berlin) on the bread.
Wheat sourdough bread
I was inspired again by a recipe or Lutz. I made this bread very often since this was somehow the favorite of my family used to white bread in Romania. Baked in the Dutch oven was just irresistible. When I was giving bread to my cousin to thank for the Dutch oven she borrowed me, I received the nicest feedback ever from her 10-year-old daughter: “I never eaten such good bread in my life before!” – Isn’t it sweet, is it?
Horn-shaped rolls (Cornuri de brutar)
It is made after a traditional recipe from Banat (my home region in Romania), documented by Laura Laurentiu. I loved these simple horns (“cornuri” in Romanian; “kifli” in Hungarian) sold in the bakeries back in the 80s and 90s in Romania. With time they were “replaced” by all kinds of fluffy stuff full of additives and tasting after nothing.
So I was very happy to discover this recipe from Laura, made with commercial yeast, which I did it too several times. But with the comeback of the sourdough, I just had to adapt the recipe and try it that way. The process takes a bit longer, but the results were just fantastic. I baked them for breakfast for my family, waking up in the night, just like a “real” baker does.
Sourdough “pogácsa” with potato and cheese
I made them after the recipe of monca1979 from cookpad. hu. Pogácsa is a kind of pastry found in the cuisines of the Balkans and Turkey, in different variations. It is a bread dough enriched with fat and topped or filled with cheese, beef, potato, seeds, dill, pork crackling, etc.
I remember delicious and crispy pork fat or crackling pogácsa made by my grandma, or the quicker and easier potato pogácsa made by my mother… So pogácsa is an organic part of the family recipes, however all made with commercial yeast. Probably 3 or 4 generations before they made it with sourdough but what I and my parents remember are the yeast-based ones.
So it was time to go back to the roots and experience the sourdough variant. After some research on the Internet, this recipe caught my attention and I tried it – and I did it several times since the demand in the family was high. I was amazed by the power of sourdough lifting the heavy dough, full of butter, sour cream, and cheese.
Sourdough Focaccia
After the recipe of the Perfect Loaf. This was another favorite of my family – I baked it twice in the summer, topping it with fresh herbs and vegetables from the garden.
Sourdough Brioche
My brioche was inspired by Home Grown Happiness. I experimented with different recipes but somehow this was the winner for me! I just loved to form the brioche and then see it rise and rise and then bake it dark brown. The smell in the house was just irresistible! We ate it with butter and honey from our bees in the garden!
In the winter, after I learned new skills during my visits to the bakeries in Portugal (Azeda and Boroa), I made some delicious burger buns (they served as buns for our Christmas-Dinner too!) and some Turkish traditional pastry with tahini (“tahinli çörek”) from the brioche dough.
Alentejo bread with sourdough
I created my recipe after several sources and long research, but mainly combining the recipes of Paulo Sebastiao and Simply by Cristina. This bread is a traditional Portuguese bread from the Alentejo region, situated South of Lisbon, but very adored in the whole country.
It has a slightly acidic aftertaste, a compact crumb, and a thick rustic crust. The particular taste of this bread is impossible to obtain without leaven and a long fermentation. I loved to eat this bread in Portugal and since I was back from my travels, I wanted to try it in the home kitchen! On the first try, I was very satisfied with the result!
Sourdough Croissants
The croissants (made after Ploetzblog) were the biggest challenge to bake. Not just the relatively long time and intensive “care” during the production process made it hard to make, but also the high temperatures in the summer. I was desperate because the butter was melting in just one minute and sometimes it was just impossible to handle the dough. The results were not so nice, as aspect, but the taste was OK. I have to practice here more!
Sourdough pancakes
I was inspired by Julie Clark’s recipe. Baking all these delicious breads and pastries also meant that there was always a lot of sourdough discard in the fridge. Somehow I just could not throw it away so I was looking for recycling options. The idea of sourdough pancakes seemed to me the best option to reuse the discard. It is made quickly, it is healthy and you have a lot of options to top the pancakes, from honey, yogurt, fruits, cheese, ham… whatever is available!
