European Breads

The further east and north you travel in Europe, the more important does rye become as the grain of first resort and wheat second. The strong sour flavours of the breads of Germany and eastern Europe complement the taste of rye perfectly.

The current preoccupation with French and Italian baking should not be at the expense of the immense variety of breads available from Germany, Scandinavia, or Austria, not to mention other Eastern European and Balkan countries. Sometimes they are dismissed as ‘pumpernickels’ but the finest pâtissiers in Europe are probably Austrian, and it was the combination of Viennese knowhow and strong Hungarian wheat that gave us the commonest European bread form, the French stick.