Spelt and Einkorn PartyBrot

I’ve wanted to make these rolls for a long time. PartyBrot, as these rolls are called, are traditional Swiss-German white and whole wheat rolls that are baked as one in a round pan. Every time I would look through the Bread Machine cookbook by Jennie Shapter, I would end up on the page with the photo of these rolls and think “one day I’m going to make these rolls.”

That day finally came. I made PartyBrot for Christmas Dinner. My family came to my house so I wanted to make something special. These rolls are perfect for entertaining. A few of my family members are trying to eliminate modern wheat from their diet so I made these rolls with white Spelt flour and Einkorn flour instead of white bread flour and whole wheat flour.

As it turns out, Katha of Katha-kocht invited us to bake coloured bread for the December Bread Baking Day. I’m submitting these brown and white rolls with poppy seeds and spelt flakes for BBD #55: Coloured Bread.

 

To save time and energy, I used the bread machine to mix the doughs on Christmas Eve day. After the bulk fermentation was complete, and I had shaped the rolls, I covered the pan with plastic wrap and let the rolls retard in the refrigerator overnight. Retarding them in the refrigerator overnight served two purposes. It enhanced the flavor and allowed me to coordinate the baking of the rolls with dinner the next day.  This was a definite time saver as well as a stress reliever.

 

PartyBrot with Spelt and Einkorn Flours

Makes: About 19 Rolls

 

Ingredients:

For the Milk Rolls:

• Scant 2/3 cup almond milk
• 2 cups white Spelt flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure cane sugar
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast

For the Whole Grain Rolls:

• 3/4 cup water
• 1 1/2 cups Whole Grain Einkorn flour (I used home-milled flour)
• 1 1/4 cups 80% Extraction Einkorn Flour (I used Jovial Foods brand)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure cane sugar
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast

For the Topping:

• 1 egg yolk, mixed with 1 tablespoon cold water
• 1 tablespoon spelt flakes (or rolled oats)
• 1 tablespoon poppy seeds

 

Directions:

Making the Milk Rolls:

Place the ingredients in your bread machine pan in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Mine specifies that the liquid ingredients should be added first. So the instructions below reflect this order.

Add the milk to the bread pan, then sprinkle the flour over it.  Add the sugar, salt and butter in separate corners of the pan.  Make a shallow well in the flour and add the yeast. Make sure it doesn’t touch the liquid.

Set the bread machine to the dough cycle. Press Start.

Lightly oil a mixing bowl and a 10-inch cake pan or springform pan. I ended up using 2 cake pans because a had a few more rolls than anticipated.

Once the dough cycle has finished, remove the milk roll dough from the machine and place it in the oiled bowl. Cover the dough with oiled plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator while you’re making the whole wheat dough.

Remove the milk roll dough from the refrigerator about 20 minutes before the end of the whole-wheat dough cycle.

 

Making the whole wheat rolls:

To make the whole-wheat rolls, follow the instructions for making the milk rolls, except add water instead of milk.

When the whole-wheat dough has finished it’s cycle, remove it from the bread machine pan and place it it on a lightly floured counter.

 

Shaping the PartyBrot:

Punch the whole-wheat dough down. Then punch the milk roll dough down. Divide the milk roll dough into 9 pieces and the whole-wheat dough into 10 pieces.  I made the rolls smaller so I ended up with a few more pieces.

 

Shape each piece of dough into a round ball.  Place the balls, evenly spaced in the prepared pan. Alternate the milk rolls and whole-wheat rolls. I ended up with more rolls in one pan than the other one. If you have a large cake pan, then you can probably use just one pan.

 

Proofing the PartyBrot:

Cover the pan(s) with lightly oiled plastic wrap and let the rolls rise for 30 – 45 minutes in a warm place or place in the refrigerator overnight to retard.

Note: The instructions that follow are for rolls that have been retarded in the refrigerator.  If you plan to bake them right away, then skip the overnight rest in the refrigerator and go straight to the bake phase after letting them rise for 30-45 minutes.

Remove the rolls from the refrigerator and let them warm up to room temperature for an hour or so before you plan to bake them or until they have doubled in size.

 

Baking the PartyBrot:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. 

Once the rolls have doubled in size, brush them with the egg wash.  Top the spelt rolls with the spelt flakes or rolled oats and sprinkle the whole wheat rolls with the poppy seeds.  Or use a combination if you prefer.

Bake the rolls for 35 – 40 minutes, or until the PartyBrot is golden brown.  Leave the rolls in the pan to cool for 5 minutes, then remove to wire rack. 

Serve the rolls warm or cold.  They taste really good warm with sweet cream butter.

 

These rolls tasted good the day I baked them, but I think they tasted better the next day. It could be that we had too much food on Christmas. At any rate, I enjoyed them more the next day. They will keep for several days.  Just warm them up slightly and spread with butter.  Yum!  They make a great snack!

Happy Baking!

Cathy

 

 

 

Thank you Katha for hosting this month’s event.

Thanks also to Zorra at 1x umruehren bitte aka kochtopf for creating the monthly Bread Baking Day. Be sure to check out previous BBD roundups archived on her blog.