November 10, 2017 • 5

Recipe: Freiburgerbrot / Pain Fribourgeois

A Swiss bread from the canton of Fribourg — and in particular, the German-speaking district of Sensebezirks — the lattice pattern of the Freiburgerbrot (German) / Pain Fribourgeois (French), allows it to be easily torn apart and shared. Traditionally, you would include a mixture of wheat and rye flour, but this recipe calls for farine bise.

How to make it:

Freiburgerbrot

Time: 2hr 30mins
Difficulty: average
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Recipe adapted from Pain Suisse, and it originally came from the Richemont Fachschule. Contains: gluten, wheat

Ingredients

– 1 1/2 cups (350 ml) very warm water
– 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
– about 3 1/2 cups of farine bise*
– 1 teaspoon salt

Instructions

1. Add yeast to the warm water and let sit for a few minutes until the yeast has dissolved.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour and salt. Make a well in the center. Pour in the water and yeast mixture. Stir together until a dough forms.
3. Knead the dough by hand on a floured surface for about 10 minutes, adding additional flour as necessary if the dough is too sticky. When the dough becomes smooth and elastic, bouncing back from an indentation, place it in a bowl and cover it with a towel. Let it rise for about 1 hour or until the dough has doubled.
4. Once the dough has risen, create a round loaf and place it on a baking sheet with parchment paper. Using a rolling pin, flatten the round loaf, creating a circle about 3/4 of an inch thick.
5. With a dowel, such as the handle of a wooden spoon, make a lattice design across the top of the dough.

6. Cover with plastic wrap and let the dough rise again for another 30 minutes.
7. In a preheated over, bake at 220°C/425°F for about 25-30 minutes. Remove and place on a wire rack to cool.

*Farine bise (Ruchmehl in German, Farine bigia in Italian) is a light whole wheat flour that contains part of the hull of the wheat grain. In Switzerland, this flour is available at Coop and Migros, for example. If you cannot get this flour, try using another light whole wheat flour that is recommended for bread making.