The Daily Tiffin: Inside a German Bakery: Onion Ring

After a lovely vacation in Prerow we are back full of energy and completely relaxed.

I am also looking forward to continuing the German bread series, started a few weeks ago. Today I am featuring a wonderful and exceptionally flavorful bread. The onion ring.

When you buy the bread from the baker it comes in a ring and looks like the letter "O". As you can see from the pictures I could not take a picture of the whole ring because as soon as I come home with it, the aroma of this bread brings both my boys to the kitchen. Then the bread is sliced and spread with butter and enjoyed with this simple pleasure.

The onion ring is made of wholewheat flour and a mixture of slowly roasted onions and herbs. It took me a while to coax the recipe for this one from my baker - he did not reveal everything - but I hope the recipe I provide below is one that comes very close to it.

We often buy this bread when we are craving for something wonderfully savory or have a BBQ party coming up. It's always a huge hit with our guests and a brilliant alternative to the ordinary baguette.

It normally does not happen, but if we do have any leftovers of this bread, I love making bruschetta with it. After a day or so, I find this bread tastes more intensively of the onions and therefore works incredibly well when combined with roasted vegetables and toasted. My favorite kind of Bruchetta is a delicious recipe from Jamie's Italy by Jamie Oliver - Aubergine and Mint Bruschetta.

Hope you enjoy both the recipes.

Onion Ring

Ingredients
800g + more Wholewheat flour
50g yeast
3/8 l luke warm water
2 teaspoons salt
4 onions - finely chopped
handful herbs - finely chopped
1 tablespoon butter

Method
Preheat oven to 220 degrees C.

In a pan heat the butter and gently sauté the onions until browned and caramelized. Sprinkle the herbs and allow to cool.

In a large mixing bowl add the flour and make a well in the middle of it. Mix the yeast in 1/8 l of luke warm water and then pour into the well. Sprinkle with a bit of flour. Covered with a damp tea towel place the bowl in a warm place for 15 minutes.

Add the salt in the remaining water and then pour this into the dough. Add the onion-herb mixture. Knead to incorporate the ingredients. Once you have a smooth dough, form the dough into a ball and scatter some flour. Put the ball of dough back into the bowl and allow to rise covered with a damp tea towel in a warm place - about 30-40 minutes. The dough should have doubled in size.

Place the dough on your kitchen counter and start kneading. Knead for a few minutes, then form either a ring, by rolling the dough into a"snake-like" form and then joining the ends together to form an "O", or simply form a longish loaf out of it.

On a greased baking tray place the onion loaf and allow to rise for another 15 minutes. Then brush the top of the loaf with some water, sprinkle some flour and bake for a good 40 minutes.

Enjoy warm.

If you have any leftover the next day, make these lovely snacks for dinner.

Aubergine and Mint Bruschetta
Adapted from Jamie's Italy by Jamie Oliver

Ingredients
2 aubergines - sliced in approx. 3 cm thick slices
Good olive oil
White wine vinegar
Large handful of Italian parsley - cut into strips
Small handful of mint - cut into strips
2 garlic cloves - 1 finely sliced and one halved
Salt and freshly cracked black pepper

Method
Heat a grill pan and place the aubergine slices next to each other. When they have nicely grilled on both sides and are a golden color remove them from the pan and place them in a bowl.

In the meantime in another bowl mix together a 3 tablespoons of vinegar and 8 tablespoons of olive oil with the parsley, mint and the garlic. Salt and pepper to taste.

Pour the vinaigrette over the grilled aubergine slices and allow to marinate for a few minutes.

Cut slices of your onion bread and grill these in your grill pan. Rub the halved garlic clove onto the toasted slice of bread. Sprinkle with a dash of olive oil.

To assemble your bruschetta place the aubergine mixture of the toasted bread and press down so that the aromas of the mixture get soaked into the bread.

Enjoy with a glass of wine.

Hope you have a great week ahead!