Rev 0.13, last revised: 23-Sep-07
WARNING: This recipe is still completely experimental! Use at your own risk!
I fell in love with "Gassenhauer brot" during one of my business trips to Germany. Apparently this bread is baked via a secret formula that's not to be found anywhere on the web (yet...(:-o)!) The Gassenhauer bread style was created at BIB-Ulmer Spatz, a German specialty bread baker supply company, in 1974. It came about as the result of an in-house competition in order to boost sales against Holzluckenbrot, a competitor in the German bread/baking goods marketplace. This bread has a unique and outstanding texture and taste. While they're rumored to be using chemical "sourdough" flavorings, how I cook doesn't permit that.
Prep time: About 20 hours
Style: A lean, medium-hydration, Rustic, country, sourdough loaf
Yield: 1-smallish loaf weighing about a kilogram
Mix together the ingredients listed above to create your initial sponge. This is best done by hand with a whisk. Cover the bowl and allow to ferment for 8-12 hours at ~65-85F.
Add to the sponge created in the previous step. Let rise until about doubled (2-4 hours or so).
Add the salt-water; mix thoroughly. Then add the last of the flour to the multi-stage sponge created previously. This will be thick and sticky. While I use my hands, others may wish to use a mixer.
about 1/4-1/2-cup (30-60g) bread flour (as required) for the surface & hands
Generously flour the work surface, and hands. Pour/scrape the dough out of the mixing bowl onto the floured surface. Sprinkle some flour over the top just so that it's not sticky when touched. Fold in the top & bottom towards each other to achieve a rectangle of sorts. Then, as in the Stretch & Fold technique, fold in the sides--three fold, like a letter--resulting in a rough square. Turn 90º and allow to rest for 10-minutes. Do the Stretch & Fold sequence 5 or 6 more times. Use only as much flour as is necessary in order to be able to handle the dough. Although you should handle it with some care, you can be surprisingly rough with it without consequence. A few folds more or less aren't going to do much of anything either. As you stretch, fold, and turn; you'll feel the dough begin to bulk up and begin to see blisters.
At this point, depending on how much you made, you may wish to cut the boule into smaller parts. Put boule(s), on a piece of cornmeal dusted parchment (I use a Silpat mat instead) on a baking sheet stretching it as needed for shaping.
If you use a banneton for your final rise, you can skip this step: Using the rest of your flour, heavily dust the surface of the bread to cover it completely.
Allow to rise until at least double or even triple. The amount of time for this will vary with your culture, flour, and temperature (and patience!). This is usually about 3-hours for me; but can be anywhere from 2-5 hours. I put the rising boule in a cold oven (that way it's out of the way and ready for the final act).
I do my final rise in and bake into a COLD OVEN. Bake at 475ºF (275ºC) for 65-70 min. I ALWAYS bake into a cold oven. If this offends some of you purists, you may wish to apply your own methods. You can use a stone, or not. I now use a "Silpat" mat, but used to use a plain, thin, metal sheet w/parchment as well. Allow to cool for at least an hour on a wire-rack before cutting (to prevent gumminess).
Enjoy!