Schwarzbrot

For black bread, a German specialty, many of my compatriots and I will walk the additional kilometer to get it. Some Germans living abroad even have it flown in in large quantities.

Sliced Vollkornbrot by Lieken called Kraftklotz (power log)
 without preservatives, juicy, and extra grainy.

While France is the land of cheese, we are the land of bread. Among those many kinds of bread, the black variety is of particular significance but must not be confused with Pumpernickel*. German Schwarzbrot is a bread made from whole grain rye, sometimes called Vollkornbrot, although wholemeal bread may also be made from wheat or spelt.
*I shall come back to Pumpernickel Bread in a future blog.

Elisabeth likes wholemeal toast bread, and so do many others. Of the three kinds of toast bread sold at the local grocery store, the wholemeal variant is frequently sold out.

On the other hand, Red Baron already prefers thinly sliced whole-grain rye bread for breakfast. There are many kinds of Schwarzbrot, some available only regionally, although others, like Lieken, are produced by bakery chains and are offered throughout Germany. 

Support local bakers! So, for a change, I often buy a loaf of whole-grain rye bread at a local bakery, cutting my thin slices by hand.

My favorite packed bread in Freiburg is the Kraftklotz, but whenever I was in Cologne, I bought at least two packages of Rheinisches Vollkornbrot produced by the local bakery Merzenich. Their bread was very dark and tasty due to the addition of sugar beet syrup. Recently, they changed their baking recipe. Now, Merzenich's bread tastes like any everyday Rhenish whole-grain rye bread. 

So when I wept in the presence of my sister-in-law during my recent visit to Cologne, she, being an insider, recommended Zimmermann's Rheinisches Vollkornbrot instead, donating me two packages.

Zimmermann's bakery, founded in 1875, produces Rheinisches Vollkornbrot
 without preservatives and the addition of syrup.

On the left is a thin slice of Kraftklotz,
and on the right is an even thinner slice of Zimmermann's Rhenish whole-grain rye bread.

Recently, Kraftklotz changed its baking recipe, offering 20% more bread per package. I taste the difference. The new kind is tastier than the previous version.

*