Roggenmischbrot (German Mixed Rye Bread)

Traditionally, Germans have two cold meals and one hot meal ! Coming from India, it took me sometime to digest this surprising fact because backhome, we rarely have cold meals. Breads being the staple food here find its place in the breakfast table and eventually at the dinner time. So, a normal household has atleast four types of cheese with salad vegetables and jams and atleast two types of breads, one for the breakfast and the other called "Abendbrot" (Evening bread) for dinner. This illustrates the importance of bread in German cuisine.
Abendbrot is baked with wholemeal or rye flour, mixed in different proportions. Germans use almost all available types of grains like wheat, rye, barley, oats, corn, rice, or even potato flour for their breads. You can imagine how many types of breads one could possibly find here depending upon their different proportions and types. Most types of breads contain wheat and rye flour (hence called Mischbrot - mixed bread). Combining with other grains gives them their color ranging from dark brown to pale brown. Rye bread is dark in color and is more heavy, dense than the white breads and a slightly a sour taste, making it perfect bread for the evening meal sandwiches !
Rye flour contains large amount of fiber and only a little fat makes it the most popular and favored bread in Germany. Well, talking about popularity, would also like to mention about some other breads available here in Germany:

• Sunflower seed (Sonnenblumenkernbrot) - my favourite !
• Rye Bread (Roggenbrot)
• Rye-Wheat (Roggenmischbrot)
• Toast bread (Sandwichbrot)
• Whole grain bread (Vollkornbrot)
• Wheat-Rye bread ( Weizenmischbrot)
• White bread (Weißbrot)
• Multi-grain (Mehrkornbrot)
• Pumpkin seed (Kürbiskernbrot)
• Onion bread (Zwiebelbrot)

Have always been fascinated by the hundreds of varieties of breads available in the bakeries here and want to try my hands on atleast some of my favourites :). So here is my first attempt with the rye flour.....wanted to play careful and hence used white flour along with it. The addition of spices and different seeds like flaxseeds, sesame seeds and poppy seeds enhanced its flavor and taste to a greater extent. On the whole, this second try of mine (the first being Whole Wheat Banana Bread), was a huge success and it got me brownie points from my food critic :)

Ingredients
Rye flour - 3 cups
All purpose white flour - 2 cups
Warm water - 1.5 cups
Olive oil - 2 tbsp
Dry Yeast - 1 pkt
Ground Cumin seeds (1 tsp)
Ground Corriander seeds ( 1 tsp)
Sugar - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste
Flax seed - 1 tsp
For topping
Poppy seeds - 1 tbsp
Flax seeds - 1 tbsp
Sesame seeds - 1 tbsp
Rolled Oats - 1 tbsp
Egg - 1
Water - 1 tsp

Method :
1. Dissolve the yeast in 1/4 cup lukewarm water and sugar. Set aside for 10 minutes for activating it.
2. In a separate bowl, combine all the ingredients and then the yeast and knead the flours into a soft dough.

3. Cover the bowl and allow it to raise for an hour in a warm place.
4. Divide the dough into two parts and make them into log shapes.

5. Apply the egg wash (egg beaten with 1 tsp of water).
6. Sprinkle the garnish.
7. Preheat the oven to 180°C and bake the bread for about 35-45 minutes. Keep checking for the browning and a screwer should come out clean when inserted !

8. Serve fresh with a simple butter spread or any dip you prefer.