Hotel Albris stories

Looking for the perfect bread

The best bread contains sourdough instead of yeast, says Claudio Kochendörfer. In order to find the perfect taste, he tried . for four months

The book of a Californian master baker is the inspiration. This describes how he discovered the perfect taste of bread with self-cultivated sourdough. "I'll try that too," says Claudio Kochendörfer. He mixes some wheat flour and water in a preserving jar – he doesn't need any more ingredients to make sourdough Make it yourself. Claudio puts the glass in the refrigerator and examines it 24 hours later: "If the mass bubbles and smells fruity, lactic acid- and acetic acid bacteria have formed – that's good. If it stinks, something has gone wrong" .

The dough must rest for a long time

Sourdough is a traditional leavening agent that is added to bread dough in small quantities. The lactic acid- and acetic acid bacteria cause the dough to rise and a loose bread crumb is formed. «Sourdough has many advantages compared to yeast», says Claudio: «The bread is more aromatic Easier to digest and stays fresh longer. »This is also due to the fact that sourdough breads have a much longer resting time behind them.« Because the longer the dough rests, the more flavor it absorbs », knows the bread entrepreneur. That is why his bakers generally use yeast sparingly.« There is at least eight hours of rest time in all of our breads. This is the big difference to industrial bread production. »

Crispy crust with a hint of caramel

The new Kochendörfer sourdough bread even rests for 30 hours! To develop it, Claudio spent dozens of nights in his private kitchen. Since the homemade sourdough reacts strongly to temperature and humidity, he had to proceed according to the principle of chance. “If the fermentation is too strong, for example, large holes form. in the dry air of the Engadine this is problematic because it hardens the bread quickly », says the expert. In order to adapt the new Kochendörferbrot to the local climate, he finally added a little bit of yeast.

It took four months for the sourdough bread to go from “prototype” to “ready for series production” .. The new bread has been in the store since July 2019 and is very popular with customers a delicately aromatic interior.