Sinking Your Teeth Into German Breads

When you travel to Germany, you will no doubt notice the bread on your table at breakfast and dinner.

German bread is famous around the world for its flavor and texture, but did you know that there are more than 200 recognized varieties?

Pumpernickel is the most famous internationally, but there is so much more to German bread! Experimenting with flavors and textures will let you move beyond the basic loaf and explore other mouthwatering options in every category.

Weißbrot is the basic white bread, although most Germans prefer the more nutritive darker breads. Weißbrot is often used for rolls, like the popular Käsesemmel, which is baked with cheese on top.

Graubrot, while literally meaning gray bread, refers to the bread that are neither black nor white. Sourdough and rye breads fall into this category, as do the delicious sunflower seed (Sonnenblumenkernbrot) and pumpkin seed (Kürbiskernbrot) breads.

Schwarzbrot is the black bread that has made German bakeries famous. It generally has a 90% rye content with a hard crust hiding a dense, moist center. The super grainy Vollkornbrot is a part of this group, as is the renowned Pumpernickel.

Eat your bread with cheeses, creamy spreads, and sliced meats. A mild cheese with small holes is very popular to go with the bread, as is Hüttenkäse, a seasoned cottage cheese. For using jams many foreigners toast it, although the chewy bread really doesn’t need it.

To learn more about German bread, its history, and its role in daily life in Germany, you can even visit a museum dedicated to bread in Ulm. The Museum of Bread Culture covers 6,000 years of the history of bread. Opened 10 am – 5 pm daily and until 8:30 pm on Wednesdays, it has 18,000 works related to bread in its collection.

It is also conveniently located near some cafes where you can snack after you’ve worked up a bread craving looking at the displays ;-)

—Marcus