Brezel, Coffee

German bread is The Best. Fact. Therefore, German breakfasts are also The Best! Aah, August 2015 was a glorious carb-filled month. I've told you about my love for German bread previously, and for today's post I want to show you some of the lovely breakfasts we had on our most recent trip! Every night, Sandra's dad, Rudolf, would ask us what we wanted for breakfast, and would get up early to go to the bakery so that a delicious selection of bread would be waiting for us when we got up. Naaaaw!

I usually made a choice reasonably quickly, but sometimes I was overwhelmed at the prospect of so many opportunities for deliciousness and I'd be stuck in indecision.

Rudolf: What do you girls want for breakfast tomorrow?
Sandra: One pretzel please!
Me: Um... a pretzel. Oh wait, a plain bread roll. Or maybe a quark danish? Are they doing Berliners this time of year?                    Umm... this is too stressful, can you come back to me?
Rudolf: Sarah, would you like to come to the bakery with me and choose yourself?
Me: Yes please!

Decisiveness has never been a strength of mine, heh.

Anyhoo, before I get into the bread, let me show you a couple of breakfasts we had out. On our first morning in Germany, we went to the local Backparadies-Hug for brekky. They used to do a buffet breakfast, but they seem to have stopped that now. Either way, my Käse-Frühstück (cheese breakfast) was delicious, and excellent value at €4,95 for two bread rolls with butter, a coffee, 2 slices each of tomato, Camembert and Gouda, and a little pot of Frischkäse (similar to cream cheese).

Käse-Frühstück at Hug - 4.95€ for a small coffee, 2 x Brötchen, 2 x Camembert, 2 x Gouda, 1 portion Frischkäse, 2 x butter

Fleischkäse im Brötchen (pork meatloaf in a bread roll) is also always a good choice.

Fleishkäse im Brötchen

Ikea breakfast

Back onto the breakfasts at home - I got into Rahmjogurt in a big way on this trip. That's yogurt made from cream, not milk - so indulgent! The Weihenstephan brand was my favourite! That Schoko & Keks Muesli was also pretty ridiculous - normal crunchy oaty muesli clusters with little pieces of milk chocolate and tiny squares of butter biscuits! I bought that green smoothie (with matcha, ginger, kale, pears, spinach, bananas and apple) as a novelty, but it was no Green Press.

Raspberries, Choc-chip cream yogurt, Knusper "Schoko & Keks Muesli", Green smoothie

Raspberries, cream yogurt, grainy Brötchen, coffee (mit Kaffeesahne!)

Puddingstreusel

I also really liked the Hefestreusel - a sweetened yeasty dough topped with a generous amount of crunchy streusel crumbs. These are even nicer the day after they're baked, when they dry out a little and you can dip them in coffee.

Raspberries, Cream yogurt, Hefestreusel

Quarkplunder! (Plunder = Danish, by the way). I got two from two different bakeries because I wanted to see the difference and I love quark! (This reminds me, I should bake Danishes at home again soon). Both were pretty similar, and equally delicious. Quarkplunders are my favourite of all the plunders.

Quarkplunder

This is an Apfelstreuselkuchen - yeasted base with sliced apples and lots of crumble. The sides were deliciously crunchy and caramelised - yum!

Apfelstreuselkuchen

This next picture was from a big Sunday breakfast. On the back plate we have a Schoko-croissant, a normal croissant, a cheese roll (I think), a Rosinenbrötchen (raisin bread roll) and a normal white Brötchen. In the centre are a few Zopf (pastry twists), with nuts or pudding. And heaps of berries because I can never resist buying the cheap and plentiful berries when in Europe!

Berries, Nusszopf, Schokocroissant, Croissant, Brötchen

Below we have a classic pretzel, and a Schnecke (literally "snail", a yeasted and laminated dough with raisins).

Brezel, Schnecke

One morning when I was trying to be "healthy", I asked for some grainy rolls. ("Vogelfutter", or "bird food", as Rudolf calls them).

Brötchen

Although I think any health benefits from the grains were easily cancelled when I filled the bread rolls with brie and salami! Whoops.

Brötchen mit Käse und Salami

On the left hand side we have a normal croissant, and a Laugencroissant. (That's a croissant dipped in lye solution before it's baked, so that it has a delightful pretzel-y taste). Also, croissants in Germany are different from French ones - they're a bit breadier and doughier in Germany and less flaky. In the below pic, we also have a Rosinenbrötchen (raisin bread roll), and a Laugenstange. (That's a long bread roll, dipped in lye solution before being baked. Essentially, it's a pretzel but just in a stick shape).

From left to right: Normales Croissant, Laugencroissant, Rosinenbrötchen, Laugenstange

And there we have it! Wow, looking back at all those breakfasts makes me wanna book a trip back to Germany! And soon!