Semmel Rolls and Other Adventures

I (Mike) have been trying to become a self-taught, master bread maker.  There's a French expression, "Avoir toujours du pain sur la planche" (literally, to still have bread on the cutting board; figuratively, to still have work to do), and I think that pretty much sums up how it's going.  I've been getting recipes from a great book Patty gave me, "Baking with the Saint Paul Bread Club."  (I'm also a member of the club.)  My step-kids gave me a super "Breads of the World" book that includes lots of history and interesting cultural stuff in addition to recipes, so I'm pulling ideas from that, too.

A friend suggested I make it a goal to enter something in the Minnesota State Fair this August, so I'm hoping to develop a great original recipe and see if I can become the talk of "The Great Minnesota Get-Together," which, I'm told, is what we locals like to call the Fair.

One recent project that went very well was trying to recreate "Semmel rolls."  Folks from Sheboygan, Wisconsin, will tell you there's no such thing as a bratwurst on anything but a Semmel roll, and I strongly agree.  They have a hard crust, a chewy inside, and they stand up to a brat without falling apart.  (By the way, "Semmel" is the German word for "roll," but no one seems troubled by the redundancy.)

I had two motivations to try to recreate Semmel rolls.  As a youth in Milwaukee, my parents often schlepped my siblings and me 60 miles (100km) north to Sheboygan to visit our grandparents.  I fell in love with Semmel rolls then and haven't found anything close since.  Also, my father is a huge fan, to the point he's tried to connect bakeries in Sheboygan with bakeries in Minneapolis/St. Paul to get Semmel rolls available here -- so far to no avail.  

One particularly big day for brats and Semmel rolls was Sheboygan's annual "Bratwurst Day."  There were grills ablaze everywhere, and, thanks to massive quantities of smoke from the burning brat fat, visibility of about 50 feet.  I was only five or six then, but it's occured to me since that there may have been some drinking going on. . . .

You can see what "Bratwurst Day" looks like today and get a bit of history at www.bratdays.org.

Here is my first shot at Semmel rolls.  They need a more "open crumb" (bigger air holes inside), and the indentation along the top of each needs to be deeper.  A bit more rye flour on top, too.

Here are some other breads I've made.  (You can click on the image to make it larger.)  The big issues for me are getting an open crumb from a wet dough (you sacrifice the shape of the loaf because you need a wet dough to get the big air holes), and getting a nice, hard crust.  Generally, I also could improve on texture.  Oh, well: Onward to the Fair!