Bake French rolls yourself and try out a nutty version: Franzbrötchen with black sesame and almond-sesame crumbles. Our version of the Hamburg pastry is less sweet, but intensely nutty, flaky and crunchy. If shaping the dough has kept you from making Danish dough yourself, we can reassure you: folding the dough is much easier than you think!
If there is one pastry that one associates with Hamburg, then it is probably them Franzbrötchen. You can of course also get the Danish pastries filled with sugar and cinnamon in Berlin and other places, but not in the quality and, above all, the selection that the far north has to offer. So it’s no wonder that on my last visit to Hamburg I went home with countless Franzbrötchen in my luggage. Ultimately, we had to take advantage of the fact that there is not only the classic version with cinnamon and sugar, but also lots of other varieties. However, since the Franzbrötchen Express doesn’t find its way to us very regularly, we have to lend a hand every now and then and bake our own version of the Danish pastry. Et voilà: Franzbrötchen with black sesame and almond-sesame crumbles.
Fittingly, Easter is just around the corner and therefore a good opportunity for all kinds of sweet pastries. Franzbrötchen are not the first thing that comes to mind Easter breakfast comes to mind (although maybe in Hamburg?), but why not try something new. Our Variant of Franzbrötchen do we have filled with black tahini and topped with almond sesame crumbles. The result is wonderfully flaky, not so sweet, but wonderfully nutty French rolls that also look great. The effort required for the buttery particles is a little higher (the resting times for the dough add up), but in the end, homemade Franzbrötchen are less complicated than they seem at first glance. We have now baked two portions of the crispy yeast pieces and surprised friends who were very impressed with the little pieces.
What is a Franzbrötchen and what makes it so special?
The name of the Hamburg specialty probably goes back to the so-called French bread back – a simple white bread that became popular in Hamburg during the French occupation at the beginning of the 19th century. How exactly today’s Franzbrötchen came about is not entirely clear. One theory goes that a Hamburg baker tried to recreate a French croissant, but ended up creating something entirely his own: a buttery, cinnamony pastry made from tourned yeast dough.
Like croissants, Franzbrötchen are made from Danish pastry – essentially a puff pastry in which yeast is also used. For the Franzbrötchen, a yeast dough is made that is coated (i.e. folded several times) with a cold slab of butter. This creates a buttery dough that becomes flaky and crispy when baked. There is also the typical sugar and cinnamon filling (or a modified filling), which caramelizes when baked and ensures an irresistible taste. The shape is also characteristic: the roll of dough is cut into trapezoidal pieces and then pressed down firmly in the middle with the handle of a wooden spoon so that the cut surfaces fold up at the sides. This slightly crumpled look is the identifying mark of a real Franzbrötchen.
Tour the Danish dough: This creates a buttery, flaky dough
Touring is the technique that gives the Franzbrötchen its buttery, flaky structure. A cold slab of butter is inserted into the yeast dough and the whole thing is rolled out and folded several times. Repeated folding creates many thin, alternating layers of dough and butter. The butter melts in the oven, the steam pushes the layers apart, creating the characteristic flaky, crispy dough texture that makes a good Franzbrötchen.
It sounds complicated, but it can be implemented really easily with a few basic rules:
- The most important: The butter must remain cold, but must not be rock hard – it should be able to bend without breaking. If the dough becomes too elastic when you roll it out or the butter becomes too soft, put it in the fridge! That’s why you shouldn’t shorten the resting times specified in the recipe.
- Do not press too hard when rolling outbut roll out the dough evenly and patiently into the right shape. And don’t worry if everything isn’t perfectly symmetrical: as long as the butter stays trapped in the dough and doesn’t ooze out excessively, the result will be great.
- The dough needs two rounds: After two tours – i.e. rolling out and folding twice with a 1 hour cooling break in between – the dough is finished and ready for the final rolling out and filling.
The filling: black tahini or light sesame?
Depending on the sesame plant, the sesame grains are white or black. Black sesame is considered the original form of sesame and is particularly rich in health-promoting ingredients. It has a more intense, slightly bitter and nutty taste – exactly what characterizes black tahini. In our Franzbrötchen, the filling with black sesame butter ensures not only the intense taste but also a great dark color that contrasts with the light dough.
White sesame, on the other hand, is a little milder. That’s why light tahini tastes a little more neutral and is also creamier because the sesame is usually peeled. If you don’t like the strong taste of black sesame (or can’t find black sesame paste), you can easily switch to regular tahini and light sesame seeds – the Franzbrötchen then have a slightly gentler aroma, but still taste heavenly. By the way: If you have only used tahini as an ingredient Hummus If you know and are a bit skeptical about pastries with tahini, go ahead! Sesame paste works great in all sorts of things sweet pastries or even desserts like ours Pear and tahini crumble.
Sweet pastries for Easter and spring
Are you looking for more recipe ideas for Easter or spring in general? Here we have put together a few baking recipes for you that will not only enrich your Easter brunch:
Franzbrötchen with black sesame and almond-sesame crumbles (recipe for approx. 13 pieces)
Preparation time: approx. 1 hour, plus 4-5 hours of resting and baking time.
Ingredients for the dough
- 540 g flour (Type 550) + a little more for rolling out
- 30g sugar
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1 packet of dry yeast (7 g)
- 250 ml cold milk
- 1 egg yolk
- 300 g soft butter
Ingredients for the filling
Ingredients for the almond sesame crumbles
- 50g butter
- 60g flour
- 2 tbsp ground almonds
- 2 tbsp black sesame seeds (alternatively light ones)
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 pinch of salt
Ingredients for spreading
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 tbsp whipped cream
preparation
- For the dough, mix 500 g flour with sugar, salt and yeast in a bowl. Then add milk, egg yolk and 50 g soft butter in coarse pieces. Knead everything into a smooth dough using the dough hook of the food processor (or the hand mixer) in about 3 minutes. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and let rise in a warm place for about 1 hour.
- Meanwhile, mix the remaining 250 g butter with the remaining 40 g flour in a second bowl until everything is well combined. Place the butter mixture on a layer of baking paper and shape it into a square measuring approx. 15 x 15 cm using a dough scraper or a long ruler. Cover and chill for at least 1 hour.
- Knead the risen dough briefly on a lightly floured work surface and roll out into a square measuring approx. 30 x 30 cm. Place the cold butter plate in the middle of the dough. Fold the four corners of dough in towards the middle and press the edges together, slightly overlapping them, so that the butter is completely covered by the dough. Roll out the butter dough package into a rectangle measuring approx. 30 x 50 cm. Be careful not to let any butter ooze out.
- Then the touring begins: From the short side, fold a third of the dough towards the middle, then fold the other third over it. Brush the flour off the dough every now and then. Cover and place in the refrigerator for 1 hour. Then roll out the dough again on a lightly floured work surface to approx. 30 x 50 cm, fold it in again as before, brush it off and place it, covered, in the fridge for another hour.
- Meanwhile, for the filling, place the black tahini with the cream, sugar, vanilla extract and cinnamon in a tall container and puree with a hand blender until smooth.
- Roll out the finished dough on a lightly floured work surface to approx. 40 x 60 cm. Spread the filling evenly all the way to the edges. Roll up the dough tightly from the long side. Cut the roll alternately diagonally (trapezoidal – see photo) into approx. 13 pieces (the pieces should be approx. 6 cm wide on the long side and approx. 2 cm wide on the short side). Press down firmly in the middle of each piece with the handle of a wooden spoon (just to the bottom – see photo) so that the cut surfaces on the left and right fold up. If necessary, press the two edges of the dough together again slightly in the middle at the top. This results in the typical Franzbrötchen shape. Place the Franzbrötchen on two baking trays lined with baking paper, spaced apart. Cover and let rise again for 30-60 minutes before baking.
- Preheat the oven to 200 °C top/bottom heat. For the crumbles, melt the butter in a saucepan and let it cool slightly. Knead the flour, almonds, sesame seeds, sugar, salt and the melted butter in a bowl with your hands to form coarse crumbles. To make the spread, whisk the egg yolk with the cream in a bowl and brush it on the slightly risen French rolls. Spread the almond-sesame crumbles over it and press down lightly.
- Bake the Franzbrötchen on the trays one after the other in the oven for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Allow the finished Franzbrötchen with black sesame to cool on a wire rack or, best of all, enjoy them warm straight away.
Tip: Shape the dough and butter straight
To shape the dough and butter into squares or rectangles, it’s best to use a long ruler or other long, straight tool to straighten the sides of the rolled out dough or butter.
Tip: freeze French rolls
Franzbrötchen are ideal for freezing. Either freeze the shaped, unbaked dough pieces next to each other on a board or plate. Once frozen, they can be placed together in a freezer bag. To bake, place the particles on a baking tray lined with baking paper at a distance from each other and bake in the oven at 200 °C top/bottom heat for about 25 minutes. Alternatively, let the baked Franzbrötchen cool down and freeze in a freezer bag. To defrost, bake in the oven at 150°C for 12-15 minutes.
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