It’s common and acceptable to eat bread with each meal, including breakfast, where they often eat raw bread with hummus or veggie spreads.
There’s even a name for a bread snack in the late morning, called Pausenbrot. I had my own Pausenbrot every morning when I did a week of volunteering in the woods, and that’s where I first tasted traditional German breads.
Traditionally, the bread is dark without much extra sugar. When I first tried it, I was shocked by how much more bitter and dry it was than the bread I was used to! However, it was served with every meal, and as I began to eat more and more of it, I began to like it more. I especially like it with berry jellies, which are very popular along with honey, nutella, and veggie spreads here. My favorite jelly to have with bread is a jelly made from Johannisbeere, which is a berry I’d never tasted before coming to Germany. It tastes a bit like blackberries, and is very sweet.
Anyone will tell you that to get really good bread, you need to go to a bakery. That being said, the supermarkets make all kinds of fresh bread everyday. These are handmade, so there are lots of funny shapes! The loaves are made in big ovals a bit bigger than my head. You’ll often see them with oats or seeds baked into their crusts.
Pretzels in particular have a lot of artistry involved in making them, pretzels that you get in the supermarket are made in the Bavarian style, with a big belly and thin arms. Isn’t it amazing that there are so many regional styles for simple bread or pretzels?
