Baking ingredients

Here is a list of suggestions for Baking and wheat products, as well as some translations.

Product	Substitute / Translation
Self Raising Flour	You do not find this often in Germany. Sometimes you can get it at Lidl. You can also make your own as follows: To make one cup (250ml) Self raising flour Mix together: 250ml all-purpose flour and 7.5ml baking powder
Cake Flour	Type 405 for baking and sauces, pastries and pie crusts and other lighter baked goods Type 550 is a finer all purpose flour. Most often used to bake white bread, cookies, muffins, biscuits
Rye Flour	Type 1150, Roggenmehl. This is a medium to dark flour. For very dark use Type 1800
Bread Flour	Type 812 for baking bread. it has a chewier texture than all purpose flour
White Whole Wheat	Type 1600, contains whole wheat kernels including the germ and bran.
Volkoring meel / Whole Wheat	Type 1700 Weizenvollkornmehl, good for baking dense and nutty whole wheat bread
High Gluten Flour	Type 1050 best for elastic dough such as bagels and pizza crusts
Speltflour / Dinkel Wheat / Hulled Wheat	Type 630 Dinkelmehl , it can be used instead of Type 405, it has more gluten
Nutty Wheat	According to the Snowflake website, Nutty Wheat is flour that has 18% coarse wheat bran added to it (wholemeal only has about 12%), So in theory you could make your own. Mix 4/5 plain flour with 1/5 wheat bran (available form health shops).
Bran / Semels	die Kleie
Wheat Bran	die Weizenkleie
Mielieblom / Cornstarch (mostly know as Maizina)	die Speisestärke. Available in the baking section You can also substitute 15ml Cornstarch with 30ml Cake Flour
Baking Soda / Koeksoda	das Natron
Cream of Tartar / Kremetart	der Weinstein (pulver)
Tartaric acid Cream of tartar is less acidic than tartaric acid. If your recipe calls for tartaric acid and you don’t have it, using cream of tartar might work. For every teaspoon of tartaric acid, replace with two teaspoons of cream of tartar. However, using tartaric acid will produce better results	Weinsäure / Weinstein
Baking Powder	das Backpulver. It is usually sold in packages See for a detailed explanation on double and single acting below The baking powder you find in SA is Double acting e.g. Royal Baking powder ( Starch, Acidifying Agents (E450(a) – Sodium Pyrophosphate & E341 – calcium phosphate ), Sodium Bicarbonate (E500) ). This means it has two acidic components. The ingredients for Dr Oetker Backin is: Backtriebmittel (Dinatriumdiphosphat (E 450), Natriumhydrogencarbonat (E 500)), Stärke. The E341 Calcium Phosphate is missing.
Instant dry yeast	Instant Backhefe or Trockenbackhefe
Vanilla Essence vs Vanilla Extract	Vanilla Essence is called Vanilleessenz. It is an artificial product Vanilla Extract is called Vanille Extract and is more readily available in Germany. The Extract is a natural product and has a more intense flavour and if you have to substitute, the information I could find suggest you use half the extract if your recipe calls for essence, and double the essence if the recipe calls for extract

More information about Flour types

Ash	Protein	US	UK	German
~0.4%	~9%	pastry flour	soft flour	405
~0.55%	~11%	all-purpose flour	plain flour	550
~0.8%	~14%	high gluten flour	strong or hard	812
~1.1%	~15%	first clear flour	very strong or hard	1050
>1.5%	~13%	white whole wheat	wholemeal	1600

More information about Baking powder

Single-acting baking powder reacts when it’s mixed with the liquid ingredient in a recipe. Because all the bubbles are produced immediately, it’s important to bake the recipe in a pre-heated oven as soon as it’s mixed. Similarly, over-mixing can drive off the bubbles, making the recipe fall flat. Contains only one acid
Double-acting baking powder releases some carbon dioxide immediately and more upon heating. It’s double-acting in that it contains a fast-acting acid that reacts at room temperature and a slow-acting acid that reacts with heat. Most of the carbon dioxide gas is produced during cooking, so double-acting baking powder is more forgiving if a recipe isn’t baked immediately. Contains both fast- and slow-acting acids

Substituting:

Usually, you can substitute one type of baking powder for the other. So, if a recipe calls for 1 teaspoon of double-acting baking powder, you can use 1 teaspoon of single-acting baking powder (and vice versa).
Exception!!
If a recipe calls for double-acting baking powder because there is a time delay between mixing and baking, it’s not a good idea to use single-acting baking powder. Pancakes for example

I found this info on the internet:
To Substitute 1 Tsp of Double Acting Baking Soda use:
1/4 teaspoon baking soda plus 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar plus 1/4 teaspoon cornstarch
OR 1 1/2 teaspoons single-action baking powder
OR 1/4 teaspoon baking soda plus 1/2 cup (120 ml) buttermilk, sour milk or yogurt to replace 1/2 cup (120 ml) non-acidic liquid

Info from Sciencenotes.org

In June we celebrate the start of summer. The longest day of the year will be on 21 June, in Berlin the sun will rise at 04:43 and set at 21:33.
It is time to enjoy a beer after work in one of the many beer gardens or invite friends over for a braai.
You might also be invited for German Grillfest, be ready to see a lot of Sausages, vegetables and even cheese on the grill.
To find out what rules are applicable when you have braai read more here. On this page you will also find links on where to buy boeries and biltong.

It is also time to get your cozzies out as some public swimming facilities (Freibad) will be open. Other options are to swim at a beach, a baggersee or lake.
Other outdoor activities that are very popular during summer is hiking and biking. There are many websites and apps available with easy to follow routes.

Unique weather conditions:

die Schafskälte – Between June 4th and June 20th (usually on the 11th of June) there is often a cold snap in Central Europe. The cool and humid air flowing in from the northwest causes the temperature to drop. When this happens, the weather changes significantly, which can lead to the first – severe – thunderstorms of the year and put a considerable damper a good summer lookout.

Folk saying (Bauernregel) Die Siebenschläferregel – “Ist Siebenschläfertag ein Regentag, regnet’s noch sieben Wochen danach”

According to this rule, the weather conditions that occurs during the period around 27 June can significantly influence the weather for the rest of summer.

Time and Weather

Season	Summer
Time	Central European Time (CET), summer time, same as in South Africa.
Weather	The average temperature is around 22 degrees Celsius. The days become longer and there are more hours of sunshine.

Public Holidays

Holiday	Date	Bundesländer
Corpus Christi / Fronleichnam	03 June	BW, BY, HE, NW, RP, SL

Observations

Holiday	Date	Bundesländer
Metrological start of Summer	01 June	All
Fathers Day	20 June	South Africa
Astrological start of Summer. This will also be the longest day in the year	21 June	All

Festivals and events

Event	Date	Information
	2021	Due the COVID-19 regulations, most festivals have been cancelled.

School Holidays and Terms

Holidays Season	Date	Information
Pfingstferien		https://www.schulferien.org/deutschland/ferien/2021/

Foods and drinks to try

It is still Asparagus (Spargel) season. See our Asparagus page for more information.
Berries like Strawberries (Erdbeeren), Red currant berries (Johannisbeeren), Blueberries (Blaubeeren) and Cherries (Kirschen)
Rote Grütze – A red berry compote which is served with ice cream or vanilla sauce.
Ice cream – the best you will find at Italian Gelato shops. Do try Spaghetti Eis

Vocabulary

German Barbecue	das Grillfest
a state or feeling of warmth, friendliness, and good cheer.	die Gemütlichkeit
man made quarry filled with water	der Baggersee
Lake	der See
Ocean	das Meer
Beach	der Strand / der Badestrand