Breakfast like a King
…. or like an Emperor
The Emperor of Austria, Franz Joseph of Habsburg, enjoyed already this exquisite piece of breakfast bread, the “Kaisersemmel”. Crispy on the outside, on the inside fluffy and moist, must be a hand-knitted Kaisersemmel.
This exquisite piece of wheat bread is to this day the medal of honor for any baker. When I learned the trade some thirty years ago, we apprentices where not allowed to operate the machines the would mass produce them, until we where able to make the by hand.
Today you will be hard pressed to find a baker in Vienna who still produces this and other breads by hand. In Vienna, by law it has to weigh 46g after baking and the price was regulated for a long time.
There is one Baker in the center of the old city, that still makes all sorts of “hand-made” goodies.
Bäckerei Arthur Grimm
Kurrentgasse 10, 1010 Wien
Tel.: +43 1 533 13 84 – 0
http://www.grimm.at/
Mo, Di, Mi, Do, Fr: 07:00 – 18:30
Sa: 08:00 – 13:00
Leonard Lambacher started the bakery “Zum großen Ofenloch” in 1536. 1840 it became the Imperial and Royal Court-Bakery under the leadership of Anton Wittmann. Today Arthur Grimm is the only bakery left in the city center of Vienna, that produces it’s own bread.
Already in the window you’ll find a basket of Kaisersemmeln inviting you to enter and explore.
The time I arrived it was close to lunch time. The counter rather sparingly filled with bread of the day. But the lingering smell of fresh bread, caramelized wheat flour and simple cookies was enough to get a few pieces and head off.
My personal favorite is the “Salzstangerl” or “Saltstick”. This crooket stick of dough covered with rock salt and caraway seeds is an indugense for any time of the day, and no baguette would come even close to this taste sensation.
