Chef re-creates breads in the Swiss tradition

When Christoph Bruehwiler describes the bread of his childhood,he recalls the rustic, hearty loaves shared at his grandfather'stable.

"We would gather around, and before the meal could start mygrandfather would hug this huge, rustic loaf of bread to his chest tosteady it. Then he would cut a slice for everyone at the table.

"It was wonderful bread, and we had it at every meal - spreadwith sweet butter and honey, eaten with chunks of cheese or evendipped into hot chocolate," recalled Bruehwiler, who is recreatingthose childhood breads at the Swissotel, 323 E. Wacker, where he isexecutive pastry chef.

Switzerland usually conjures images of dark, bittersweetchocolates or artful pastries, but the country is equally famous forwhole-grain breads nourishing enough to put color in Heidi's cheeks.

"There are about 220 varieties of bread in Switzerland,"Bruehwiler said. "Most people don't bake their own breads, becausebakeries turn out wonderful breads every day."

The different shapes, textures and flavors are suited todifferent times of the day, according to Bruehwiler.

For example, there's a round loaf called walliser. It's filledwith walnuts and coarse, chewy bits of rye grain. This is the breadto choose for a breakfast of bread and jam or a snack of bread andcheese.

The rustico is similar to the walliser, but lighter. It is thebread Bruehwiler eats with butter and honey.

A Basle bread, named after the Swiss canton of Basel, is adouble loaf of crusty sourdough. At the hotel, it has been named theSwissotel bread. It is also an excellent choice with cheese.

"These are a big change in taste for Americans who are used towhite bread," Bruehwiler said.

But people have traveled 50 miles to buy more bread once they'vetried it, he said.

For a more familiar bread, there's a light, yet dense, farmer'sloaf, made with milk. As the name suggests it's the version of"white bread" served on farms.

Zopf is a braided egg loaf that resembles the braided challah.

"We use this as a Sunday bread. It's made with butter and isricher and more expensive than most. This is the bread the familyeats when there's leisure time to enjoy bread." Bruehwiler said.

His staff bakes seven of the most popular Swiss breads everyday. Huge containers of grains take up as much space in Bruehwiler'spastry kitchen as they would in a health food store.

Every second day his crew makes large batches of sourdoughstarter, filling the air with a fresh yeasty aroma. But unlike thetypical health-food store, the hotel kitchen has every piece ofhigh-tech equipment necessary to turn out bread.

From a press for stamping out semmeli (little breakfast rolls)to a trolley that rolls into a revolving room-sized oven, this is thepicture of state-of-the-art breadmaking toys.

It's as far removed from Bruehwiler's grandfather's ovens aswalliser is from Wonder Bread.

"My grandfather used an old stone floor oven. Everyone lovesthe look and taste of old-fashioned breads baked from stone ovens.That's what we want to produce here," the chef said.

Bruehwiler was introduced to the family business when he was 2years old. His father gave him a chunk of dough; he transformed itinto a zopf bread and has been a bread baker ever since.

However, he no longer bakes bread at home.

"I know how good Swiss breads should look, but you can't do itat home - the equipment isn't available," said Bruehwiler. "I used tobake at home, but it's become frustrating because I'm used to betterquality here at the hotel."

Though Bruehwiler's recipes cannot be reproduced in homekitchens, bread lovers can still indulge in the hotel's breads. Theloaves are for sale in the Konditorei, the pastry and chocolate shopin the Swissotel.