Kornspitz (Seeded Multigrain Rolls)

Every Austrian bakery has a basket of Semmeln and a basket of Kornspitz, and the one you choose tells people something about you. The Semmel is light, white, all about the crust. The Kornspitz is its darker, earthier cousin: a rye-wheat roll shaped like a spindle with pointed ends, coated in sunflower seeds and flaxseeds and sesame, with a crumb that actually tastes like grain. When I was a child on those trips to Austria with Gretel and my grandmother Eva, I'd stand at the bakery counter in Salzburg and point at the Kornspitz every single time. Gretel would laugh and say it figured, because I never did anything the easy way.

Kornspitz is the roll you want for Jause, the Austrian afternoon meal that's somewhere between a snack and a light supper. You split it open, lay good butter on one half, pile Schinken or Bergkäse on the other, and eat it with a few cornichons and maybe some radishes. The seeds on the crust crunch against the soft, slightly sour crumb inside. It's a roll with personality. A Semmel politely holds your sandwich together. A Kornspitz has opinions about what goes on it.

At my restaurant in Salzburg, we bake these every morning. The kitchen smells like toasted seeds and rye by seven o'clock. The dough is simple: rye flour, wheat flour, a touch of malt syrup for color and depth, good butter, and a seed mixture pressed into the surface before baking. The shape takes a little practice, those pointed ends aren't decorative, they crisp up in the oven and give you something to tear off with your fingers. Once you've made a batch, you won't go back to buying them.