Anyone who loves bread and lives in Munich will be familiar with Julius Brantner's bakeries. However, the baker also influences the city's culinary scene in other ways: He supplies some of Munich's favourite restaurants and market stalls – always taking great care to leave nothing to chance. We visited four culinary highlights in the city with Julius Brantner!
We meet Julius Brantner in his bakery at Kreuzstrasse 1, just a short walk from the Old Town pedestrian zone. Our first stop after a short stroll is Marina Bröckelt's stall on the Viktualienmarkt food market. The daughter of an Italian immigrant family welcomes us with her characteristic warmth. She opened her Italian delicatessen in 1987 and has been known and adored here ever since for her radiant smile and her Italian products, from cheese, antipasti and wine to panini sandwiches. Her son Lino Leonhardt, who will take over Marinas Feinkost stand this year, is also there. After their joyful and affectionate greeting, Julius Brantner soon holds his favourite sandwich in his hand without even needing to ask: a ‘Caprese’ with tomato salsa, buffalo mozzarella, fresh rocket and homemade basil pesto.
In addition to Italian delicacies, your stand also offers legendary sandwiches. But instead of panini or ciabatta, you use Konrad's Krusti from Julius Brantner. That doesn't seem to fit at all!
Lino Leonhardt: On the contrary, the Krustis are the perfect match! Before we started getting bread from Julius, we had to visit various bakeries ourselves to find the right variety. Now, we no longer have time for that. Getting our bread from Julius was not only a milestone for our stand, but also a boost in quality.
Julius Brantner: Krusti also has a strong Mediterranean influence. Sure, you wouldn't sprinkle wheat semolina on a panino or ciabatta, but the dough recipe is quite similar. We just call it something else. It's actually named after my dad, who is also a baker, and whose Krustis I missed the most when I was travelling.
How did you come across the Krustis?
Lino Leonhardt: Julius offers croissants with almond cream filling in his bakery and you need a special machine to make the cream. My older brother used to work for a company that sold and serviced these machines. One day, he visited Julius to demonstrate the nut cream machine and came round with a bag of bread. We tried it and the very next day, we emailed Julius to ask if we could start buying Krustis from him!
Was that the bakery's first gastronomic collaboration?
Julius Brantner: No, we've done this before. And we get new enquiries all the time, but we turn many of them down.
Really? Aren't these collaborations good for sales?
Julius Brantner: Our main focus is the bakery business. We mainly supply the catering trade, because it's fun to work with great people. The most important thing for me is a shared philosophy. I pay a lot of attention to the quality of our products and I expect the same from our partners, especially when it comes to fulfilling special requests.
Special requests?
Julius Brantner: Many restaurants have specific requests and requirements. Take the Krusti at this stand, for example. It's baked with 133 grams of dough instead of the usual 120 grams.
Why?
Lino Leonhardt: That was really important to us. To be the perfect sandwich, the Krusti needs to be the right size. We defined it as follows: when you place it on your hand, the hand should completely disappear beneath it. That's why Julius bakes slightly larger Krustis for us.
Julius Brantner: And that's exactly why it's so much fun working with Lino and Marina! They pay attention to every detail to make sure each bite tastes perfect. The panino is juicy but not soggy, everything stays in place when you eat it, and the flavour is just right – it's truly a mega complete-package!
Julius Brantner has planned a second stop for us at the Viktualienmarkt: Gürmet, a stall run by Mete Gür and Sandra Lange. The young couple sell Turkish and German wines there, as well as Turkish spices and vegetarian and vegan meze, all made in their small kitchen. They only use fresh, seasonal and regional ingredients. On the day we visit, the menu includes pumpkin hummus, shakshuka and mushroom-filled gözleme – a thin, crispy flatbread made from yufka dough. It is accompanied by organic simit, a crispy, slightly sweet sesame bagel from Julius Brantner's bakery. As we enter the stand, Brantner's gaze immediately lingers on a simit presented on a pretty white plate. He pulls out his smartphone and snaps a photo.
Why did you just take a photo?
Julius Brantner: The ends of the simit are pressed together too tightly. I want to show this to my team so that we can improve it.
How long have you been an expert in Turkish simit?
Julius Brantner (laughs): That took some time! The first attempts didn't work straight away.
What was the challenge?
Julius Brantner: You might think it's simply bread roll dough shaped into a bagel. However, it is more complicated – like with wine, where the taste changes depending on the glass. Besides, the dough is slightly different, and it's spread with grape molasses and sprinkled with sesame seeds in the end. I remember that after the seventh baking attempt, we finally started to work on the finer details, like the perfect chewing time.
Chewing time?
Julius Brantner: It describes how many times you chew a bite. A classic wheat loaf, for example, has more volume, so you chew longer. If you add fat, the bite becomes shorter. That's why you only have to chew buttered toast or pretzels for such a short time.
Mete Gür: We have agreed on a chewing time of about four to five seconds, which we think is perfect. In Turkey, simit is a bit firmer, but we wanted to blend the authentic flavour with Julius' style.
Julius Brantner: I could tell straight away: Mete is well-versed in his craft. The most difficult thing is to work with customers who can't give clear feedback. Working with Mete is a pleasure, because he knows exactly what he wants. That's why I'm happy to bake even these small portions, like the simit we make exclusively for him. I'm not originally from here, but as a migrant to Munich, I've found that this is how you meet people who share the same high standards of quality.
Wouldn't it have been easier to get the simit from a Turkish bakery in the Bahnhofsviertel (station district)?
Mete Gür: That wouldn't fit with our philosophy. Those are machine-made mass products, whereas we make everything ourselves here at the stand. Once you have started using high-quality products, it's hard to go back.
We walk back from Viktualienmarkt in the direction of the bakery. Just a hundred meters away is Weinhaus Neuner, which not only serves Julius Brantner’s bread, but is also one of his favourite restaurants. We are welcomed by manager Frank Glüer. You can tell he’s a natural host even before he talks about his experience in top gastronomy. He spent years as a sommelier and restaurant manager at Michelin-starred EssZimmer in BMW Welt and Restaurant Überfahrt on Lake Tegernsee. The place has been owned by the Neuner family since 1852, making it Munich's oldest wine house. The interior was carefully renovated a few years ago to preserve the traditional ambience. We take a seat at a table near the entrance and soon a freshly baked miniature loaf of organic bread “Bio Brothandwerk 25” arrives, accompanied by chive butter. Julius Brantner tries it and seems satisfied.
Has the role of bread at Weinhaus Neuner changed since it has been delivered by Julius Brantner?
Frank Glüer: What has changed is the feedback from our guests. The bread is highly praised. As soon as patrons sit down, we serve it freshly baked with some chive butter or lard with crackling. Most guests immediately feel at ease, realising straight away that this is quality. In that sense, the bread has a strong signalling effect.
Why did you choose the bread from Julius Brantner?
Frank Glüer: Because Julius is obsessed with quality. You can taste it in his products, but you also sense it when you talk to him. Recently, we had a long discussion about how important water is.
Water?
Julius Brantner: Munich's tap water is a crucial ingredient for us. Every few years, the city flushes the pipes with chlorine to prevent contamination, and as food producers, we’re informed in advance. That's important, because even the smallest amount of chlorine would destroy all the yeast cells in our sourdough. During this time, we buy water – so that we can bridge about two weeks: we don't use just any water; we test it extensively beforehand.
Frank Glüer: I think that's also the secret of Julius' success. He is incredibly curious and interested in the food industry. He has built a strong network in Munich, always talking to people, asking for advice or feedback and thus constantly refining his products. I still fondly remember the brioche story in Stockholm.
What is behind that story?
Frank Glüer: It happened during a little trip we took together. We ate at Restaurant Frantzén, which was considered the best restaurant in the world at the time. One of the courses included a brioche, and although it was very, very good, it wasn't quite perfect. Julius took the liberty of pointing this out. (both laugh)
What was wrong with it?
Julius Brantner: The butter was not perfect. We tested many options ourselves and finally decided in favour of butter from Brittany for our brioche. The salt content of the soil there gives the butter a unique flavour that's hard to match for German, Austrian, or Swiss butter.
From Weinhaus Neuner we head north towards the Schwabing district. On the way, Julius Brantner receives a phone call: A dough mixer in the bakery has come loose from its fixture and an emergency solution is needed, otherwise there will be no bread the next day. While Julius assesses the situation, we take the opportunity to explore the last restaurant on our tour: Petit Fritz in Hohenzollernstrasse. The place looks as if it had been transported to Munich from the 6th arrondissement in Paris. Head chef Sebastian Weißenfeld is already waiting for us and explains the restaurant’s concept. A little later, Julius Brantner rejoins us.
The Petit Fritz specialises in tartines. What is that all about?
Sebastian Weißenfeld: The concept originated from our founder, Tom Breiter. He had an experience in a rustic little bistro in Avignon with friends where they enjoyed good wine and a variety of different breads, served on large wooden boards.
So tartines are simply sandwiches?
Sebastian Weißenfeld: Exactly! When Tom first shared the idea with me, I was a bit sceptical. After 13 years as a chef, it felt quite odd for me to make sandwiches. But he convinced me. Bread is our foundation, it's a playground for all sorts of culinary creations. We prepare everything ourselves, from roast beef to rillette. For instance, our current menu features a chicken liver pâté paired with sultana and pine nut jam, alongside marinated and baked beetroot topped with flakes of Belper Knolle, a round raw milk cheese from Switzerland.
Would the tartines not work with standard bread from the supermarket?
Sebastian Weißenfeld: For our tartines, we keep the bread sliced in the fridge, then we toast it on both sides before topping it. This could technically work with conventional bread, but it tends to dry out. Julius' bread, on the other hand, retains its moisture and remains fluffy. A good shelf life is crucial for us, as bread is our basic product – we may never run out of it. Julius' bread still tastes fresh even days later.
Why is that?
Julius Brantner: The food industry isn't interested in people buying bread once a week, perhaps freezing some of it and baking it again. They want you to come to the shop every day if possible. And food producers often use baking agents to control freshness and shelf life. Some breads are even designed so that you can't freeze them. It might sound a bit freaky, but if you give flour and water enough time to really interact ...
Julius Brantner interrupts himself; he has to laugh. In the background, the lilting, romantic melodies of an accordion play, reminiscent of a film score for a French tearjerker featuring Juliette Binoche.
... then they stick together for a long time later. We give our products plenty of time to mature and develop a stable structure.
A dough mixer has just broken down in the bakery. What would happen if you ran out of Julius Brantner's bread?
Sebastian Weißenfeld: Then we would be in trouble. In the beginning, you took a company holiday, so we had to take a precaution and stock up ...
Sebastian Weißenfeld takes out his smartphone and shares a picture. It shows a Petit Fritz employee with a stack of bread boxes next to him, almost twice his height.
Julius Brantner: Simple but high-quality sandwiches are something I personally feel the city still needs more of. I'm pleased that Munich is becoming more liveable with offers like this – and that I can contribute to that.
