WineLovers Discussion Group

Can anyone help with a good Pumpernickle Recipe? I (stupidly!) challenged my (GERMAN!) wife to a bake off and I'm way over my head.


Thanks,
Bill

I have lots of pumpernickel recipes. Here's a simple one. If you want a more complex one, let me know.

PUMPERNICKEL

4 c rye flour
2 c whole-wheat flour
2/3 bulgur wheat
2 tsp salt
2 Tbs molasses
3-1/2 c warm water
1 Tbs vegetable oil

1. Grease two 7x3-1/2" loaf pans. Combine rye, whole-wheat, bulgur and salt.
2. Mix molasses w/warm water. Add to flours with oil. Combine to form dense mass.
3. Place in pans, pressing into corners. Cover w/oiled plastic wrap. Let sit in warm place for 18-24 hrs.
4. Preheat oven to 225F. Cover pans lightly w/foil. Fill a roasting pan w/boiling water and place a rack on top.
5. Place the pans on top of the rack and transfer very carefully to the oven. Bake the loaves for 4 hours. Increase the oven temp to 325F. Top up the water in the roasting pan if necessary, uncover the loaves and bke for another 30-45 min or until loaves feel firm and tops are crusty.
6. Let cool in pans for 5 min. Turn out on wire rack to cool. Serve thinly sliced.

Improves with time. Keep for at least 24 hrs double-wrapped inside a plastic bag before slicing.

Larry Greenly wrote:I have lots of pumpernickel recipes. Here's a simple one. If you want a more complex one, let me know.

PUMPERNICKEL

4 c rye flour
2 c whole-wheat flour
2/3 bulgur wheat
2 tsp salt
2 Tbs molasses
3-1/2 c warm water
1 Tbs vegetable oil

1. Grease two 7x3-1/2" loaf pans. Combine rye, whole-wheat, bulgur and salt.
2. Mix molasses w/warm water. Add to flours with oil. Combine to form dense mass.
3. Place in pans, pressing into corners. Cover w/oiled plastic wrap. Let sit in warm place for 18-24 hrs.
4. Preheat oven to 225F. Cover pans lightly w/foil. Fill a roasting pan w/boiling water and place a rack on top.
5. Place the pans on top of the rack and transfer very carefully to the oven. Bake the loaves for 4 hours. Increase the oven temp to 325F. Top up the water in the roasting pan if necessary, uncover the loaves and bke for another 30-45 min or until loaves feel firm and tops are crusty.
6. Let cool in pans for 5 min. Turn out on wire rack to cool. Serve thinly sliced.

Improves with time. Keep for at least 24 hrs double-wrapped inside a plastic bag before slicing.

Whoa! You'd have to slice that one thinly! I add some all-purpose flour to lighten it. No yeast?

From a reliable source:

RUSSIAN BLACK BREAD:
Clayton: The Complete Book of Breads, 1st Edition.

2 tbl Dry yeast
1 tsp Sugar
2 1/2 C Water
3 1/2 C Flour
4 C Rye flour
1 tbl Salt
2 C Bran or whole bran cereal
2 tbl Caraway seed, bruised
1/2 tsp Fennel seed, bruised
2 tsp Instant coffee
2 tsp Granulated onion (onion powder)
1/4 C Vinegar
1/4 C Dark molasses
1 sq (1 oz) Unsweetened chocolate, melted
1/4 C Shortening, preferably lard, melted
Glaze: 1 tsp cornstarch mixed with 1/2 C cold water

In the bowl of your mixer dissolve yeast with sugar and water heated to approximately 125 degrees. Proof yeast. Add one cup each white and rye flours, salt, bran, caraway and fennel seeds, instant coffee, onion powder, vinegar, molasses, chocolate, and shortening. Beat at low speed for two minutes. With mixer running or by hand if you don’t have a powerful mixer, add remaining flour alternately till all white and rye are incorporated, and dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Let dough rest fifteen minutes. Knead for seven minutes with a dough hook or ten minutes by hand until smooth and elastic. If it gets sticky dust it with hands and a little flour. Place in a greased bowl, cover with a damp dish towel, and rise until double (about an hour in ideal conditions). Turn in out on a floured board, and cut in half, form into two balls, and place each in a greased eight inch cake pan. Cover with damp towel and let rise again. Bake in a 350 degree oven for an hour or until done. Meanwhile prepare glaze. Mix cornstarch and water and heat in small saucepan until mixture boils stirring all the while. Hold boil for one minute, still stirring. When bread comes out of oven, remove from pans. Brush loaves with glaze, and return to oven for three minutes. Remove from oven again, and place on metal racks to cool.

Yeah, no yeast. It's very dense, more like a steamed bread than a baked one.

Here's a European recipe:

Pain de Meteil

Starter
1.5 c stone-ground rye or pumpernickel flour
1 pkg yeast
1.5 c warm water

Dough
All of the starter
1 cup warm water
1 Tbs salt
3 Tbs vegetable shortening
1 c stone-ground rye or pumpernickel flour
2-1/2 c all-purpose flour, approx.

Glaze
1 egg
1 Tbs milk

Starter: In small bowl, mix rye, yeast and warm water. Blend. Cover, set aside at room temp for 6hrs or overnight.

Dough: Pour all the starter into large bowl. Stir in 1 c of water. Add salt and shortening. With wooden spoon or scraper, blend in cup of rye flour thoroughly. Add white flour, 1/2 c at a time. Stir until it gets too heavy to move and then work with hands. This will be a sticky dough until the white flour begins to take over. When dough is shaggy mass and can be worked with hands with a minimum of stickiness, lift from the bowl.

Sprinkly work surface with flour and turn dough onto it. Dough is heavy and dense, but will become elastic and less sticky as kneading proceeds. Add liberal sprinkles of white flour to control moisture. Occ lift ball of dough high and throw it down hard against the table top to help develop gluten.

Turn ball of dough into greased bowl. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and leave at room temp until dough has doubled, abt 2 hrs.

Turn dough onto work surface and divide into 2 pieces. Knead each briefly to press out the bubbles.

Place 2 loaves on baking sheet and cover with wax paper to keep cerust from forming on loaves too early, abt 50 min.

Preheat oven 20 min before baking.

Remove wax paper, brush loaves with egg-milk glaze. Slash each loaf with 5 or 6 diagonal cuts 1/2" deep.

Place on middle shelf of oven. Bake at 400F for 50 min.

30 min later turn loaves to equalize baking temps.

Bread is done when light golden brown and sounds hollow when thumped.

Cool on rack.

Thank you all! I'll give one of them a go on Sunday and keep you informed. Thanks again.


Prost!
Bill