Category Archives: Pumpernickel

Honey Pumpernickel Bread

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After a grueling day of golf yesterday, praying to the golf gods the storms would stay away (they did) and preparing for another round tomorrow, I needed something to occupy my time today

I haven’t made white sandwich bread in a while so I made the dough early this morning. It needs a minimum 8 hour refrigerated rest which will be over at 2:30 this afternoon. I can then shape and bake it. If the results are good there will be a second post later.

While waiting for the sandwich bread to rest and ferment I decided to make a recipe of honey Pumpernickel bread. I am glad I did. I made this once or twice before but never with such great results. Great flavor, texture and crumb.

Mini Loaf Pan

HONEY PUMPERNICKEL BREAD

INGREDIENTS

• 2 ½ cups warm water (100°-110°F)
• 50 g (1/4 cup) vegetable oil
• 40 g (2 Tbl) molasses
• 170 g (1/2 cup) honey
• 3 ½ cups (400g) pumpernickel flour
• 2 Tbl unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 Tbl Vital Wheat Gluten
• 13.5 g (1 ½ tbl) instant yeast
• 1 tsp (6g) salt
• 240-360 g (2-3 cups) bread flour
• rolled oats (for dusting loaves)

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitter with a dough hook, stir together water, oil, molasses, and honey until mixed well.
  2. Add pumpernickel flour and Vital Wheat Gluten to water mixture.
  3. Add cocoa, yeast, and salt, and stir until blended.
  4. Allow mixture sit for 10 minutes.
  5. Stir in bread flour, one cup at a time, until dough clings to hook and almost clears the sides of mixer, about 3-4 minutes. The dough should weigh about 1880 g.
  6. Cover bowl with greased plastic wrap.
  7. Allow dough to rise in the bowl until doubled, about 30-60 minutes.
  8. For two 9×5 loaves
    • Divide into 2 pieces.Each should weigh about 940g.
    • Cover each piece with greased plastic wrap, and let dough rest for 5 minutes.
    • Shape pieces into loaves, and sprinkle with oats.
    • Place each loaf in a greased 9×5-inch loaf pan.
    • Let dough rise until doubled, about 30-60 minutes.
    • Toward the end of the rising time, preheat oven to 350 F.
    • Bake for 30-40 minutes or until the internal temperature is about 200 F.
  9. For 16 mini-loaves
    • Divide into 16 balls 112 g each.
    • Cover with greased plastic wrap, and let dough rest for 5 minutes.
    • Shape pieces into loaves, and sprinkle with oats. (Gently roll into a small cylinder, don’t deflate!)
    • Place 8 loaves in a greased 8 cell mini loaf pan.
    • Place the remaining 8 balls in the refrigerator.
    o Let dough rise until doubled, about 30-60 minutes.
    o Toward the end of the rising time, preheat oven to 350 F.
    o Bake for 20 minutes or until the internal temperature is about 200 F.
    o Cool on a cooling rack and remove the remaining balls from the refrigerator
    o Gently place the second batch in the still warm to touch baking sheet and repeat 20 minute baking. Don’t roll these. Just gently place in the mini baking sheet.

Enhancing the Scarlet Pumpernickel

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Amazingly, each batch of pumpernickel bread seems to be better than the previous. Today I enhanced my recipe with KAF Cake and Bread Enhancer.

This product is an emulsifier which “enhances” the ability of fats and liquids to combine more easily. This in turn makes the bread (or cake) softer, moister and stay fresh longer. Other than this addition (one Tbl per cup of flour) this recipe is the same as the last one. The result was exactly as advertised, great taste, soft, moist and delicious.

L: Enhanced Mini Loaves – R: Enhanced Mini Loaf Crumb

A quick story about how I came to have Cake and Bread Enhancer. I was visiting my home state which also happens to be the home of King Arthur Baking. We decided to take a road trip, not that I needed anything. Well, a couple of hours and -$395 later I had the mini loaf pan, enhancer and dozens of other baking items I did not need. QC no longer allows me to go into that store with any credit cards.☹️

Mini Loaf Pan – Pumpernickel

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After my success with the whole wheat bread yesterday I bit the bullet and created my own pumpernickel bread recipe based on what I learned yesterday and two other recipes. The results were excellent. (Whew!)

L: 191g portions of dough. C: Unproofed loaves. R: Proofed in-baked
L: Baked loaves. R: QC sample with butter

PUMPERNICKEL MINI LOAF BREAD

INGREDIENTS
• 2 ½ cups warm water (100°-110°F)
• ¼ cup vegetable oil
• 2 Tbl molasses
• ¼ cup honey
• 3 ½ cups (400g) pumpernickel flour
• 2 Tbl unsweetened cocoa powder
• ¼ cup Vital Wheat Gluten
• 1 Tbl lemon juice
• 1 ½ tbl (13.5g) instant yeast
• 1 tsp (6g) salt
• 2-3 cups (240-360g) bread flour
• rolled oats (for dusting loaves)

METHOD

  1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, stir together water, oil, molasses, and honey until mixed well.
  2. Add pumpernickel flour to water mixture.
  3. Add cocoa, yeast, and salt, Vital Wheat Gluten, lemon juice and stir until blended.
  4. Let mixture sit for 10 minutes.
  5. Stir in bread flour, one cup at a time, until dough clings to hook and almost clears the sides of mixer, about 3-4 minutes.
  6. Continue to knead with the dough hook for 6-8 minutes
  7. Turn dough out on a lightly greased counter and knead by hand for 5-8 minutes until the dough is smooth and supple.
  8. Divide dough by weight into 8 equal portions. Mine were 192 g each.
  9. Place each portion into a mini loaf pan and dust with rolled oats.
  10. Allow dough to rise in until it is about 1 inch above the the edge of the pan, about 30-60 minutes. Take note of how high the bread is before starting proof. Mine was almost an inch to begin and I let it rise to 1 1/2 to 2”. There was a lot of oven spring also.
  11. Toward the end of the rising time, preheat oven to 350 F.
  12. Bake at for 18-25 minutes. (Internal temp should be 190-200 deg. F)

Becoming the Scarlet Pumpernickel

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Last week I made a light right sandwich rye. Good crumb, great taste, nice crust. Today I kicked up the percent pumpernickel flour and reduced the light rye flour. I added an egg wash to increase the color of the crust. Better taste, similar crumb and great crust!

Along with the rye experiment, I made another loaf of Honey White bread which has become our staple. I also made some raspberry scones and blackberry hand pies. Busy morning!

Light Rye Bread – KAF (with additional Pumpernickel)


INGREDIENTS
• 1 ½ cups (340g) lukewarm water
• 2 1/3 cups (280g) Bread Flour
• 1 cups (108g) light rye flour
• ½ cups (54g) pumpernickel flour
• 1/4 cup (28g) nonfat dry milk
• 1 ½ teaspoons table salt
• 1 ½ teaspoons instant yeast
• 1 ½ teaspoons Deli Rye Flavor, optional
• 2 tablespoons (25g) vegetable oil
METHOD

  1. Place the water in a large mixing bowl.
  2. Combine the flours with the remaining ingredients in a large mixing bowl, or the bowl of your stand mixer. Mix until there are no dry spots. Using a stand mixer, mix at low speed until all of
    the flour is moistened. The texture of the dough will be soft and sticky due to the pumpernickel flour.
  3. Cover the bowl and let the dough rise at room temperature for 2 hours. Then refrigerate overnight, or for up to 48 hours.
  4. To bake bread: Grease your hands, and scoop the dough out onto a lightly greased or floured work surface. Shape it into a ball and place it, smooth side down, in a floured brotform; or in a bowl lined with a floured smooth cotton dish towel. Let the dough rise, covered, for 2 to 3 hours.
  5. About 45 minutes before the end of the rising time, start preheating the oven to 450°F with a 4 to 4 ½ -quart baking pot or casserole with a lid inside.
  6. When the loaf is fully risen, remove the hot casserole from the oven, carefully grease it, and tip the risen ball of dough into it. Make several slashes in the dough. Cover the pot with the lid, and place it on a middle rack in the oven.
  7. Bake the bread for 25 minutes. Remove the lid and bake for an additional 5 to 10 minutes; the loaf should be lightly browned, and the interior should register at least 195°F on a digital thermometer.
  8. Remove the bread from the oven and turn it out of the crock onto a rack. Cool for several hours before slicing

The Rye Experiment – Part 3 – The Final

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Back to the experiment and on to Part – 3 the Final. This Part was supposed to be completed last week, but due to an unfortunate brain freeze I used the wrong flour. This time I used the First Clear Flour instead of the AP flour used by mistake in Part 2a. (Ahhh, to be 65 again!)

However, this time I also used a Dutch Oven instead of baking uncovered. The rationale is I want the best combination of crumb, crust and flavor. The Dutch Oven provided the traditional chewy ‘Deli Rye’ crust. This recipe and method is a winner!!

So the recipe remains the same as Part 2, except I used a Dutch Oven. I used First Clear and Pumpernickel flours. I used an egg wash when there were about 15 minutes left in the bake. In my case I added it when the internal bread temperature was 195 deg. F.

Caraway Rye Bread KAB – Final

https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/caraway-rye-bread-recipe

INGREDIENTS
• 1 cup (227g) lukewarm water
• 1 cup (106g) white rye, medium rye, or pumpernickel flour
• 4 teaspoons (14g) sugar
• 2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
• 1/2 cup (113g) sour cream (low-fat is fine; please don’t use nonfat)
• 1 to 2 tablespoons (10g) caraway seeds, to taste
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 2 1/3 cups (280g) First Clear Flour
• 3 tablespoons (25g) vital wheat gluten

METHOD

  1. In a medium-sized mixing bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer, combine the water, sugar, rye flour and yeast, mixing to form a soft batter. Let the mixture rest for 20 minutes; this allows the rye flour to absorb some of the liquid, making the dough easier to knead.
  2. Add the remaining ingredients, and mix and knead the dough together — by hand, mixer or bread machine — until it’s fairly smooth. The nature of rye dough is to be sticky, so don’t be tempted to add too much flour.
  3. Place the dough in an oiled bowl or large (8-cup) measure, cover, and let it rise until noticeably puffy, 60 to 90 minutes.
  4. Gently deflate the dough, knead it briefly, and shape it into two smooth oval or round loaves; or one long oval loaf. Place them on a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet.
  5. Cover the loaves, and let them rise until they’re noticeably puffy, about 90 minutes. Towards the end of the rise, preheat the oven to 350°F.
  6. Just before they go into the oven, spritz the loaves with water, and slash them about 1/2″ deep. The oval loaves look good with one long, vertical slash; the rounds, with two or three shorter slashes across the top.
  7. Bake the loaves for 35 to 40 minutes, or until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center reads 205°F to 210°F. The single, larger loaf will bake for 45 to 50 minutes. If the bread appears to be browning too quickly, tent it lightly with foil after 25 minutes of baking.
  8. Remove the loaves from the oven, and transfer them to a rack. While still warm, brush them with melted butter, if desired; this will keep their crust soft.

The Scarlet Pumpernickel

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Actually, it’s brown, not scarlet, but it is pumpernickel. Day 5 of shelter-in-place saw the grilling of English muffins, an apple pie and finally a loaf of pumpernickel. Previously I made dark rye both with and without that nicer chewy, crunchy crust and white sandwich breads. The last time I made pumpernickel it didn’t go well, but with my recent success I decided to try again. Good move!!

This is a recipe from King Arthur Flour, my favorite Vermont baking source. This has great crumb, flavor and crust. Definitely a keeper.

Pumpernickel Bread – KAF

INGREDIENTS

• 4 cups (482g) AP flour
• 1 cup (96g) pumpernickel flour
• 3 tablespoons (21g) rye bread improver, optional
• 2 tablespoons (11g) black cocoa, for dark pumpernickel color
• 1 teaspoon Deli Rye Flavor, optional
• 2 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons instant yeast
• 1 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons (425g) lukewarm water

METHOD

  1. Combine all of the ingredients and mix and knead — by hand, mixer, or bread machine — until the dough is elastic and slightly sticky.
  2. Let the dough rise in a lightly greased, covered bowl for 1 to 2 hours; it should become puffy.
  3. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled surface. Gently deflate it, and shape it into a ball.
  4. Place the shaped loaf onto a lightly-greased or parchment-lined sheet pan or into a Dutch oven and cover with the lid.
  5. Let the loaf rise for 60 to 90 minutes, until it’s almost doubled in size.
  6. Preheat the oven to 425°F.
  7. Slash the loaf diagonally in several places.
  8. Bake the loaf for 35 to 45 minutes until it is crusty, and a digital thermometer inserted into the center reads 190°F to 200°F. If using a stoneware baker, remove the lid for the final 5 minutes of baking for a crusty top.
  9. Remove the bread from the oven, and transfer it to a rack to cool completely.

Tips from our Bakers
While both the rye dough improver and the rye flavor are optional, we recommend using them if you can. The dough improver helps to improve the loaf’s rise and texture, while the rye flavor adds authentic pumpernickel flavor.