Pumpernickel Bread
the appetizer: Bake bread easily every day with Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François, with recipes like Broa (Portuguese Corn Bread); Couronne; and Pumpernickel Bread.
Pumpernickel Bread Makes four 1-pound loaves. The recipe is easily doubled or halved.
Pumpernickel bread is really just a variety of rye bread. What darkens the loaf and accounts for its mildly bitter but appealing flavor is powdered caramel coloring, cocoa, molasses, and coffee, not the flour. The caramel color is actually a natural ingredient made by overheating sugar until it is completely caramelized (it's available from kingarthurflour.com). Very traditional recipes use pumpernickel flour (a coarse rye with lots of rye bran), but this grain doesn't do well in our recipes because it absorbs water unpredictably. Since it's really the caramel, coffee, and chocolate that give pumpernickel its unique flavor and color, we successfully created a pumpernickel bread without true pumpernickel flour.
This bread is associated with Russia and caviar. If you're partial to caviar, here's your chance. Or just pile on the pastrami and corned beef.
2. Mix in the flours without kneading, using a spoon, a 14-cup capacity food processor (with dough attachment), or a heavy-duty stand mixer (with dough hook). If you're not using a machine, you may need to use wet hands to incorporate the last bit of flour.
3. Cover (not airtight), and allow to rest at room temperature until the dough rises and collapses (or flattens on top), approximately 2 hours.
4. The dough can be used immediately after the initial rise, though it is easier to handle when cold. Refrigerate in a lidded (not airtight) container and use over the next 8 days.
5. On baking day, cut off a 1-pound (grapefruit-size) piece of dough.
Using wet hands (don't use flour), quickly shape the dough into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go. Then form an oval-shaped loaf. Allow to rest and rise on a cornmeal-covered pizza peel for 40 minutes.
6. Twenty minutes before baking time, preheat the oven to 400oP, with a baking stone placed on the middle rack. Place an empty broiler tray on any other shelf that won't interfere with the rising bread.
7. Using a pastry brush, paint the top crust with cornstarch wash and sprinkle with the caraway seeds, if using. Slash the loaf with deep parallel cuts, using a serrated bread knife (see photo).
8. Slide the loaf directly onto the hot stone. Pour 1 cup of hot tap water into the broiler tray, and quickly close the oven door. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until firm. Smaller or larger loaves will require adjustments in baking time.
9. Allow to cool before slicing or eating.
Read more: Recipe: Pumpernickel Bread http://www.globalgourmet.com/food/cookbook/2009/artisan-bread/pumpernickel.html#ixzz15125cu7B
Pumpernickel Bread Makes four 1-pound loaves. The recipe is easily doubled or halved.
Pumpernickel bread is really just a variety of rye bread. What darkens the loaf and accounts for its mildly bitter but appealing flavor is powdered caramel coloring, cocoa, molasses, and coffee, not the flour. The caramel color is actually a natural ingredient made by overheating sugar until it is completely caramelized (it's available from kingarthurflour.com). Very traditional recipes use pumpernickel flour (a coarse rye with lots of rye bran), but this grain doesn't do well in our recipes because it absorbs water unpredictably. Since it's really the caramel, coffee, and chocolate that give pumpernickel its unique flavor and color, we successfully created a pumpernickel bread without true pumpernickel flour.
This bread is associated with Russia and caviar. If you're partial to caviar, here's your chance. Or just pile on the pastrami and corned beef.
- 3 cups lukewarm water
- 1-1/2 tablespoons granulated yeast (2 packets)
- 1-1/2 tablespoons salt
- 2 tablespoons molasses
- 1-1/2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons instant espresso powder or instant coffee (or substitute brewed coffee for 2 cups of the water, keeping the total volume at 3 cups)
- 1-1/2 tablespoons caramel color
- 1 cup rye flour
- 5-1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- Cornmeal for the pizza peel
- Whole caraway seeds for sprinkling on the top, optional
- Cornstarch wash (see note below)
2. Mix in the flours without kneading, using a spoon, a 14-cup capacity food processor (with dough attachment), or a heavy-duty stand mixer (with dough hook). If you're not using a machine, you may need to use wet hands to incorporate the last bit of flour.
3. Cover (not airtight), and allow to rest at room temperature until the dough rises and collapses (or flattens on top), approximately 2 hours.
4. The dough can be used immediately after the initial rise, though it is easier to handle when cold. Refrigerate in a lidded (not airtight) container and use over the next 8 days.
5. On baking day, cut off a 1-pound (grapefruit-size) piece of dough.
Using wet hands (don't use flour), quickly shape the dough into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go. Then form an oval-shaped loaf. Allow to rest and rise on a cornmeal-covered pizza peel for 40 minutes.
6. Twenty minutes before baking time, preheat the oven to 400oP, with a baking stone placed on the middle rack. Place an empty broiler tray on any other shelf that won't interfere with the rising bread.
7. Using a pastry brush, paint the top crust with cornstarch wash and sprinkle with the caraway seeds, if using. Slash the loaf with deep parallel cuts, using a serrated bread knife (see photo).
8. Slide the loaf directly onto the hot stone. Pour 1 cup of hot tap water into the broiler tray, and quickly close the oven door. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until firm. Smaller or larger loaves will require adjustments in baking time.
9. Allow to cool before slicing or eating.
Read more: Recipe: Pumpernickel Bread http://www.globalgourmet.com/food/cookbook/2009/artisan-bread/pumpernickel.html#ixzz15125cu7B