I have tried making Hamelman's Horst Brandel's Pumpernickle the last two weekends, not very successfully. Very tasty, and oh so dense, especially last week's. A friend called it a pumpercoin, although he accepted half a loaf happily.

The first time I tried mixing the dough in my wimpy KA in two batches. It rose a bit before baking, and shrank back as it cooled. The second time I hand mixed. It did not rise much, but I had a time crunch and baked. It became the veritable brick, a coin. Both times the dough felt like all berries and chops, very little dough holding it all together.

I assume it is lack of gluten development. Does this recipe have to be mixed in a machine? The short fermentation time leads me to assume S&F do not apply to this sort of recipe.

I also made my own rye chops and meal by grinding berries in my burr coffee grinder. Could this have affected it?

It is so delicious, I will keep trying til it comes out. Or do I need a good mixer for this recipe? I love hand mixing and normally have good results, but this is a lot of rye and soakers. A whole lot of rye berries, once cooked.