We 3 gmas made Pumpernickel Bread
again, we baked from Baking with Julia. This week we tried our hand at her Pumpernickel bread recipe, with chocolate and espresso powder... the formula works out to being almost 50% Rye... Medium Rye flour and wheat flour used 3.5 to 6 ratio.
We had fun... and the ingredient list was interesting, we got to make some prune lekvar to get ready, and added yogurt. Surprisingly very little sugar, just a pinch to get the yeast going...lots of yeast... in two loaves 5 1/2 teaspoons.
We are gearing up for recipe testing... so won't be saying much here as we make that nine week commitment. I am sure we will do something occasionally but two recipes a week and feedback will keep us hopping...Barb's crumb was the best looking so that is our lead... here are Helen and my supper sandwiches.
Helen made a great Sausage, Mustard and Cheese Sandwich... Looks like a great supper.
I made a classic Reuben Sandwich... 
Helen's and my loaves were very heavy and dense and the crumb, literally crumbles, the crust is very hard and unfriendly... we are thinking we did not knead the dough long enough... Julia calls for 10 minutes by hand, Helen did about 30, and still no stretchy nice dough feel to it... I did about 20... and my texture was more like packed oatmeal!!! We have a lot to learn about rye breads... Troubleshooters, please enlighten us!
Barb's said her dough was nice and tender and as you can see by her picture she has a good oven spring and a nice crumb. On a windy day, Helen's and mine will definitely hold your door open!
Next week... Ina Garten's "Sticky Toffee Date Cake with Bourbon Glaze" Oh, yeah! I am in!
Happy Baking,
Barbra, Diane and Helen (in birth order)
Your breads and sandwiches look so yummy! That's a lotta rye, so I hand it to you all, I would find it frustrating to deal with the stickiness. As much as I love rye flour, I had to back off to 25% and am working my way up again, learning its feel and management.
And congratulations on volunteering to test recipes! Should be an exciting commitment!
Cathy
came out on top in more ways than one. Bet she had the 10 minutes kneading time. I would approach a 60% rye (without knowing the recipe) by first developing a wet wheat flour dough for gluten and then knead in the rye and other ingredients. Is that possible from the recipe?
A 60% rye can easily have some volume. The recipe claims "Pumpernickel" and most of us know that the pet name "brick" or "door stop" falls closer to the German crumb visual description leaving a wide margin for differences and acceptability for this recipe's crumb.
All three look very yummy! Do you taste any coffee or chocolate coming through?
is difficult for this eldest of the 3 grandma's. Decided against experimenting with slap and fold. I planned on starting out in the KA and then switching to hand pummeling if not real kneading. Recipe calls for mixing all but the wheat flour first and then adding that gradually until too stiff to stir and then out of the bowl for kneading. I mixed basics up and then handed it over to the mixer fixed with the dough hook. I didn't think it would, but the mixer kept accepting more wheat flour and ending up taking almost all of it. Kneaded as directed and the dough was soft and bouncy. Unfortunately yes, I can taste the coffee and chocolate. Just barely in the background but it is a strong taste, like a mocha on steroids.
With the time difference between Texas and Washington state, I get the advantage of my sister's experiences. They weren't seeing much oven spring so I added three tablespoons of vital wheat gluten to the bread flour and rye. Think it would have helped to have used a high gluten flour.
Interesting baking day, fun spending the day with my sisters as always. I've read about adding chocolate etc to rye breads for the darker color but hadn't tried it. Side note, my husband who loves any kind of rye bread, really liked this one.
These look great. Must taste great with a smear of cream cheese!
I signed up for the recipe testing also. Should be fun.
Regards,
Ian
Actually used cream cheese to taste this bread... and liked it a lot with the cream cheese... today I used just over half a loaf to make garlic pumpernickel croutons... they are deep fried and then dusted with garlic salt...very crunchy outside and tender inside... quite tasty if I can say so myself.
Fun times!! Diane
Yum! Those croutons sound fabulous.
I just took some Sourdough Bialyes out of the oven adapted from ITJB. I'm going to try one in a few minutes...hopefully it will taste as good as it smells.
Ian
Love seeing your dabbling with rye. Once bitten…..
Sandwiches look delicious!
My initial ryes were bricks too. What helped me along was following the method for Stan's Jewish Deli Rye loaf for the sour build or, when rye content is higher, I use the method outlined by Ananda for his Moscow Rye or Borodinsky Rye loaves.
As Mini stated above, I use a soaker ALA Peter Reinhart for the wheat portion of the flour for the gluten development. Mixing then becomes quite short. I have found that the less mixing the better the outcome because rye, like spelt, is a delicate grain. It is easy to over mix. Another trick from Mini - handle with wet hands and shape with a wet spatula once the dough is safely in a pan.
Have fun with recipe testing for Stan. How wonderful that you can participate! I will just have to wait for the book to come out.
Take Care,
Janet
Love seeing your dabbling with rye. Once bitten…..
Sandwiches look delicious!
My initial ryes were bricks too. What helped me along was following the method for Stan's Jewish Deli Rye loaf for the sour build or, when rye content is higher, I use the method outlined by Ananda for his Moscow Rye or Borodinsky Rye loaves.
As Mini stated above, I use a soaker ALA Peter Reinhart for the wheat portion of the flour for the gluten development. Mixing then becomes quite short. I have found that the less mixing the better the outcome because rye, like spelt, is a delicate grain. It is easy to over mix. Another trick from Mini - handle with wet hands and shape with a wet spatula once the dough is safely in a pan.
Have fun with recipe testing for Stan. How wonderful that you can participate! I will just have to wait for the book to come out.
Take Care,
Janet
came out for a couole of these loaves.Not having SD acid in there to strengthen the small amount of gluten really had to amke it doubly bad. I'm with Barb, Some VWG, high gluten flour and some ascorbic acid would have helped the yeast some. Thsi is where SD, YW and slap adn folds would really shine. The croutons, Reuben and sausage sandwiches all sound tasty. I say toast it up and put somr CC and fish on it:-)
Good luck with the rye testing - you will all soon be experienced rye bakers as well as GMA's ,
Happy baking