Pumpernickel Bread

[tephra]

I love it, the darker the better, and finally I have a good recipe for it using the bread machine.

1 ¹/₈ cup warm water
¹/₃ cup molasses
1 ¹/₂ Tbsp oil
1 ¹/₂ tsp salt
1 ¹/₂ cup all purpose flour
1 cup rye flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
3 Tbsp cocoa powder
2 tsp dry active yeast

Run through your bread machine set for a 1.5 pound loaf on the whole wheat setting. This bread actually rises more than my normal white bread recipe and has a wonderfully fine crumb.

This recipe isn't as dark as I would like, but we were only able to find light rye flour, so it might be dark enough if I could get some dark rye. Also, the molasses on hand was black strap, which along with the cocoa powder might be adding a bit of bitterness that would be avoided with a less harsh variety of molasses. I like it fine as is however, and seeing as how I'm the one with the extra taste buds in the household.... :D

The original recipe is here if you want to see what changes I made.

Comments

[watanukisuki.livejournal.com]

I am so snagging this recipe (and the original) to try. I love dark breads, but HATE the caraway that usually tops pumpernickel. Arigatou!

[tephra]

When I was younger, twenty years ago now that I stop to think about it, we used to be able to buy a very nice dark bread at the corner store in my hometown, only on Sunday and only if you got there early. It was just labeled "limpu" which I was told is just Finnish for "bread" and was made by one of the elderly ladies in town, though I never learned who. I've been hoping to find a recipe for it ever since. The texture reminds me of the one that my preferred Irish soda bread has, dense with a very fine crumb, and it was black, the darkest bread I have ever seen. That bread was a bit dry so it was best sliced thin and slathered in butter, but it was so good.

[watanukisuki.livejournal.com]

Isn't it funny how one has taste memories like that? I have the same sort of memory, with a type of bread we would buy at the local bakery in this small town when we lived in [West] Germany. Whole Foods makes a bread very similar, but I've never even come close to reproducing it... yet.