Pumpernickel Bread

 I have long desired to try my hand at baking bread and over the last year or so I have been able to do so.  Really, it is not all that hard; although having a stand mixer makes this possible.  I made this recipe to accompany my Butternut Squash Soup.  It worked perfectly with the soup, and it was a big hit with kids and adults alike. 

It is probably no shocker to my regular readers, but this recipe if from King Arthur.  While I followed the recipe very closely I did not give myself enough time to purchase the called for flour from the King Arthur website.  Next time I will plan ahead and I will let you know if there was a difference between the flour I had to use and the flour King Arthur makes.  The recipe calls for pumpernickel flour and I was unable to find it anywhere other than on the King Arthur site, so in the end I used a dark rye flour.

The Ingredients
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup molasses
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons caraway seeds
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon active dry yeast (or 2 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast)
3 cups dark rye flour
1 cup white flour
1 cup mashed potatoes

The Tools
 small saucepan
stand mixer
large oven safe bowl
plastic wrap
8 1/2 x 4 inch loaf pan

The Cooking, or rather The Baking

Combine 1 cup of water with the cornmeal in a saucepan, and cook over low heat until thick.  Be sure to stir often. Pre-heat the oven to 200°, and once the oven comes up to that temp, turn if off.  This will leave with a nice warm place to allow your dough to rise.

Remove the pan from the heat and add the molasses, unsalted butter, salt, sugar, caraway seeds, and cocoa powder.  Stir to combine.

In the bowl of your stand mixer, combine the active dry yeast and the remaining 1/2 cup of water.  Allow to proof for 10 minutes. If you are using the instant yeast, you can skip the proofing time. 

Add the molasses mixture, the mashed potatoes(not shown above~sorry), the white flour and the dark rye flour to the proofed yeast mixture. 

Using the paddle attachment, slowly combine the ingredients  until a shaggy dough is formed.

Switch to the dough hook and kneed for about 10 minutes or until the dough begins to form a ball.

Be aware that this type of dough will be sticky.  DO NOT PANIC, this is okay and you should not add any more flour. Grease or flour your hands and remove the dough from the mixture and place it in a greased oven proof bowl. Dust the top of the dough with flour and cover the bowl with plastic wrap.  Place the bowl in the turned off, yet warm oven and allow it to rise for 1-2 hours or until it has doubled in volume. 

Once the dough has risen once, remove if its bowl and place it in the load pan, allow the dough to rise a second time in the loaf pan, for 30 minutes. I generally do this second rise on my counter top.  While the second rise is occurring, pre-heat the oven to 375°.  If you do use the oven for your second rise, make sure that the dough it out before you pre-heat the oven (this is why I always do my second rise OUT of the oven).

Cook the bread for 50 to 60 minutes.  Allow it to cool for about 10 minutes before removing it from the pan. 


Recipe Source: King Arthur Flour