It's coming up to Thanksgiving here and apparently everyone has been hit by the baking madness. That is to say: The grocery store was completely sold out of 2.5kg bags of white flour when I went to restock the other day. Not a huge problem, but it did mean that I needed to find a whole grain bread recipe to make this week. And, of course, preferably one that I hadn't made before. And this was the first one that I hit upon that I had all the ingredients for.

This recipe makes a lovely, dark, flavourful bread. It came out a bit sweet for my tastes, but still very good nonetheless. I might try reducing the molasses to 1/2 c. next time, just to see how that goes.

As expected, the dough was fairly sticky and challenging to work with due to the high percentage of rye flour, but it did come together eventually. Although it never got quite as supple and elastic as a predominantly wheat dough.

Pumpernickel Bread

Slightly adapted from Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 c. water
• 1/2 c. cornmeal
• 1/2-3/4 c. molasses
• 1 Tbsp. butter
• 1 Tbsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 Tbsp. caraway seeds, bruised/lightly crushed
• 15g dark chocolate
• 250g sourdough discard @ 100% hydration (optional)
• 2 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast
• 1 c. mashed potatoes
• 300g rye flour
• 200-300g hard (strong/high grade/bread) whole wheat flour, divided
• 1 egg white
• 1 Tbsp. cold water

Directions

1. Combine water and cornmeal and bring to a boil.
2. Reduce heat and simmer until thickened (10-20 minutes).
3. Remove from heat and stir in molasses, butter, salt, caraway seeds, and chocolate.
4. Mix in the sourdough starter, yeast and mashed potatoes.
5. Add the rye flour and ~150g of the whole wheat flour and mix well.
6. Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface and knead (the dough will be very heavy, wet, and sticky) for ~20 minutes. Gradually work in the remaining flour while kneading.
7. Round the dough and place it in a covered bowl to rise.
8. Once dough is well-risen (60-90 minutes), knock it back and divide into two equal portions.
9. Round each portionn, cover, and allow to rest for ~10 minutes.
10. Meanwhile, flour two bannetons (preferably with rice flour).
11. Shape each portion into a loaf and place, seam-side-up into the floured bannetons.
12. Cover and allow to rise at room temperature for 45-60 minutes.
13. Preheat oven to 190°C (375°F).
14. Grease a baking sheet and dust with cornmeal.
15. Turn the loaves out onto the the prepared baking sheet.
16. Beat the egg white with the cold water and brush it onto the loaves.
17. Bake at 190°C (375°F) for 40-50 minutes.
18. Turn off oven and allow to stand in hot oven for 5-10 minutes.
19. Transfer to wire rack to cool.