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.

I don't tend to make very many rye breads. I find the low-gluten flour difficult to work with and I still haven't mastered the technique. This one came out quite nicely though! It takes a while to get it going. The sour needs to ferment over three days. But it's worth the wait!

Old Milwaukee Rye

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

Ingredients

Sponge

• 250g rye flour
• 2 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast
• 1 Tbsp. caraway seeds
• 2 c. warm water (~40°C)

Dough

• 1 c. hot water (~50°C)
• 1/4 c. molasses
• 2 Tbsp. caraway seeds, divided
• 2 large eggs, divided
• 1 Tbsp. coarse sea salt
• 250g rye flour
• ~500g hard (strong/high grade/bread) flour
• 3 Tbsp. butter
• 1 Tbsp. milk

Directions

1. Combine the flour, yeast, caraway, and water for the sponge and beat for a minute or two.
2. Cover the bowl tightly and set aside at room temperature to ferment for 6-72 hours, stirring once every 24 hours.
3. Once ready to bake, add the hot water, molasses, 1 Tbsp. of the remaining caraway seeds, 1 of the eggs, and salt to the sponge.
4. Stir in the remaining rye flour and ~250g of the white flour.
5. Beat for 3-4 minutes, then mix in the butter.
6. Work in the remaining white flour a little at a time.
7. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead for 10-20 minutes until smooth.
8. Round the dough and place it in a covered bowl to rise (~1 hour).
9. Knock the dough back, allow to rest for 5-10 minutes.
10. Divide the dough into two equal portions and round each one.
11. Cover and rest for another 10 minutes.
12. Grease a baking sheet and dust it with cornmeal.
13. Shape each loaf as desired. If you have bannetons, then a standard letter fold + coil fold works well. If not, then I like to do a letter fold and then round them again. Or do a letter fold and then fold in half lengthwise and pinch the seam together.
14. If using bannetons, place the loaves seam-side-up in the bannetons. If no bannetons are available, place the shaped loaves directly on the prepared baing sheet (seam-side-down).
15. Cover and allow to rise at room temperature for ~45 minutes or as long as overnight in the fridge.
16. Preheat oven to 190°C (375°F).
17. If the loaves have been rising in bannetons, turn them out onto the prepared baking sheet now.
18. Beat the remaining egg with the milk.
19. Brush the tops of the loaves with the egg mixture and sprinkle with the remaining caraway seeds.
20. Slash as desired. (3-4 diagonal slashes for long loaves or a # pattern for round.)
21. Bake at 190°C (375°F) for 35-45 minutes.
22. Turn off oven and allow to stand in hot oven for 5-10 minutes.
23. Transfer to wire rack to cool.

Pullum Parthicum (Parthian Chicken)

I quite enjoy a bit of historical cooking. Cooking in the Archives has been a lot of fun (even if I don't always agree with their interpretations). And I've quite liked some of the recipes from Shakespeare's Kitchen and Townsends as well.

Reiver was actually the one who originally put me onto Townsends. And now he's shared a few more of his favourite cooking channels. One of which is Max Miller's Tasting History. I'm not necessarily a huge fan of the videos I've watched on his channel, but Reiver has his cookbook and had pointed out that we had all the bits for this chicken recipe. And, unlike some of his other recipes, he actually seems to have a reasonable source for this one and hasn't been overly... "creative" in his interpretation of it.

This was quite a surprising recipe. It honestly didn't really grab me at first. It looked unusual, but not that exciting. But, I have to say, this turned out very nice in the end! I don't think it was quite a favourite for me, but it was nice.

I never would have thought of combining red wine and fish sauce, but the combination works surprisingly well! And the caraway, black pepper, celery, and asafetida is a somewhat bewildering -- but not unpleasant -- way to complete the flavours.

I think I might put somewhat less wine next time. I do feel like using a full cup was a bit heavy-handed and possibly excessive for a recipe that calls for "seasoning" with wine. But otherwise, I really can't complain or suggest any changes or alterations. This was actually quite lovely!

We served our Parthian chicken over a bit of saffron rice with a slice of buttered rye bread and some silverbeet gratin on the side. This turns out to have been an excellent (and fairly thematically appropriate) combination. Would definitely recommend!

Parthian Chicken: Open the chicken and quarter. Pound pepper, lovage, a little caraway, moisten with garum, season with wine. Arrange the chicken in an earthen dish and put the seasoning on top. Dissolve silpuium in warm water, and put it with the chicken and cook. Sprinkle with pepper and serve.
-- Apicus, De re coquinaria

Pullum Parthicum

Slightly adapted from Tasting History by Max Miller

Ingredients

• 1 whole chicken (~1.5kg)¹
• 3 Tbsp. fish sauce
• 2 Tbsp. fresh lovage or 1/4 c. celery leaves²
• 1/2 Tbsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1/2 Tbsp. caraway seeds, ground
• 1/2-3/4 c. dry red wine
• 3/4 tsp. ground asafetida
• 1/4 c. warm water

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 230°C (450°F).
2. Quarter the chicken and place the pieces, skin-side-up, in a baking dish.
3. Combine the fish sauce, lovage (or celery), pepper, and caraway and mix well.
4. Stir in the wine.
5. Pour this mixture over the chicken. Try to distribute the spices as evenly as possible and press them into the chicken skin a little.
6. Stir the asafetia into the water and pour it over the chicken as well.
7. Roast at 230°C (450°F) until chicken is cooked through and meat registers ~74°C/165°F (~45 minutes).
8. Remove from oven and allow to rest for 10-15 minutes.
9. Serve drizzled with the sauce and extra black pepper.

---

¹ Honestly, any skin-on, bone-in chicken pieces should work reasonably well for this. I actually ended up using a bunch of thighs for my rendition. ^Back
2 I used both the leaves and the ribs of the celery for my rendition and liked that quite a lot. I only used one rib this time around, but Reiver and I agreed that a bit more would have been even better. Personally, I would recommend 1/4 c. of leaves + 2 ribs of celery if going that route. ^Back

I'm used to caraway being paired with rye flour in breads. Usually a mix of rye and wheat, but there's still generally at least some rye in the mix. Not this one though! This is an entirely white flour caraway bread. With orange zest. And brown sugar. Definitely a somewhat unusual mix. And it's also tiny. I'm used to using ~450g of flour for a standard 20x10cm (8x4") pan loaf. This recipe only calls for 250g of flour! It makes the ittiest, bittiest loaf. I baked it in an oven-proof bento container! It was adorable. Shortlived, but adorable.

Swedish Caraway Bread

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

Ingredients

• 3/4 c. water
• 2 Tbsp. brown sugar
• grated zest of 1 orange
• 1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1 tsp. caraway seeds
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 2 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast (or 1 3/4 tsp. instant yeast)
• 250g hard (strong/high grade/bread) flour, divided

Directions

1. Combine the water, sugar, orange zest, butter, and caraway seeds and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
2. Reduce heat to medium and continue boiling for 3 minutes.
3. Remove from heat and allow to cool to ~45°C (115°F).
4. Add salt, yeast, and ~1/2 of the flour to the water mixture and beat for 2-3 minutes.
5. Cover and set aside to rise at room temperature for ~1 hour.
6. Mix in ~1/2 of the remaining flour.
7. Spread the rest of the flour onto the work surface and dump the dough out on top of it. Knead until dough is smooth and supple (8-10 minutes) adding a little more water if necessary.
8. Round the dough, cover, and rest for 5-10 minutes.
9. Meanwhile, grease a very small loaf pan (18x8cm/7x3").
10. Shape the dough into a loaf by your preferred method. (I like to do a letter fold and then roll it up like a jelly roll.)
11. Place the loaf, seam-side-down, into the prepared pan, cover, and set aside to rise for another hour or so.
12. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 30-40 minutes.
13. Turn out onto wire rack to cool.