High Altitude Pumpernickel Bread
Pumpernickel bread is a dark rye bread, flavored with molasses and caraway seeds. It's dense and hearty, delicious toasted and buttered, and served along side a bowl of soup or scrambled eggs.
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Stand Mixer with Dough Hook
Ingredients
- 2 cups (260g) all-purpose flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- 1 ½ cups (204g) bread flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- 1 cup (112g) medium rye flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- ¼ cup wheat bran or wheat germ
- 1 tbsp dark brown sugar
- 1 packet (2 1/4 tsp) instant or rapid rise yeast
- 2 tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 4 tsp caraway seeds
- ¼ cup original molasses
- 2 tbsp black treacle molasses (or blackstrap molasses)
- 3 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
- 1 ½ - 1 ¾ cups water, warmed to between 110-115F
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine all the flour with the wheat bran/germ, brown sugar, yeast, salt, and caraway seeds.
- Add the molasses and the softened butter, then add 1 1/2 cups of the warm water. Stir into a shaggy dough.
- With your stand mixer and dough hook attachment, knead the dough for about 7-10 minutes until smooth, and the dough wraps around the dough hook. Only add the remaining water if the dough seems too stiff as it kneads. On the other hand, if the dough is too soft and loose, add a little more flour, a few tablespoons at a time.
- Scrape the dough into a greased bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Set in a warm place (such as inside your oven with the "bread proof" setting turned on), to rise until doubled in size. This may take about 90 minutes, longer if you're at a lower altitude, less if you're at a higher altitude.
- Prep a 9x5 inch bread loaf pan by greasing the inside of the pan with butter then dusting it with flour. Dump the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, then gently press the dough out into a rectangle measuring approximately 9x15 inches. Roll the dough up into a log, then place the dough into the prepared pan, with the seam side down, and the ends tucked down.
- Set the bread aside to rest for 10-20 minutes, just until the dough fills the pan and is starting to rise above the top edge.
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375F, and position a rack in the center of the oven.
- Bake the bread for about one hour, until a deep golden brown, and a digital instant read thermometer inserted into the center of the bread reads 195F.
- Turn the bread out of the pan onto a cooling rack, and cool completely, at least several hours, before slicing.
Notes
After letting the bread cool, slice and store in an airtight container for up to 3 days, or in the freezer for up to 3-6 months. The bread may become more crumbly after several days, due to its hearty texture, but is still great toasted.
For a darker color, you can adjust the ratio of original molasses and black molasses. Some recipes also use 1-2 tbsp dark cocoa powder to deepen the color of the bread. Adding more of these ingredients, though, may also give the bread a slightly more bitter flavor.
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