Bread maker pumpernickel lite loaf beginner by davetcc

Sometimes you just want a loaf that can be made entirely in the bread maker from start to finish. This is a loaf that I’ve been making in the bread-maker for many a year now and it is a real treat. It is not a “real” pumpernickel, but I call it a “pumpernickel lite”. You’ll find that it has a real depth of flavour and can be baked on the regular setting.

You don’t need a particularly fancy bread-maker to get good results. I have an Ambiano machine that was bought from Aldi several years ago and it works perfectly well quite honestly. There’s a few features I would “like” in a better machine, but it is more than good enough.

Real pumpernickel is very complex bread to make, it is actually baked over a long period of time as the oven cools down after making other bread and even incorporates already baked bread too into the recipe. What we’re trying to do here is get the essence of pumpernickel in a bread-maker on as close to the regular setting as possible.

On my bread machine, if I bake this on the wholemeal setting, the loaf over proves and ends up collapsing during baking to about half the regular size. However, it bakes it really well and the exterior has a good crisp to it. On this setting your milage may vary as the saying goes. Should you want a crispier crust, another option is keep the machine on the standard loaf setting and choose the darker/longer bake option.

For the sugar, the thicker and more cake like the better, molasses would also work, as we’re trying to get a deep flavour. You can use more or less any salt as long as it is quite fine grained , I normally use either fine sea salt or himalayan salt.

I’ve also tried this recipe with 50% white bread flour and 50% rye flour, it works very well that way too, it’s another variation of this recipe.

Ingredients

You can play around with the amounts of rye and wholemeal flour, but you must use somewhere around 50% plain white bread flour. The flour portion should add up to 500 grams. For imperial/cup measurements we approximate using 120g flour to a cup. This is the accepted norm. If you can, prefer metric measurements as you can get the amounts just right.

Method

Most bread makers suggest that you add the liquid ingredients first, so I’ve structured the ingredient list that way. If you’re using fresh yeast instead of dried powdered yeast, warm up the water slightly and crumble the yeast into the water along with the sugar for a few minutes before anything else.

Once you’ve put the liquids into the machine, then add the flour followed by other ingredients. If using dried yeast, I tend to put the salt and yeast on opposite sides of the baking tin.

Set the bread maker to the regular setting, and I normally use the large loaf setting on dark for this recipe, but depending on the machine your milage may vary.

Once the bread is ready, take it out of the basket as soon as possible and put onto a wire rack. The basket will be very hot, take care when removing it. I normally turn the loaf upside down for a few minutes once it is removed. It makes the base more crispy. After a few minutes turn it back the regular way around.

Now wait for the bread to cool down before slicing and serving (it is still cooking while it is hot). This bread is great served with soup, cooked meats or cheeses. But honestly, this bread works with nearly anything.