RJ said:I dug out the ABM, and I'm ready to make
some pumpernickle rye bread.
It would be impossible with the ABM. There are two types of
pumpernickel, a Westfalian bread, nowadays. Both are made with coarse
whole grain rye meal. The traditional kind, as exaemplified by the
Prünte brand (see <http://www.pruente-brot.de/index759a.html>😉 is made
by soaking the meal in hot water for several hours until the meal swells
up. Neither yeast nor any sourdough starter is added. The dough is
then briefly baked in sealed baking forms at about 200°C (400°F) and
then baked (actually more like cooked) further for many hours (16-20) at
very low temperatures (100-120°C/200-240°F). The sugars in the meal
caramelise after such a long baking, giving the pumpernickel its dark
colour and sweetish taste.
The modern version, represented, for example, by the Delba brand, is
designed for a much shorter baking time and is made with an addition of
sourdough starter, yeast, and barley malt extract. Since little colour
develops during the much shorter baking time, beet-sugar syrup is also
added.
Quoted message said:So far, recipes I've seen call for
strong coffee, or cocoa powder
to get the deep brown color.
The modern idea of black or very dark coloured bread is to some extent a
misunderstanding, I think. In Russia, for example, 'black' bread isn't
really black, when made traditionally, i.e. with no colouring or sugar
of any kind added. The distinction between black and white bread is
more social than visual, for rye bread used to be a lot cheaper and
lower classes could afford to buy it regularly. Of course, bread made
with dark rye flour will always be darker than the one made with wheat
flour, but it won't be black or even very dark. There is also grey
bread, made with a mix of rye and wheat flour. Nowadays, all kinds of
bread are to be found in Russia, though - and some are really dark,
because of the colouring added.
Quoted message said:I can't picture the old Slavs or Germans
adding coffee or cocoa to their bread mix.
For one thing, it's got to affect the flavor.
They didn't, though nowadays some of them do.
Quoted message said:Anyone have a "classic" dark rye recipe ?
A "classic" dark rye recipe would presume the use of a traditional oven,
preferably Russian oven with its slowly, steadily falling temperature.
Of the modern-day oven probably one Aga might prove to be an acceptable
replacement.
Here is one from a Russian cookbook (not available in any translation)
and which I posted some 7 or 8 years ago.
Russian Black Rye Bread
Starter (made a day or two in advance):
25 g (0.9 oz) yeast
1.5 l (6.3 US cups) lukewarm water
500 g (1.1 US pounds) dark rye flour
Dissolve the yeast in water, pour in the flour, mix thoroughly and beat
or knead to make dough. Leave in a warm place for 7-8 hours.
Use this starter to repeat the process over and over again, for several
days, if you wish to get a more acidic bread.
Bread:
starter (as above)
8 kg (17.7 US pounds) flour
4 l (4.2 US quarts) lukewarm water
80 g (0.3 oz) salt
Dissolve the starter in some water and add it to the rest of the water
in the dough-trough. Add 1/3 of the flour, mix and knead thoroughly.
Level the surface of the dough, sprinkle it with some flour, cover and
leave to rise in a warm place for 12-14 hours. Add salt and the rest of
the flour and knead thoroughly again. Let rise in a warm place again.
When the dough has doubled or tripled in bulk and started to form
bubbles, it's time to heat the oven. The oven is hot enough when some
flour thrown in it becomes charred. Form a round or oval-shaped loaf,
place it on a peel covered with bran or cabbage leaves, smooth out the
surface of the loaf, sprinkling it with water, let rise a bit and put it
in the oven, sliding it off the peel. Bake until ready (you can check
it by piercing the dough with a firm straw or wooden splinter; when the
straw comes out with no traces of the dough on it, the bread is ready).
In some villages, potatoes are added to the bread (for 4 kg flour -
1.5 l water, 1 kg potatoes, 40 g salt). Potatoes are boiled, then
peeled, mashed or put through the grinder, and added to the dough at the
same time as the first 1/3 of the flour).
Scalded Black Rye Bread
The same ingredients as above, plus caraway seeds to taste are used.
Dilute the starter in lukewarm water. In the dough-through, pour in 1/3
of the flour, then pour in *boiling* water, mix well, cover with a cloth
and leave in a warm place for 2-3 hours. Add the diluted starter, mix
and knead thoroughly and leave in a warm place for 16-18 hours. Add
salt, the rest of the flour and the caraway, knead well again and leave
again in a warm place. Continue as in the recipe above.
Victor