Westphalian pumpernickel
Pumpernickel: dark whole-rye bread steam-baked overnight in a lidded tin
Real pumpernickel comes from Westphalia, where bakers in towns like Soest once left loaves in the cooling bread oven overnight, and it is still sliced paper-thin for breakfast with butter, quark and radishes or with a sharp cheese. There is no colouring and no molasses here: the near-black colour and the malty sweetness come only from cracked rye cooked for many hours in steam at a low heat. The crumb is moist, dense and slightly sticky, and the loaf keeps for over a week wrapped in cloth. A common mistake is slicing it on the day it comes out of the tin; it needs a full day to settle or it tears into gummy crumbs. Chef's tip: wrap the tin tightly in two layers of foil and stand it in a roasting tray of hot water, because a dry loaf turns hard instead of dark and sweet.
- Total time
- 1440 min
- Difficulty
- hard
- Serves
- 16
Ingredients
For the soaker
- 3 ½ oz stale rye bread, crusts onbroken into pieces
- 2 cups boiling water
For the leaven
- 5 ½ oz dark rye flour
- ¾ cup warm water
For the dough
- 9 oz coarse rye meal
- ⅝ oz salt
- ½ cup warm water
- 1 tsp sunflower oilfor the tin
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Method
0/6 doneStep 1: The evening before, pour the 2 cups boiling water over the 1 ⅛ lb coarse rye meal (cracked rye, Roggenschrot) and 3 ½ oz stale rye bread, crusts on in a bowl, stir, cover and leave overnight. In another bowl mix the 1 oz active rye sourdough starter, 5 ½ oz dark rye flour and ¾ cup warm water into a thick paste, cover and leave at room temperature for 12 hours, until bubbly and smelling sour.
20 minStep 2: Next morning, mash the soaked bread into the rye meal with a spoon. Add the leaven, 9 oz coarse rye meal, ⅝ oz salt, 2 tbsp sugar beet syrup or dark golden syrup and ½ cup warm water and mix with a wet hand or a stiff spatula for 5 minutes into a heavy, sticky mass. Rye dough is not kneaded; just make sure there are no dry pockets.
10 minStep 3: Brush a 1 kg (30 × 11 cm) loaf tin with the 1 tsp sunflower oil. Press the dough in with a wet spatula and smooth the top. Cover and leave in a warm place for 2–3 hours, until the surface shows small cracks and the dough has risen by about a quarter.
150 minStep 4: Heat the oven to 300°F (275°F fan). Wrap the tin very tightly in two layers of foil and set it in a deep roasting tray. Pour boiling water into the tray to come halfway up the tin.
10 minStep 5: Bake for 1 hour, then turn the oven down to 225°F (194°F fan) and leave for 12–13 hours more, topping up the water tray once or twice. The loaf is ready when the crumb is dark brown-black and a thin skewer comes out moist but clean.
780 minStep 6: Unwrap, turn the loaf out onto a rack and cool completely. Wrap in a clean cloth and rest for 24 hours before slicing very thinly with a sharp serrated knife. It keeps 10 days wrapped, or freezes in slices.
30 min
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 150 kcal
- Protein
- 4 g
- Carbs
- 30 g
- Fat
- 1 g
- Fibre
- 6 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does westphalian pumpernickel take?
- About 1440 minutes in total: 600 minutes to prepare and 840 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 16 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegan?
- Yes. It has no meat, fish, dairy or eggs.
- Can I make it ahead?
- Yes. It keeps well, so you can cook it earlier in the day or the day before and reheat it.
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