Pumpernickel Bread BBA#34

This is a delicious rye loaf. According to Mr. Reinhart a rye loaf is a bread made with coarsely ground whole grain rye flour. So, maybe my bread is not really a rye loaf. I used Arrow Mills organic rye flour to make the starter. I know nothing about the grind. I know that if I were truly dedicated I could purchase my own grain and flour mill. I'm not at that level of dedication. Maybe I'll put that on my bucket list.

Anyway, the rye starter was made by mixing my faithful barm, some rye flour and water which fermented until it became bubbly. The next day, I added some clear flour, and some bread flour, the brown sugar, cocoa powder, salt, yeast, some bread crumbs, vegetable oil and water. Working quickly because rye bread will become gummy, I made a smooth pliable dough.

The dough fermented at room temperature for 2 hours. After 2 hours, I formed it into two batards which took about two hours to come to a nice size. Would you be surprised to learn that I prepared my oven for hearth baking and baked them until they were done?

I'm getting the hang of this....

I'm am sad that we are coming close to the end of the book. I have learned a lot and have definitely made some breads that I would never have tried if not for the challenge. I bake pretty much every weekend, and I find that I look forward to it. If I miss a week, my main stakeholder, will stand in the middle of the kitchen and ask if we have any real bread in the house. I have decided to join the crazy bakers at Bake Your Own Bread, BYOB. Sandy of At the Baker's Bench, is on the BBA challenge blogroll. I have enjoyed following her blog. I think will push me to try some new recipes. I have never made pita, we love pita. I've made hamburger rolls, never hotdog rolls. It should be an interesting year. Apparently, no one from the BYOB group stops by your house and checks your pantry.

The whole working full time, sandwich generation should make this an interesting challenge. I plan on taking advantage of the three day weekend and making some bread for the freezer. One of the pumpernickel loaves will be heading there.

I'm trying a new recipe that takes three days to ferment, but is not very hard.

Which gives me the opportunity to enjoy a toasted slice of pumpernickel.