In preparation for Bacon Week 2013, I wanted to have a loaf or two of some hearty bread to go along with the “Game of Thrones” theme.  I’m pretty sure no one in the GoT series ever uses a plate…it’s always trenchers and slathering things over loaves of bread.  A week of bacon and eating things with my hands?  CLEARLY I HAVE MADE A GOOD CHOICE.

Anyway.

I’ve never made pumpernickel before; in fact, I hadn’t made bread in a pretty long time!  Since I’d just recently had some fresh pumpernickel in Pennsylvania while visiting family, I thought I’d like to take a stab at it.  I mean really, how hard could it be?

It turns out: not that hard!

I took two of Deb of Smitten Kitchen’s recipes and merged them together, mostly because I didn’t have a complete set of ingredients from either (slacker baking, whee!).  I ended up with a light, pumpernickel-y loaf that turned out to be fairly tasty.  At first I thought the dough smelled a little odd, mostly due to the addition of apple cider vinegar, but in the end the odd mix of sweet and savory flavors worked out really well.

As far as the process went, it was really straight forward.  It took 2 rises and minimal kneading; in fact, almost no kneading was required at all!  It was more or less a “mix all the ingredients together, knead a little bit, and toss in the oven” scenario.

It takes a minimal 40 minutes to bake and in the end yields a crusty, dense loaf.  Now, the denseness may have to do with the quality of the yeast I used, since after mixing the yeast and warm water together I found it didn’t froth very much (and everybody wants frothy yeast, right?…Ew).  Even so I don’t think pumpernickel is supposed to have big open holes in the loaf like, say, French bread, so hopefully I hit just the right consistency.

Also, it’s delicious fresh out of the oven.

The crust was a little tough to cut through even with my trusty bread knife, but all in all, I was pretty impressed.  Also, I apparently made the “X” on the top a little too large…it looked a little like the insides were trying to explode out through the crust. O.o  But hey, practice makes perfect, amirite?

Anyway, if you’re looking for some tasty, home made pumpernickel, try this recipe out!  I’ll be curious what other people think about it if anyone does!

Be on the lookout to see this pumpernickel featured in at least one Bacon Week 2013 recipe!

Tell your friends – grab the badge!  Join in the bacon-y fun!

One last thing – did you know n00bcakes is on G+ and FB now?  Just thought I’d let ya know. ^_^

Pumpernickel Bread Recipe

Makes 1 loaf.  Adapted from Smitten Kitchen.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup rye flour
• 1 cup oats
• 1 packet yeast
• 1 tbsp molasses
• 1 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 1/4 cups water

Instructions:

1. Heat 1 cup of the water to be just barely warm and mix with yeast in a large bowl.  Let sit for 5 minutes.  Don’t heat the water too much, or it’ll kill the yeast!
2. While the yeast mixture sits, mix all dry ingredients together in a separate bowl.
3. After the yeast sits for 5 minutes, mix in molasses, chocolate, and apple cider vinegar.
4. Mix all dry ingredients into wet ingredients.  Knead until fully incorporated and dough is slightly wet and sticky.  Add the additional 1/4 cup water if necessary (I had to do this).
5. Oil a bowl and put the kneaded dough into it and cover in plastic wrap; let it sit in a warm place until it doubles in size.
6. Remove the dough from the bowl and gently knead a few times, tucking the ends underneath to turn the dough into a dome.
7. Put a napkin or tea towel into a bowl, flour it heavily, and put the dough into it.  Cover the dough with the napkin/towel, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and let rise until it doubles in size.
8. Preheat the oven to 500F and place the pan or stone onto the middle rack.
9. Once preheated, immediately turn the temperature down to 450F.  Cut an “X” into the top of the loaf and place it into the oven.  Bake for ~40 minutes.
10. CONSUME (but don’t burn your tongue)!