Pumpernickel - The Beginning

Combine 2 1/2 teaspoons of yeast with 1/4 cup warm water and 1 tablespoon of sugar. Let stand for 5 minutes. Then add 1 tablespoon of salt, 2 tablespoons of butter, 2 tablespoons of molasses (N.B. don't be tempted into just trying the molasses...it's gross), and 1 more cup warm water. Combine and slowly add to this 2 cups dark rye flour, 1 cup whole wheat flour, 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, and 1/2 cup cornmeal.

The resulting dough was extremely stiff, and I needed a little musical inspiration to knead in the last of the flour...and neither Bach nor the Muppets was going to cut it. Fortunately, the recipe for this bread let me know just what was needed: the cookbook called this a pumpernickel with "Scandinavian accents," so of course I realized I just needed to pop on some Swedish death metal. Sadly, a quick check through my iPod revealed what you have no doubt already guessed: my collection of death metal, let alone that of the Swedish variety, is rather limited. Somehow I made do without.

Place the dough in a buttered bowl, cover it, and set it in a warm, dry area until it has doubled in bulk as it undergoes the


First Rising (2 hours and 10 minutes)
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Why bread, and why a blog? The first one's easy...This year I got very few presents for my birthday, and what I did get was largely the following (from Mom): a 9 by 5 inch bread pan, a jar of active dry yeast, and a book on how to bake bread. Well, when it's made that obvious even I can take a hint!

And why the blog? Well, a twofold answer...on the one hand, this was a friend's (joking?) suggestion, and, after all, I am in the business of making my friends happy! On the other hand (and perhaps a bit more selfishly), I was told this blog would have a cult following. So, after a quick bout of introspection confirmed that "attract a cult following" is on my life's "To do" list, how could I pass this up?
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Punch down the dough several times, then shape it into a loaf and place it in a buttered 8 by 4 inch bread pan. Or, if you only have a 9 by 5 pan, use that instead. Re-cover the dough and return it to a warm dry place for the


Second Rising (3 hours)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ As this is the last night before my second semester begins, this seems as good a time as any to ramble about how uncharacteristically eventful my winter break travels were this year. Now, I love flying, and in the past I've never really had any problems with air travel...an hour-delayed flight at worst, maybe. This time, though, I had flights canceled on both ends of my trip that left me in unplanned locations overnight (in Chicago on the way home, despite a flight plan that had me originally traveling from Urbana to Detroit to Maine, and in Detroit on the way back to school). This, of course, afforded me the opportunity to meet all sorts of interesting folks, from the cheese marketing executive (who talked almost exclusively about the best type of cake and brownie mix - Pillsbury Funfetti cake and Ghirardelli brownie mix, in case you were wondering - to bake and bring to the office), to the Canadian preacher (Who, before I knew his profession, caught me trying to peak over his shoulder to see what book he was reading. It was an exegesis of the Book of Revelations.), to the family from Ohio that invited me to play cards with them in the Detroit Best Western after I volunteered to take a group photo for them.

And somehow, despite how many things managed to go awry, they always did so in the best possible way. For instance, when my original flight out of Urbana was canceled, the next available flight out of the airport wouldn't have gotten me home until the day after my birthday. Yet miraculously I had a friend who happened to be leaving to drive to Chicago literally at that very moment who was willing to give me a ride to O'Hare the next day. Or how when the airlines lost my luggage (with the few gifts I was bringing back)on my way home, they delivered that lost luggage to my door on Christmas morning. And when the same (apparently cursed) suitcase was lost flying back to Urbana (no doubt due to that unexpected overnight in Detroit), it took the airlines less than 6 hours to track down and get on a plane back to me. And this was all topped off by the surreal gesture of U.S. Airways giving me a stuffed teddy bear as an apology for stranding me in both directions. All told, the last two weeks have probably the luckiest stretch of bad luck I've ever had.

But anyway, now I'm back on the ground in Champaign-Urbana, and I'm pretty excited about the upcoming semester. I'll be teaching physics 101 again, and hopefully it goes as well as it did last semester. More on all that later.
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Heat oven to 375 degrees, and bake for 35 to 45 minutes (38 in my case- until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped). Let cool for as long as you can stand to wait before slicing and eating while still deliciously fresh.


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Tasting verdict:
Not like any pumpernickel I've ever eaten before, but still very tasty! Dense, hearty, and hopefully perfect for the upcoming week's lunch sandwiches.

Currently reading:
"One Man's Meat" (a collection of essays by E.B. White) - very good.
"Beard on Bread" (1970's cookbook by James Beard) - so far, delicious.

Next Week:
Hearty white bread... Bavarian rye... New England anadama... Cinnamon bread... I haven't decided yet; what do you think?