The main thing distinguishing pumpernickel from other rye breads is
that the whole rye berry is used. Other than that there are several
common variations.

Quoting Dave Drum to Jim Weller <=-

OK. I followed the link. That's the *ONLY* site I checked for
pumpernickle that says anything about unleavened. All of the
others say sourdough is traditional as a leavening agent.

It was originally made unleavened. Later on both sourdough starter
and yeast were used but it makes little difference because rye has a
low amount of poor quality gluten compared to wheat.

One mentions the German laws governing pumpernickle ......
"It is made from flour of coarsely ground unbolted rye, along
with a small amount of wheat flour.

It can be made with all rye or with wheat and sometimes buckwheat
as well.

The bread gets a long, slow
baking, anywhere from 16 to 24 hours, at a temperature of 149+XC
(300+XF) in an oven with steam in it. During this long baking time, a Maillard reaction occurs between the sugars and the acids in the
starter, which naturally darkens the bread.

It also sweetens the bread but 300 F for 24 hours is completely
wrong. A large loaf will bake in 2 hours at 300. Loaves baked for 16
or 24 hours are done so at much much lower temperatures.

Bake for 1 hour at 300+XF/150+XC. Reduce the heat to
212+XF/100+XC and bake for 13 more hours.

Barrie Lax once did a Cook's Illustrated style detailed study making
several loaves over many weeks at different temperatures for
different amounts of time and kept notes. As I recall he found that
16 hours at 225 had the best outcome.

It is served sliced very thinly.

The rectangular loaves baked in long pans with lids are generally
sliced very thinly, just like in the image I posted but it is also
made in higher rounds and sliced into wedges.

It also does not contain caraway

It generally doesn't but that's not unheard of either.

From the same source as above:

"American-style pumpernickel is harder to find in Canada;
grocery-stores there (from coast to coast) tend to stock the real
thing in packages

That's simply not true. Almost every store will carry the light
fluffy sweet version made with coffee, cocoa and molasses ... lots
of molasses. But the real thing is only found in delis and a few
supermarkets that have a fairly large northern European immigrant
clientele.



Cheers

Jim


... I know what's in the new martinis and how to make them but I won't.

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