May 16, 2012 by jennifer
I love pumpernickel – something about how the coffee, cocoa, molasses and caraway flavours make this bread taste sweet, savoury and spicy all at the same time. These rolls are great warm from the oven with soup or on their own, lightly buttered or with a few slices of jalapeno havarti.
Ingredients:
- 5 teaspoons active dry yeast2 ¼ cups warm water½ cup butter, melted2 tablespoons unsulfured molasses2 tablespoons instant espresso powder1 tablespoon caraway seeds1 tablespoon nigella seeds¼ cup Dutch-process cocoa3 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for kneading2 cups light rye flour½ cup whole wheat flour½ cup ground flax seed1 tablespoon kosher saltolive oil for bowlsemolina or cornmeal for dusting the pan
Directions:
1. Lightly toast caraway and nigella seeds over a medium flame in a clean pan. Set aside. Set a full kettle of water to boil and place a roasting pan in the bottom of the oven.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, dissolve the yeast in the warm water and allow to stand until foamy, about 5 – 7 minutes. Using a wooden spoon, stir in the butter, molasses, espresso powder, cocoa powder and the caraway and nigella seeds. Add the flours, ground flax seed and salt.
3. Place the bowl on the mixer and with the dough attachment, knead on low speed. Add a little more flour as needed for the dough to come away from the sides of the bowl after a few minutes of kneading. Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, 7 – 8 minutes. Remove from bowl.
4. Fill roasting pan in oven with boiled water. Lightly dust your pans with semolina or corn flour and set aside. Form into a ball and transfer it to a lightly oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap and let it rise in the prepared oven until it doubles in bulk, 1 ½ – 2 hours.
5. Punch down the dough and turn it out onto a lightly oiled work surface. Knead briefly and then cut it in half with a sharp knife or bench scraper. Cut these halves into thirds; you will have a dozen mounds of dough. Shape each mound into a tight round roll by rotating the bread in a circular motion on the work surface between your hands.
6. Put the rolls onto the prepared pans, spacing them well apart. Cover loosely with a tea towel and allow to rise in a warm, draft-free spot (I usually pop them back into the still slightly warm oven) until they double in size anf feel spongy to the touch, about an hour.
7. Position one rack in the lower third of the oven and one in the upper third, and preheat to 375F. Bake rolls until they sound hollow when tapped on the bottom, 35 – 45 minutes (switching positions of the pans ½ way through baking). Transfer to wire racks and allow to cool before slicing open.
After-Thoughts:
The original recipe calls for 1 teaspoon fennel rather than the 1 tablespoon nigella seeds. I found the nigella seeds gave these rolls a nice peppery bite that melded rarther nicely with the sweet-spicy flavour that accompanies pumpernickel.
Recipe Origin:
Based on a recipe from Williams-Sonoma’s Essentials of Baking cookbook.
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