Pumpernickel Loaves

By norsegal8

These oversized loaves are dark and sweet with the resilient texture of the best rye breads. Pumpernickel is, in fact, a member of the rye family, part of the German grainy black bread clan, but it's chocolaty color and haunting sweetness make it seem like a very distant relation.
This bread delivers traditional taste using some untraditional ingredients - you probably won't be able to pick out the individual flavors, but it's the combination of espresso powder, chocolate, molasses and lekvar (prune butter), that produces the beautiful brown crust and and chocolate-colored crumb, and that haunting sweetness. The shaping method is also untraditional, but it's what gives you oversize, invitingly plump loaves, the kind you find lined up at the counter of an authentic, old-fashioned delicatessen. The slice is large, made for sandwiches. The bread is very good with any kind of cream cheese spread and great for a Rueben sandwich.
A note of caution to the less athletically inclined: Mixing and kneading this dough by hand replaces an hour at the gym pumping iron. However, the dough can be made in a heavy-duty mixer.

Ingredients

• 1 cup boiling water
• 1 tablespoon instant espresso powder
• 2 1/2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 1 stick unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
• Pinch of sugar
• 1/2 cup warm water (105°F to 115°F)
• 5 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 2 cups plain yogurt, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup solid vegetable shortening
• 1/2 cup prune lekvar (also sold as prune butter in stores)
• 2 tablespoons ground caraway seeds (grind whole seeds)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons caraway seeds
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 3 1/2 cups coarse rye meal or medium rye flour
• 6 cups (approximately) high-gluten flour, bread flour or all-purpose flour
• Melted butter

Details

Servings 2

Preparation

Step 1

Brush a large (about 8 quart) with melted butter; set aside.

MIXING AND KNEADING Put the boiling water and espresso powder into a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan and stir to dissolve the espresso. Add the chocolate, molasses and butter, and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the butter and chocolate melt. Pour the mixture into another large (about 8-quart) bowl.
Meanwhile, whisk the yeast and a pinch of sugar into the warm water; let rest until creamy, about 5 minutes.
Using a wooden spoon, stir the yogurt, shortening, lekvar, caraway seeds and salt into the butter-chocolate mixture. When the ingredients are well blended and the mixture is just warm to the touch (no hotter than 110°F), stir in the yeast and the rye meal. Using lots of elbow grease, stir in enough of the flour, ½ to 1 cup at a time, to make a very moist dough. (You’ll probably use almost 6 cups of flour.)
When it is too difficult to stir the dough in the bowl, turn it out onto a work surface well-dusted with flour and knead until smooth and elastic but still soft and moist, about 10 minutes. The dough may seem a little pasty at first – because of the rye meal – but its texture will change with energetic kneading. While you are working, add only as much additional flour as you need to keep the dough from sticking to the table and to your hands.
You can make this dough in a heavy-duty mixer fitted with a dough hook. Once the yeast and the rye meal have been added to the other ingredients, mix on low speed, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary, for about 2 minutes. Add about 5 cups of the flour, 1 cup at a time and beat on low speed for 3 to 4 minutes. Increase your speed to medium and beat in as much additional flour as needed to make a soft dough that will clean the sides of the bowl, then beat for about 8 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic.

FIRST RISE Form the dough into a ball and transfer it to the buttered bowl. Cover the bowl with buttered plastic wrap and top with a kitchen towel. Let the dough rise at room temperature for 1 ½ to 2 hours, or until it has doubled in volume.

SECOND RISE When the dough is fully risen, deflate it, turn it over, cover as before, and let it rise for about 1 hour, or until it doubles in bulk again.

ROLLING AND SHAPING Deflate the dough, transfer it to a lightly floured work surface, and divide it in half. Work with one piece of dough at a time and keep the other covered with a towel or plastic wrap. Lay 2 clean kitchen towels on the counter and sprinkle them with flour; keep close at hand.
On a lightly floured surface, pat the dough into a rectangle about 8 inches by 14 inches. Starting at the short end farthest from you, roll the dough into a tight roll, pinching and sealing the seams as you form each roll as you go. Stand the roll on end and push your fingers down into the loaf, tucking some of the dough into the loaf as you burrow your fingers down into it. Then squeeze the end of the dough to elongate it, pinch it to seal, and fold each corner into the center, creating two triangles – it’s like making hospital corners on a bed. Tuck the end under the bread, attaching it to the bottom seam, and repeat the burrowing, squeezing, folding and tucking with the other end. Rotate and plump the dough to get a nicely shaped, rounded oval. Place the loaf, seam side up, diagonally on one of the floured kitchen towels and form a sling by joining the opposite corners of the towel that are farthest from the loaf. Punch a hole in the jointed corners of the towel, slip an S-hook through the hole, and suspend the sling from a cupboard or doorknob (or tie the ends of the sling together and suspend it). Shape the second piece of dough in the same manner and tuck it into a sling.

REST The loaves should rest undisturbed in their slings for 40 minutes.

THE TOPPING AND GLAZE
Sesame and/or caraway seeds (optional)
1 large egg white
1 teaspoon cold water

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 450°F. If the loaves are to bake on a baking or pizza stone, preheat the stone too and generously dust a peel with cornmeal. If they will bake on baking sheets, brush and sprinkle with cornmeal. For added flavor, use some of the sesame and/or caraway seeds in combination with the cornmeal to dust the peel or sheets. Place a heavy skillet on the bottom of the oven, and preheat with the rest.
Whisk the egg white and water together and push the mixture through a sieve, reserve.
Release the slings and transfer the loaves, smooth side up, to the prepared peel or baking sheet(s), keeping the loaves 3 inches apart. These loaves are very big and unusually soft, so handle them carefully. Give the loaves a last plumping with your hands and, using a sharp serrated knife or single-edge razor blade, slash the top of each loaf 3 times. The slashes should run horizontally across the loaf at a slight angle and should be about 1 inch deep. Paint each loaf with a generous coating of glaze, taking care not to paint the slashes. Sprinkle the loaves with caraway and/or sesame seeds, if you are using them.

BAKING THE LOAVES Put 4 ice cubes in a 1-pint measuring cup and ¼ cup cold water. Put the loaves into the oven, immediately toss the ice cubes and water into the hot skillet and quickly close the oven door to trap the steam produced by the ice. Bake the loaves for 10 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 350°F and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the loaves are deeply browned and the bottoms produce a hollow sound when tapped. The internal temperature of the loaves should be 200°F. Remove the loaves and cool on a rack. The loaves must cool completely before they can be cut, so plan to wait 2 to 3 hours after baking.

STORING You can keep the bread in plastic bags at room temperature for 2 days or wrap the loaves airtight and freeze them for up to 1 month. Thaw, still wrapped at room temperature.