Really Dark Old School Sprouted Pumpernickel – In memory of Barbra

This has been such a weird week.  My wife is off to visit our daughter in Texas and eatng great food off of food trucks in Austin without me…… while I am eating curries, stir fries and smoked meats.  I’m not sure who got the best of that.  But the really odd thing was the turn that Lucy took.

Being an astute follower of the current counter culture to keep her recipes fresh and new, she couldn’t help noticing that just about anything goes today and is tolerated by society.  Still, I was sort of relieved when Lucy told me she doesn’t want to be a female Doxie dog anymore and feels like she relates much more to being a male Doberman Pincher instead.

Altus chopped fine with very liquid SD starter.

The relief came in because I thought for sure she was going to tell me that she didn’t want to be a Bread Baking Apprentice 2nd Class anymore and wanted to be something else less taxing mentally and physically…. like an astronaut or brain surgeon.    Being a libertarian on most things, I really couldn’t care less that Lucy wants to change herself into what ever she prefers - so long as it doesn’t negatively affect me or make me pay for it.

Wet starter and dough flour.  

So, I was relieved that she still wants to work with her master to make a loaf, or two like this week, of bread each week but I am hoping that she doesn’t somehow get the Dobies; longer legs, teeth and disposition so that she can get at my throat with a killer vengeance instead of just nibbling my ankles when she is upset with me.

Black and brown caraway seeds.

Sadly yesterday, we got word that the oldest of the 3GMA’s has passed.  So this bake is dedicated to her – a fine baker and even better sister and matriarch of her family.  There is a permanent hole in so many lives now.  A hole that can’t be filled.  But she would have wanted us to bake on ….so we will…thinking of her.

2/3 rds of the remaining seeds, nuts and prunes go in.

This week we have another rendition of pumpernickel based on this one:  Old School Dark Sprouted Pumpernickel Sourdough – 2 ways only this time we were determined to get a really dark pumpernickel.  A few changes were in order.

The dough hits the baskets.

First we added a dopplebock beer (at 9.6% alcohol) and then a bit of red malt, some cocoa, some instant coffee and pumpernickel altus.   If that didn’t do it dark then Lucy said she would prefer to be a kitty cat from now on.

after 4 hours of proofing.

We did the same method as last time using roughly 25% less levain since it is summer now and fermenting things really take off when the kitchen temperature is 86 F.   The other major change was to only make 1 kind of bread instead of 2 by spreading the add ins over both loaves instead of leaving one plain.

The T-Rex slash.

We liked the loaf with add ins much better than the ‘plain’ loaf last timeso a plain one was not in the cards this time.  We slashed it and baked it exactly like last time.  For some reason this one smelled better when baking.

This batch sprang and bloomed pretty much like the last batch even though these were not over proofed for once in a long time.  No long retarded proof to blame either.  Waiting for this kind of bread to redistribute the remaining moisture is the hardest part but we did wait overnight – about 15 hours instead of the much longer time recommended.

The crumb was nicely open, soft and moist – darker than last time – yea!  The taste was much more complex and deep.  A better bread taste wise for sure, maybe not as open but the last one was the best bread we have baked this year. This one is a bit better.  Barbra would have loved it even though she was a more of a Tartine white bread tyoe of bread baker.

Lucy is ecstatic about becoming a Doberman instead of a  Doxie dog.  I was thrilled with the way the Father's Day ribs turned out.