Healthy Humperdickel Loaf - 3rd try

Faux pumpernickel wannabe loaf suffers from unavailability of rye berries, so is based on wheat berries, popcorn, and Hodgkin Mills whole-grain rye flour. Furthermore, it is cooked in a crock pot, rather than in the traditional (for Pumpernickel) way. To make it even more questionable, the dough is kneaded in a bread machine. 48-hour process, but requiring very little attention.

Procedure:

Day 1

• Make a slurry of one cup whole rye flour and 10 fl. oz. of water
• Crack 1 cup red spring wheat berries and popcorn, in equal parts, at 16 clicks out using the KA grain grinder, or crack otherwise. Cover one cup of the combined cracked kernals with an excess of water.
• Cover the two and set aside at room temperature for ~ 24 hours.

Day 2

• Pulverize 2 cups red spring wheat for two minutes, highest speed in the VitaMixer, or however one does it.
• Drain the cracked grain from yesterday.
• Combine the wheat flour and the soured rye slurry plus 1 teaspoon of salt in the bucket of a bread machine and knead (dough cycle) for ~ 30 minutes
• Start the dough cycle again, and incorporate the soaked cracked grain by adding it and kneading briefly.
• Form a bolus of the dough, place it in the (greased) bread insert of a crock pot and let it rise until doubled, ~ 2 hr.
• Cook at low heat for ~ 24 hours, with the insert surrounded by water. (A coffee can may be used if there is no insert.)

Day 3

• Remove the loaf, maybe after freeing at the sides with a spatula. It may be beautified by painting with dilute corn or malt syrup. Keep it covered or wrapped so the surface will not dry out.

Dick Adams 01MAR2005

History

First try

I am pioneering a variant of traditional whole-grain breads. This one starts as a soured rye preferment. After that, since I could not buy any cheap rye berries around here, I used cracked and milled wheat and cracked corn (maize), but cooked the whole miserable mess in a crock pot for 24 hours, which may have given some enzymes or occult biochemical processes some opportunity to make the bread brown and sugary.

The dough (soured rye batter and whole wheat flour) was kneaded in a bread machine, which avoided most touching of the rye glop. At about 30% rye, it formed a ball on the paddle, which was unexpected.

• Sour a slurry of 1 cup each of whole rye flour and water until it has risen and fallen. (Overnight is probably long enough if it is inoculated with a bit of ripe starter.)
• Crack 1/2 cup each of red spring wheat and popcorn with the KA grain grinder at 15 clicks out. Soak it overnight with an excess of water.
• In a bread machine, add to the rye sour a tsp. of salt and about 2 cups whole wheat, freshly milled in Vitamixer, adjusting so that the dough forms a ball on the paddle. Knead for ~ 30 min. as the "dough cycle" may provide.
• Drain the soaked cracked grain, and incorporate it into the dough by running the dough cycle again briefly.
• Put the stuff in the bread insert of a crock pot, surround the insert with water, and cook for ~24 hours on low heat (assuming the choice is high or low).

It tasted quite good. Mrs. Adams, who traveled extensively in the Old Europe, before it became so old, said that it reminds her of Pumpernickel.

19FEB2005

Second Try

This time I soured the rye in the oven with the pilot light and the electric light burning, to achieve 85 - 90 degr. F. Everything else was pretty much the same. This produced a tighter loaf which could be cut in very thin slices. The considerable difference in the result is a mystery at the time of this writing. The shift to deep brown crumb coloration during the long slow cooking did not occur in this instance to the degree that was expected. Compared with the loaf of the first try which rose slightly, there was no rise at all.

Dick Adams 24FEB2005