Making German Rye Bread

I bought a large bag of rye flour on my last visit to the Country Store in my hometown. I have never made pumpernickel bread from scratch.

At first glance, the recipe appears to be a lot of work, but it really wasn't too bad.

For two loaves:
1⁄4 cup butter
2 cups water
1⁄4 cup molasses
4 1/2 t yeast
1⁄4 cup cocoa
2 T sugar
1 T caraway seed
11⁄2 t salt
3 cups rye flour, divided
2 1/2-3 cups bread flour
oil for bowl, pans
1 T melted butter
   
In a large saucepan over low heat, add butter and begin to melt. Stir in water and molasses and heat til very warm.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, stir together yeast, cocoa, sugar, caraway, salt, and 2 cups rye flour.

Using a mixer on low, beat molasses mixture into yeast mixture til well blended. Increase speed to medium; beat 2 minutes. Stir in remaining 1 cup rye flour. Increase speed to high; beat 2 more minutes.










Stir in flour 1/2 cup at a time, making a soft dough. Turn out dough onto lightly floured surface. Knead til smooth and elastic about 5 minutes.

Place dough into an oiled bowl, turning so dough is well covered with oil. Cover with a towel and let rise til almost doubled, about an hour.









Punch down dough. Divide in half. Cover and let rest 5 minutes. Shape each half into an oval loaf.

Place loaves on two oiled baking sheets. Cover and let rise til almost doubled, about an hour. Slash each loaf diagonally, 2-3 times.
















Preheat oven to 375°.

Bake loaves 20 minutes. Cover loosely with foil; bake 15 minutes more or til loaves sound hollow when tapped. Immediately remove from baking sheet to cooling racks. Brush tops with melted butter.

Let bread cool for one hour before slicing.

So good!