Bread Machine Pumpernickel Bread

Pumpernickel is a special, dark bread with German origin. Traditionally it is made with sourdough. This is an adapted version made with dark rye flour, cocoa powder, yeast, and molasses. It is popular because it is very flavorful. It's great for sandwiches or just with butter.

This is an easy recipe to make soft pumpernickel bread in the bread machine. It is perfect to make sandwiches. It can be made in the bread machine from start to finish or baked in the oven after making dough in the bread machine.

Ingredients

Pumpernickel bread is made with bread flour, whole wheat flour, dark rye flour, brown sugar, cocoa powder, instant coffee, yeast, oil, salt, and water.

If you are out of bread flour, you can make it with all-purpose flour without any modification. King Arthur all-purpose flour works best without any changes to the recipe.

Ideally bread machine yeast works best for making bread in a bread machine. However, if you are out of bread machine yeast you can use instant yeast in the same quantity.

Instructions

Making pumpernickel bread in a bread machine is very easy. All you need to do is put the ingredients in the bread machine container, select 1.5 lb. loaf size, crust color, and start the 'basic white bread' cycle.

Depending on the bread machine, some machines require wet ingredients first and then dry ingredients. Some require dry first and wet ones later.

It is best to refer to the bread machine manual and place the ingredients in the order recommended by the bread machine manufacturer.

The bread machine will do all the work for you including mixing, kneading, resting, rising, and of course baking!

Optionally, you can also remove the paddle from the bread maker once the last kneading cycle is complete. This will prevent a hole in the bread once you remove it from the container.

Once the bread cycle is finished, remove the loaf from the container by turning it upside down and shaking it a little bit. Place the loaf on a rack to cool it down. Slice it with an electric knife or a serrated knife. It is best to use a bread slicer comes to cut even slices.

Instructions to bake in the oven

If you don't like tall bread baked in the bread machine, you can also make the dough using the dough cycle and then bake it in the oven for a more even shape and smaller slices that fit in the toaster.

Once the dough cycle is complete, shape the dough into a log of about 8 inches in length. Place it in a bread pan of 9 by 5 inches and cover it loosely with a food wrap. Allow it to rise in a warm place until it doubles in volume.

Bake it in the preheated oven at 350 °F for about 20 minutes. Don't forget to remove the food wrap before baking the bread :).

Equipment

This 1.5 lb pumpernickel bread recipe is made in the 2 lb. Zojirushi bread maker. It can be made in any 2 lb. bread maker.

If you want to bake it in the oven then you can bake it in a 9-inch by 5-inch baking pan.

You will need a cooling rack to cool the bread once it is baked. For slicing bread, a bread knife or an electric knife works best.

Storage

Homemade bread can be stored in an airtight bread storage container for 3-4 days. It can be sliced and frozen for a month. When you are ready to eat, take out as many slices as you want and toast them in a toaster.

📖 Recipe