A childhood favorite: American "Pumpernickel" Bread

I LOVE American pumpernickel bread.  LOVE.  And my husband has a love for a good Reuben sandwich.  So, on this journey to becoming a better baker, I decided to tackle the Pumpernickel loaf.

Besides knowing it was related to, or a variation on, rye... I really didn't know what went into that lovely dark brown loaf that I love so much.  So I did what any good nerdy girl would do - I researched!!

My husband likes to joke about my excellent Google skills - and he's right.  I can often find pages on the strangest topics that no one else manages to find.  It's fun.

First thing I learned: to differentiate between "real" pumpernickel (known as Westphalian) and American.  They are VERY different.  Very.  Do not be confused.  (And check out this page on Cooks Info for the details and great images of the differences.)

So then I went on the hunt for a nice recipe for American Pumpernickel.  Most of the results that sounded right to me... were written for bread machines.  Oooops. No.  I don't have one and right now I don't want one.  I like my process.  So then I had to do math (good thing this nerdy girl LOVES math and spreadsheets) to convert the recipes.

My recipe below is based on:
Red Star Yeast
Betty Crocker
Shipton Mill
and Make Your Own 

So here is my version, which I think came out pretty great!

Jenn's American Pumpernickel

Ingredients:

• 1 Cup strong brewed coffee, cooled to 110°F
• 2 Tbsp oil
• 1/2 Cup molasses
• 1 pkg dry active yeast
• 1 Cup bread flour (more later in the list)
• 1/3 Cup (or less) cocoa powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 Cup Rye flour
• 1 Cup bread flour (for a total of 2 Cups)
• 2 Tbsp toasted caraway seeds (optional, but highly recommended)
• up to 1 Cup (~ish) of AP flour

Instructions:

1. Mise en place!
• Get all your stuff together before you begin.  Measure, prep, chop so that when you start moving forward, you don't have to pause to do something!
   
• This is a good time to lightly toast the caraway seeds in a dry pan until warmed through and you can smell the yumminess.  You're not looking to overly brown them, just wake up the flavor.
  
2. Proof the yeast.
• Test the temperature of your coffee and when it's about right for working with yeast (around 110° Fahrenheit) add the oil and molasses and packet of yeast.
• Let proof for about 10 minutes until it's foamy and the yeast is clearly working.  If it doesn't get foamy, throw it out and try again!  It isn't going to magically "fix itself" later on in the recipe.  Not that I would be guilty of trying that myself... *ahem*
  
3. Make the dough.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer, add 1 Cup bread flour, cocoa powder, and salt.  Use the paddle attachment to mix together thoroughly.
  
• Add rye flour, remaining bread flour, and caraway seeds.  Mix for 5 minutes until well combined.
  
• Switch to a dough hook and add up to 1 cup of AP flour, as needed, to bring to the correct consistency.  Knead for 5-7 minutes until smooth and elasticy as a yeast dough generally is.
  
4. Bulk Proof (a.k.a. first rise)
• Coat a bowl lightly with cooking spray or oil.  Turn the dough into the bowl and flip once to cover completely with a light coating of oil.  Cover with plastic wrap and a tea towel and place someplace warm for at least an hour.
  
• Note: If you keep your home on the cool side (*cough* like ME *cough*), turn the oven on to the lowest temperature while you're kneading the dough.  When you're ready for the rise, turn the oven off, place the covered bowl in the warm oven and keep the door shut.  Make-shift proofing box!
  
5. Form and second rise
• Punch down the dough and form into loaves.  Put in pans, if desired, or form into a round boule or any other shape you'd like.  I used 2 8x4 loaf pans hoping to make sandwiches with it.  They came out a bit small, so I might do one loaf in 9x5 or even a free-form boule next time.
  
• Cover and let rise again for 30 minute to an hour.
  
  
6. Bake
• Bake @ 400° F for 30-35 minutes.  Tent it for a portion of the cook if your oven tends to over-brown things (like mine).
  
  
7. Cool
• Pull from the pans and let cool completely on wire racks.
  
  
8. Enjoy!
• I enjoyed this with just simple butter.
• Husband made reubens:
  

The beautiful brown color comes from cocoa powder, coffee, and molasses!  I did not know that going in.  Mine came out a bit chocolate-y, so I might reduce the cocoa next time, but it will be less brown, I'm sure.  Otherwise, we were both quite happy with this experiment in my Practice Kitchen!

Bisquick Pioneer Pancakes ... as Waffles.

Happy weekend, friends.  You've by now noticed that I'm posting on the weekends (at least I think you've noticed).  It's a goal that should  be totally attainable for me... and keeps us moving forward.

This weekend, I decided to try to adjust a beloved childhood recipe from pancakes to waffles.  I have a thing for waffles at the moment.  This didn't work out quite the way I was hoping (as far as texture), so I'll share the pancake recipe which I am confident in (my family has been making them this way for 30+ years) and will try the waffle adjustments again another time until I get the balance right.

According to my dad, this original pancake recipe came from a Bisquick recipe pamphlet from 40-ish years ago!  I would have been 2...

Pioneer Pancakes

Ingredients:
1 cup boiling water
1 cup cornmeal
3 Tbsp molasses
2 cups Bisquick
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
1 cup milk

Directions:

1. Pour boiling water over the cornmeal and molasses and let sit for 5 minutes to soften.
2. Add remaining ingredients and beat until smooth-ish. There is cornmeal in this; it's not going to get truly smooth, but you want to remove most lumps.
3. Cook on griddle or in a pan like any other pancake.
4. Serve with butter and syrup or anything else you like on pancakes.

You may or may not know that waffles, while similar to pancakes, are not the same.  The ingredients and proportions vary slightly.  So I thought I'd get smart and compare the Pioneer Pancake recipe to the original Bisquick pancake recipe... and then adjust things to align with the original Bisquick waffle recipe.  And it worked.  I'm not saying this was a failure, because it wasn't.  But I'm not thrilled with the texture, so I'll try again another time.

But of course I took pictures as I went... so here is my process:

1. Assemble the cast of characters (mise en place):
   
2. Molasses, cornmeal, and boiling water:
   
   
   
3. Combine the remaining ingredients into the warm cornmeal mixture:
   
   
4. Beat until smooth:
   
5. Make waffles!  I use 1/3 cup per square of my waffle iron - it's the right amount for mine.  Each iron will be different.
   

And as a bonus... compound butter!

I'm planning on taking these to work for breakfast this week, so I wanted a way to take the real maple syrup (always always real) without having to carry the sticky stuff in a little container that would spill all over the inside of my lunch bag.

Combine 1 stick softened butter (if you use unsalted, add salt), 1/3 cup molasses, 1/4 tsp ground clove, and a couple of Tbsp of REAL maple syrup (I use dark amber... the darker the syrup, the stronger the maple taste, which I LOVE).

Enjoy and have fun practicing in the kitchen!

Deep Dark Gingerbread Waffles

I found this recipe recently at The Smitten Kitchen and just HAD to try it. I LOVE spicy, warm gingerbread - so the idea of making waffles with those beautiful flavors is enticing.

Let me say this up front: I'm a novice in the kitchen. I adore watching food TV and am learning a lot, but I want to be clear... I'm a hot mess sometimes. I'm learning to try...and to laugh at the mistakes and messes. And sometimes I get lucky and things work... and sometimes... they don't. ;)

So, since I haven't made this before, I followed the recipe exactly. I always follow the recipe as closely as possible the first time.  Once I've had it, I can make adjustments for future attempts.

So, here are my photos, my notes... and the result:

1. Gather your stuff!

Fancy chefs will tell you this is called "mise en place", which is French for "putting in place", and really is just a fancy way of saying BE PREPARED! I'm the daughter of generations of Boy Scouts - BE PREPARED! I'm a HUGE fan of all things Disney - BE PREPARED! I'm learning to do more than make a mess in the kitchen - BE PREPARED!

This step is critical, because you're making sure you have all the stuff you need (ingredients and tools) and you're reading through the recipe to get those items together - so it's a chance to make sure you understand the process.

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon ground ginger
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon fine sea or table salt
• 1/2 cup buttermilk, yogurt thinned with a little milk, fresh apple cider or even stout beer
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted, plus extra for brushing waffle iron
• Powdered sugar for serving

Note: I find it much more efficient to put things away once I've used them.  Measure out a cup of flour, put it in the sifter, PUT THE FLOUR AWAY.  Measure out the spices, put them in the sifter, PUT THE SPICES AWAY. (This is a lesson learned from my mom who is not a fan of a mess in her kitchen.)

2. Dry stuff

I sifted together all the dry ingredients called for in the recipe into the bowl of my KitchenAid so I could mix it all in there in another step or 2.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

A macro shot of the flour and spices because I love how it looks. No other reason.

3. Wet stuff

I whisked together all the wet ingredients called for in the recipe into a separate bowl.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, molasses, sugars, egg and butter until combined. The butter will likely firm up and make little white splotches throughout; this is a-okay.

4. Combine stuff

Pour the wet into the dry and mix-y mix-y!

So here's where things got tricky...

5. Put the batter in the waffle iron

Original instructions:

Heat waffle iron to a middle heat. Either brush waffle iron with melted butter or spray it lightly with a nonstick cooking spray. Ladle gingerbread batter into waffle iron until they’re about 3/4 filled out. Cook according to manufacturer’s directions. In my waffle iron, I like to cook them 1 to 2 minutes more.

My notes: My square waffle iron liked about 1/3 cup of batter per square. I tried to eyeball the first batch – that was ugly. I tried 1/2 cup for the second batch – that was messy. 1/3 cup was juuuuuust right!

6. Remove the waffles

Original instructions (these made me giggle...and then curse):

To remove waffles: Open waffle iron. Wait about 30 seconds, giving them a chance to steam off a little. With tongs in one hand and a small spatula in the other, gently, carefully lift corners of each waffle section enough to slide the spatula underneath, then lift and slide some more until you can get the section out. Curse Deb, because these waffles are very sticky and eager to tear. Trust Deb, that they will be worth it. Spread them on a tray in a single layer to let cool slightly; within 1 minute, they should be crisp to the touch and easier to lift. Repeat with remaining batter. Try not to stack waffles — even though they’re firm, they will stick.
Serve immediately, dusted with powdered sugar and, if you’re feeling fancy, a dollop of barely or unsweetened whipped cream or crème fraîche.

My notes: She ain't kidding! First batch was a mess. I took a picture for giggles:

Second batch, I was afraid I hadn't let them cook long enough, so I gave them a bunch of extra time. They came out nicely, but when cooled a bit, became more than a little crunchy. Don't do this. Original author was right – open the waffle iron, let it sit for 30 seconds to a minute, and THEN (and ONLY then) should you try to remove. Very patiently. VERY patiently. (Did I mention you need to be patient?)

I loved these.  Great spice flavor and nice texture (in the later batches). I have leftovers packed away for breakfasts. We'll see how well they do reheated.