Good baking weather! So I baked 2 more loaves of rye, starting the sponge 3 days ago. I made 2 more loaves of the Old Milwaukee rye bread, this time with just the last cup of flour being white bread flour, only because I had used the end of the WW (besides some in the freezer, plus some whole wheat berries).
Risen Old Milwaukee rye loaves. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Old Milwaukee rye loaves. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

worth1 wrote: ↑Wed Jun 03, 2020 5:09 pm

GoDawgs wrote: ↑Wed Jun 03, 2020 5:01 pm Thank you! And I happen to have the blackstrap molasses but no dark rye flour, just the lighter rye. I might have to use that as I can't recall ever seeing the dark rye flour on sale around here. That's more of a northern thing.

Just add cocoa powder, this is how pumpernickel is made.

So there is no Milwaukee's Best beer involved????

Pumpernickel, one of my favorites, is made several different ways, as there are American and German types. Coarse ground whole rye berries are a must. Darkening agents can be molasses, coffee, and cocoa, although I've never detected the flavor of the later two.

I haven't had pumpernickel for so many years I can't count... but it's unforgettable. So tasty.
Love the color of your dark loaves, Pepperhead.

pepperhead212 wrote: ↑Tue Jun 02, 2020 11:47 am This is a bread that I have been making since the 70s! The recipe was in one of my first bread books - Bernard Clayton Jr.'s The Complete Book Of Breads. The original recipe has AP flour, since bread flour wasn't readily available, back then, but I have increased the rye, changed some white to WW, and switched AP to bread flour. This time, I only used an overnight sponge, but usually I do a 3 day sponge, which was an option in the original recipe, which gives it a powerful, delicious, yeasty flavor. This time, I did the short sponge, because I wanted to give some friends a loaf today.
Rye sponge, ready to rise overnight. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Baked Old Milwaukee rye bread. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Giving your friends a loaf makes them sponge worthy? I DID NOT JUST SAY THAT.

I doubt that most of them would know the difference of the short and long sponge! Unless I let them do a taste test side by side. But they'll still like it more than anything they buy. And none of them will take me up on it, when I offer to show them how to make it! It's not really difficult - and a 3 day sponge is no more difficult, except for planning in advance.

For that darkness, in this one, besides the blackstrap, I put in a teaspoon of a dry caramel color powder - something that I got years ago, for some sweets I made, but this is all I use it for, now. Some recipes have cocoa, as well as some with unsweetened chocolate, but this one just had this little bit of extra. You can see, it doesn't seem to do much to the raw dough, but does more to the baked bread.
Old Milwaukee rye bread, 1-21 by pepperhead212, on Flickr