Pumpernickel
Encyclopedia
Rye bread
Rye bread is a type of bread made with various percentages of flour from rye grain. It can be light or dark in color, depending on the type of flour used and the addition of coloring agents, and is typically denser than bread made from wheat flour...
traditionally made with coarsely ground rye. It is often made with a combination of rye
Rye
Rye is a grass grown extensively as a grain and as a forage crop. It is a member of the wheat tribe and is closely related to barley and wheat. Rye grain is used for flour, rye bread, rye beer, some whiskeys, some vodkas, and animal fodder...
flour
Flour
Flour is a powder which is made by grinding cereal grains, other seeds or roots . It is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many cultures, making the availability of adequate supplies of flour a major economic and political issue at various times throughout history...
and whole rye berries. It has been long associated with the Westphalia
Westphalia
Westphalia is a region in Germany, centred on the cities of Arnsberg, Bielefeld, Dortmund, Minden and Münster.Westphalia is roughly the region between the rivers Rhine and Weser, located north and south of the Ruhr River. No exact definition of borders can be given, because the name "Westphalia"...
region of Germany. The first written mention of the black bread of Westphalia was in 1450. Although it is not known whether this, and other early references, refer to precisely the bread that came to be known as pumpernickel, there has long been something different about Westphalian rye bread that elicited comment. The defining characteristics of Westphalian pumpernickel are coarse rye flour—rye meal—and an exceedingly long baking period. The long slow baking is what gives pumpernickel its characteristic dark colour. The bread can emerge from the oven deep brown, even black. Like most all-rye breads, pumpernickel is traditionally made with a sourdough
Sourdough
Sourdough is a dough containing a Lactobacillus culture, usually in symbiotic combination with yeasts. It is one of two principal means of biological leavening in bread baking, along with the use of cultivated forms of yeast . It is of particular importance in baking rye-based breads, where yeast...
starter; the acid preserves the bread structure by counteracting the highly active rye amylase
Amylase
Amylase is an enzyme that catalyses the breakdown of starch into sugars. Amylase is present in human saliva, where it begins the chemical process of digestion. Food that contains much starch but little sugar, such as rice and potato, taste slightly sweet as they are chewed because amylase turns...
s. That method is sometimes augmented or replaced in commercial baking by adding citric acid
Citric acid
Citric acid is a weak organic acid. It is a natural preservative/conservative and is also used to add an acidic, or sour, taste to foods and soft drinks...
or lactic acid
Lactic acid
Lactic acid, also known as milk acid, is a chemical compound that plays a role in various biochemical processes and was first isolated in 1780 by the Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele. Lactic acid is a carboxylic acid with the chemical formula C3H6O3...
along with commercial yeast.
Traditional German pumpernickel contains no colouring agents, instead relying on the Maillard reaction
Maillard reaction
The Maillard reaction is a form of nonenzymatic browning similar to caramelization. It results from a chemical reaction between an amino acid and a reducing sugar, usually requiring heat....
to produce its characteristic deep brown colour, sweet, dark chocolate, coffee flavor, and earthy aroma (however, it is not uncommon to use darkly toasted bread from a previous batch as a colouring agent). Loaves produced in this manner require 16 to 24 hours of baking in a low temperature (about 250°F
Fahrenheit
Fahrenheit is the temperature scale proposed in 1724 by, and named after, the German physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit . Within this scale, the freezing of water into ice is defined at 32 degrees, while the boiling point of water is defined to be 212 degrees...
or 120°C
Celsius
Celsius is a scale and unit of measurement for temperature. It is named after the Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius , who developed a similar temperature scale two years before his death...
), steam-filled oven. The bread is usually baked in long narrow pans that include a lid. Like the French pain de mie
Pain de mie
Pain de mie is a type of sliced, packaged bread. "Pain" in French means "bread" or "loaf of bread" and "mie" means "crumb" in the culinary sense . In English pain de mie is most identical to pullman loaf or regular sandwich bread...
, Westphalian pumpernickel has little or no crust. It is very similar to rye Vollkornbrot, a dense rye bread with large amounts of whole grains added.
True German pumpernickel is produced primarily in Germany, though versions of it are sometimes made by specialty bakers outside its homeland. German pumpernickel is often sold in small packets of pre-sliced bread. It is usually found in markets aimed at an upscale clientele, because German pumpernickel is often paired with caviar
Caviar
Caviar, sometimes called black caviar, is a luxury delicacy, consisting of processed, salted, non-fertilized sturgeon roe. The roe can be "fresh" or pasteurized, the latter having much less culinary and economic value....
, smoked salmon
Smoked salmon
Smoked salmon is a preparation of salmon, typically a fillet that has been cured and then hot or cold smoked. Due to its moderately high price, smoked salmon is considered a delicacy.-Presentation:...
, sturgeon
Sturgeon
Sturgeon is the common name used for some 26 species of fish in the family Acipenseridae, including the genera Acipenser, Huso, Scaphirhynchus and Pseudoscaphirhynchus. The term includes over 20 species commonly referred to as sturgeon and several closely related species that have distinct common...
, and other expensive products of the hors d'oeuvres tray. Because of its association with expensive hors d'oeuvres, it can be found throughout Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, including in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, in upscale groceries, as it is in the United States and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
.
North American "pumpernickel"
A separate pumpernickel tradition has developed in North America, where the loaf color approximates the dark color of traditional German pumpernickel by adding molassesMolasses
Molasses is a viscous by-product of the processing of sugar cane, grapes or sugar beets into sugar. The word molasses comes from the Portuguese word melaço, which ultimately comes from mel, the Latin word for "honey". The quality of molasses depends on the maturity of the sugar cane or sugar beet,...
, coffee
Coffee
Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...
, cocoa powder, or other darkening agents. In addition to colouring and flavour agents, North American bakers often add wheat flour
Wheat flour
Wheat flour is a powder made from the grinding of wheat used for human consumption. More wheat flour is produced than any other flour. Wheat varieties are called "clean," "white," or "brown" if they have high gluten content, and they are called "soft" or "weak" flour if gluten content is low...
(to provide gluten
Gluten
Gluten is a protein composite found in foods processed from wheat and related grain species, including barley and rye...
structure and increase rising) and commercial yeast
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a species of yeast. It is perhaps the most useful yeast, having been instrumental to baking and brewing since ancient times. It is believed that it was originally isolated from the skin of grapes...
to quicken the rise compared to a traditional sourdough. Because of the ways in which North American bakers have changed the original German recipe, and for economic reasons, they tend to eschew the long, slow baking characteristic of German pumpernickel. The result is a loaf that resembles commercial North American rye bread
Rye bread
Rye bread is a type of bread made with various percentages of flour from rye grain. It can be light or dark in color, depending on the type of flour used and the addition of coloring agents, and is typically denser than bread made from wheat flour...
- a bread made with a mix of wheat and rye flour - but with darker colouring. Many bakers also add a significant amount of caraway
Caraway
Caraway also known as meridian fennel, or Persian cumin is a biennial plant in the family Apiaceae, native to western Asia, Europe and Northern Africa....
seeds, providing an alternate flavour that is now characteristic of many North American commercial pumpernickel and light rye breads.
North American pumpernickel loaves are almost always baked without a baking pan, resulting in a rounded loaf. These breads do not have the dense crumb of an authentic German pumpernickel and have a rather different flavour profile derived from the added darkening agents and the shortened baking process.
Etymology
The philologist Johann Christoph Adelung states about the Germanic origin of the word that, in the vernacular, Pumpen was a New High GermanNew High German
New High German is the term used for the most recent period in the history of the German language. It is a translation of the German Neuhochdeutsch...
synonym for being flatulent, and Nickel was a form of the name Nicholas
Nicholas
Nicholas or Nikolas is a male given name, derived from the Greek name Νικόλαος , a combination of the words for "victory" and "people" . The name can be understood to mean victory of the people or "power of the people"...
, an appellation commonly associated with a goblin
Goblin
A goblin is a legendary evil or mischievous illiterate creature, a grotesquely evil or evil-like phantom.They are attributed with various abilities, temperaments and appearances depending on the story and country of origin. In some cases, goblins have been classified as constantly annoying little...
or devil
Devil
The Devil is believed in many religions and cultures to be a powerful, supernatural entity that is the personification of evil and the enemy of God and humankind. The nature of the role varies greatly...
(eg "Old Nick
Old Nick
Old Nick can mean:* an English appellation of Christian teaching about the Devil* Old Nick , from Young's Brewery...
", a familiar name for Satan
Satan
Satan , "the opposer", is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible...
), or more generally for a malevolent spirit or demon
Demon
call - 1347 531 7769 for more infoIn Ancient Near Eastern religions as well as in the Abrahamic traditions, including ancient and medieval Christian demonology, a demon is considered an "unclean spirit" which may cause demonic possession, to be addressed with an act of exorcism...
. (See also the metal nickel
Nickel
Nickel is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel belongs to the transition metals and is hard and ductile...
, probably named for a demon that would "change" or contaminate valuable copper with this strange metal that was much harder to work.) Hence, pumpernickel is described as the "devil's fart," a definition accepted by the Stopes International Language Database, the publisher Random House, and by some English language dictionaries, including the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. The American Heritage Dictionary adds "so named from being hard to digest". A variant of this explanation is also given by the German etymological dictionary "Kluge" that says the word pumpernickel is older than its usage for the particular type of bread, and may have been used as a mocking name for a person of unrefined manners ("farting nick") first. The change of meaning may have been caused by its use as a mocking expression for the (in the eyes of outsiders) unrefined rye bread produced by the Westphalian population.
The Oxford English Dictionary
Oxford English Dictionary
The Oxford English Dictionary , published by the Oxford University Press, is the self-styled premier dictionary of the English language. Two fully bound print editions of the OED have been published under its current name, in 1928 and 1989. The first edition was published in twelve volumes , and...
, however, does not commit to any particular etymology for the word. It suggests it may mean a lout or booby, but also says, "origin uncertain." The OED currently states the first use in English is from 1756.
Another incorrect folk etymology involves Napoleon. Who while invading Germany, was brought dark German rye bread. He wouldn't eat it and said instead: "C'est pain pour Nicole!"... it was bread for his horse, Nicole. This etymology illustrates the difficulties created by irresponsible amateurs; allegedly it was a hoax perpetrated by a columnist and his friends the night before. When challenged and confronted with evidence to the contrary, he confessed. And yet, the contrived "pain pour Nicole" etymology seems to be the most popular one retailed in English-speaking countries; certainly it is retailed by thousands of sites on the World Wide Web
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
.