Home > Pumpernickel bread
Pumpernickel is a type of sourdough bread from Germany that is made with a combination of rye flour and rye meal (more coarsely ground than flour) and is very dark in color (even when compared to breads made with flour that includes bran). It tastes very similar to rye bread, but differs in that pumpernickel recipes often call for molasses, helping to give pumpernickel its dark color. Pumpernickel is extremely dense; a pound of it has a volume equal to that of about 1/3 pound of wheat bread.The word "pumpernickel" derives from the Old High German words "pumpern", to fart, and "Nickel", a demon or goblin. The bread got this name for its supposed indigestible quality, although modern pumpernickel breads seem to lack this feature. There is an alternate popular etymology that Napoleon said that pumpernickel bread was only fit to be fed to his horse, Nicole -- that it was "pain pour Nicole". However, dictionaries do not support this etymologyEtymology is the study of the origins of words. Some words have been derived from other languages, possibly in a changed form (the source words are called etymons . Through old texts and comparisons with other languages, etymologists try to reconstruct th.
Pumpernickel is a relatively unpopular type of bread and is often difficult to find at supermarkets and smaller groceries.
Pumpernickel loaves are almost always baked without a baking pan, resulting in a rounded loaf.
Breads
German cuisine
