Prepared Pantry Black Russian (Pumpernickel) Bread Mix Review
Prepared Pantry Black Russian (Pumpernickel) Bread Mix has a wonderful rye aroma while baking. The final product is dark brown, has a rich taste and a cake-like texture.
I hadn’t had much experience with dark rye bread until I tried this mix for Black Russian (Pumpernickel) Bread. The experience was eye-opening!
I say “eye-opening” because this mix inspired me to find a recipe for black rye bread. I just couldn’t get this wonderful bread out of my mind. I was determined to be able to make it from scratch and now I can.
Additionally, I also like to have this mix on hand in case I’m having one of those days. You know the days I mean. I’m talking about the days when everything goes wrong and all I want to do is have a good dinner and then relax in front of the television. Bread mixes were meant for days like that!
Making the Bread
Here’s what it was like the first time I made this bread from a mix . . .
I read the instructions on the package. It called for water of exactly 80 degrees to be used in making the bread.
I use a Zojirushi bread machine. The bread cycle includes time for preheating. So I just used water from the tap. If your machine doesn’t have a preheat cycle though, be sure to use the recommended water temperature.
I added the ingredients as recommended by the instructions that came with my Zo, being careful to make a little nest for the yeast.
I used the basic setting.
The Final Product
As you can see, the final product looks amazing!
The bread is a dark, brown color and the loaf was well-shaped.
The bread smelled like a heavy, rye bread while baking. It also had a lovely rye aroma. However, the final product had a lovely cake-like texture. The taste was more like light rye. The rye was there, but it wasn’t overpowering.
One last thing, this black Russian Bread makes amazing ham and Swiss on rye sandwiches.
Marsha the Russian Pumpernickel bread came out great. Started late so everyone couldn’t wait for it to completely cool.
Had to cut while still warm. Never-the- less, my hubby went on about it. Going to prepared pantry to order several more bags and take advantage of Black Friday. I trust you had a blessed Thanksgiving.
I’m so glad you like the mix. We do too.
Our Thanksgiving was wonderful. I hope yours was too.
Thanks so much for all of your encouragement and support. It means so much to me!
Thank you so much for making this recipe! I just recently obtained a 25 lb. bag of Great River Organic Dark Rye flour to make Pumpernickel bread. But not for the reasons you would ever imagine! I’m going to add 1 loaf per gallon of all grain mashed beer! I won the Collaborator Project in 2007 for this beer, and the addition of the bread made it a singularly unique brew. Bread was used to make beer up until the 13th century when the tax man started taxing bread made for beer. Today (700 years later) NO ONE uses bread to make beer anymore, which is surprising considering the amazing flavors you get from the higher than boiling temperatures used in baking (albeit higher than boiling, but lower than regular baking). I’d like to try your recipe first, and see if that’s what I’m looking for in a beer flavor profile. Thanks again for having such a truly useful site!
Interesting!! The Man of the House makes wine and beer. However, he’s never used any bread in his beer. I’ll pass this information on to him.
Have you tried the Prepared Pantry San Francisco Sourdough mix in your Zoji? I followed the instructions exactly and it came out somewhat undercooked. I did ensure that the water was 80 degrees when I added the ingredients? Looking for any suggestions – TIA.
I haven’t tried that one yet. I’m not sure what caused the bread to be undercooked. You might ask Prepared Pantry. I’ve found them to be very helpful.
Thank you for this post. I have ordered this mix and a few others. Delighted to learn of this company and I applied my coupon. THANK YOU !
I really like the Prepared Pantry products and I hope you do too!