Sourdough Pumpernickel Bread
This Sourdough Pumpernickel Bread makes an excellent sandwich loaf, with deep color, bold flavor, and a sturdy crumb. The dough is built with rye flour, whole wheat flour, and bread flour, along with a few traditional ingredients that deepen both flavor and color.
Table of contents
Why I Love This Recipe
As I mentioned in my Rye Bread post, I grew up in New Jersey, just outside of New York City. Being near to New York meant having access to wonderful delis and bakeries, so it was easy to find a good deli sandwich on fresh bread.
One of my absolute favorite deli-style breads is a deep, dark loaf of sourdough pumpernickel bread. This version captures the flavor and character I remember—bold, hearty, and perfect for sandwiches.
If you don’t have one, check out my post to learn How to Make a Sourdough Starter. Then check out my system to Feed and Maintain Sourdough Starter.
Rye Bread vs Pumpernickel Bread
Rye bread and pumpernickel bread are closely related, but they differ in both ingredients and technique.
Rye bread is made with some proportion of rye flour, often blended with wheat flour for structure and lift.
Pumpernickel bread recipes use additional ingredients to deepen color and flavor—often making use of what bakers had on hand.
In my research, I found old recipes that use leftover bits of bread as the basis for a new loaf. Waste not, want not, right? I could see that toasted bread crumbs would add interesting texture and deep flavor to pumpernickel bread.
I settled on a combination of coffee, barley malt syrup, cocoa, and toasted bread crumbs to deepen the color of the loaf. These ingredients contribute a balanced bitter-sweet note rather than sweetness.
Sourdough pumpernickel bread recipes range from just a hint of rye flour to all-rye loaves, with every combination in between.
Without gluten from wheat flour, the loaf would be too dense. There are traditional European all-rye pumpernickel loaves that are super concentrated and very, very dense. They’re interesting in their own right, but that’s not the style I was aiming for here.
This recipe uses equal parts rye and wheat flour. A small amount of whole wheat contributes flavor, while bread flour provides enough elasticity for a good rise.
Ingredients
Ingredient Notes
- Sourdough Starter: The recipe was developed using unfed 100% hydration starter. Feeding the starter with rye flour creates a rye-based levain that complements the flavor of the finished loaf.
- Rye Flour does not have the gluten-forming properties of wheat flour. Use any type of rye flour in this recipe, light, medium or whole grain.
- Bread Flour is a wheat flour with a high protein content. Higher protein means better gluten development.
- Whole Wheat Flour adds flavor and texture to the loaf.
- Toasted Bread Crumbs are a traditional addition to pumpernickel bread. Use homemade or commercial bread crumbs, toasted.
- Coffee primarily contributes color and bitterness. You can substitute water, but the finished loaf will be slightly lighter in color and less complex in flavor.
- Cocoa is used for color and subtle bitterness, not chocolate flavor. In small amounts, it deepens the dark brown color of the loaf and balances the natural sweetness of rye and malt without being detectable in the finished bread.
- Barley Malt Syrup: You can substitute honey, or a combination of honey and molasses, though barley malt syrup provides the most traditional pumpernickel flavor.
Process Photos
Here’s what the recipe process looks like at each stage. Refer to the recipe card below for measurements and exact instructions.
- Combine unfed starter with rye flour and water. Several hours later the rye starter is active and ready to use.
- Add the coffee, barley malt syrup, cocoa powder, salt, rye flour, toasted bread crumbs and whole wheat flour. Mix to combine.
- With the mixer running, add the bread flour.
- The dough will start out quite sticky.
- After 5 minutes of kneading the dough should cling to the hook and clear the sides of the bowl. The dough will feel sticky even when properly mixed—avoid adding extra flour.
- Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl and set aside for 3-5 hours of fermentation.
- To shape the loaf, pat the dough to a 9″ oval.
- Roll the dough to a cigar shape with tapered ends.
- Pinch the seam closed.
- Flip the dough and set it seam side down onto a sheet pan or wooden peel.
- The loaf is ready to bake when it has doubled in volume and the dough springs back slowly when lightly pressed.
- Brush the loaf with egg white. Optionally you can sprinkle with caraway seeds. Make one long slash or 3-4 diagonal slashes.
🍞 Baking Sense Tip:
Bulk vs. Cold Fermentation
This dough can be fermented entirely at room temperature or finished with an overnight cold fermentation.
Bulk fermentation at room temperature develops structure and allows the dough to rise efficiently. Cold fermentation slows yeast activity while continuing enzymatic development, which deepens flavor and makes the dough easier to handle the next day.
If your schedule allows, the overnight rest in the refrigerator will produce a more complex, well-rounded flavor. If you prefer to bake the same day, a longer room-temperature bulk fermentation works beautifully—just move on to shaping once the dough is well-aerated and slightly puffy.
Mixing & Baking Timeline
- Feed the starter with rye flour the night before or early in the morning of the day you want to make the dough.
- Mix the dough in the afternoon and set it aside for 3-5 hours of fermentation. Refrigerate the dough in the evening before going to bed.
- Take the dough out first thing in the morning and shape the loaf.
- Leave the loaf at room temperature to rise for 2-3 hours.
- To make and bake the bread in the same day, start the dough early in the morning. Allow a full bulk fermentation at room temperature, then skip the cold retard and proceed directly to shaping and baking.
Storage
Sourdough Pumpernickel Bread stays fresh at room temperature for 2-3 days. For longer storage, freeze the sliced loaf in a heavy-duty freezer bag.
More Sourdough Bread Recipes
I know you hate to throw away that sourdough discard. Check out these recipes that use sourdough discard.
If you love this recipe as much as I do, I’d really appreciate a star rating and a quick comment. Ratings and comments help my recipes show in search results. Thanks!
Sourdough Pumpernickel Bread
Ingredients
Rye Starter
- 4 ounces unfed sourdough starter ((100% hydration))
- 2 ounces warm water (¼ cup)
- 2 ½ ounces rye flour (½ cup, see note)
Dough
- 10 ounces brewed coffee (1 ¼ cups, room temperature)
- 1 ½ ounces barley malt syrup (2 tablespoons (see note 2))
- 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons table salt
- 5 ounces rye flour (1 cup)
- 2 ounces toasted bread crumbs (½ cup (see note 3))
- 2 ½ ounces whole wheat flour (½ cup)
- 5 ounces bread flour (1 cup)
Instructions
Feed the Rye Starter
- Combine the 4 ounces unfed sourdough starter, 2 ounces warm water and 2 ½ ounces rye flour.
- Cover the bowl and let it ferment about 6-8 hours at room temperature (you can do this the night before and continue making the dough in the morning).
Make the Dough
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with a dough hook or a large a large mixing bowl, combine the rye starter with 10 ounces brewed coffee, 1 ½ ounces barley malt syrup, 1 tablespoon cocoa powder, 1 ½ teaspoons table salt, 5 ounces rye flour, 2 ounces toasted bread crumbs and 2 ½ ounces whole wheat flour. Mix to combine.
- With the mixer running, add 5 ounces bread flour. If working by hand, stir in as much of the flour as you can, then turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead in the remaining flour. Knead 5 minutes. The dough will start out quite sticky. After kneading the dough should cling to the hook and clear the sides of the bowl. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead into a ball. The dough will still be slightly sticky.
- Place the dough into an oiled bowl, turning once to coat. Cover and set at room temperature for 1 hour. After an hour, working from four corners of the dough (still in the bowl) use your hand to lift the top edge of the dough over into the middle of the dough. Repeat with the other 3 sides then flip the dough over. Cover and set at room temperature for another hour. Repeat the folding procedure 2 more times so the dough rises for a total of 3 hours. By now the dough should be lively, elastic and airy. If the dough is still sluggish give it another hour or two at room temperature. After the initial fermentation the dough can be refrigerated for up to 2 days before baking.
- Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead into a smooth ball and let it rest for 10 minutes. Pat the dough to a 9" oval then roll the dough into a torpedo shaped loaf. Transfer the loaf to a sheet pan lined with parchment paper or onto a baking peel dusted with cornmeal. If you want to bake in a Dutch oven shape the dough in to a round (boule) and preheat the pan in the oven.
- Cover the dough with plastic wrap or a damp kitchen towel and rise until about doubled in volume (about 2 – 2 ½ hours). The rising time will vary base on how active your starter was, the temp of the dough and the ambient temperature.
- While the dough rises preheat the oven to 375 °F. If you have a baking stone put it in the oven to preheat. When the bread is risen, use a sharp knife or blade to slash the top of the bread 4-5 times or do 1 long slash along the length of the loaf.
- If using the Dutch oven to bake follow these directions: Remove the preheated pan from the oven and remove the lid. Use the parchment paper to lift the loaf into the Dutch oven. Replace the lid on the pot and slide it into the oven. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove the lid from the Dutch oven. The loaf should be well risen and pale in color. Continue baking another 20 minutes until the loaf is nicely browned and beginning to crisp. Remove the pan from the oven. Use the parchment to lift the loaf out of the pan.
- If baking on a sheet pan or baking stone bake until the temperature reaches 200°F in the center of the loaf, about 35 minutes.
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I would like to know why you use unfed starter in this recipe?
Thank you
Pris
Use an unfed starter because you’re going to feed it with rye flour. If your starter is already made with rye flour you can just go ahead and start at step 3.
OH! This would be a good change from the regular loaf. My family would really like it.
Bread turned out beautifully. Used my kitchen aide to mix, added additional flour in place of breadcrumbs, 1-tbsp of Vital wheat gluten to help with rise & caraway seeds on second strength & fold. Shaped oval with overnight cold ferment. Baked in a Dutch oven @400F, 25-min with lid on, 20 min off. Not a huge oven spring but still perfect for sandwiches; light, lovely texture, small air pockets. . Do believe it may have had better oven spring if I baked it after a couple of hours cold ferment as initially it rose beautifully. Will definitely make again with additional experimentation.
I’m a little confused. Isn’t the “real” pumpernickel you seek made with pumpernickel rye flour, not with rye flour dyed with coffee? Have you tried both?
As I discussed in the post, I wanted to make a pumpernickel bread of the type found in NY delis. Not the dense European pumpernickel bread made with rye berries and no wheat flour. “Pumpernickel” flour is rye flour. Even if you use a whole grain rye flour (which I do) labeled “pumpernickel” the resulting bread would not be dark brown without some other ingredients contributing that dark color. I use toasted bread crumbs, barley syrup, cocoa and coffee. The bread is not simply “dyed” with coffee. All those ingredients contribute flavor as well as color to the finished bread. That color and flavor is what distinguishes pumpernickel (NY style) from whole grain rye bread.
Can I replace the whole wheat flour with white rye or half white rye half bread flour?
Well, you will be reducing the gluten in the dough because Whole Wheat flour does have more gluten than rye flour. I would say you’d be better off with half white rye and half bread flour.
My loaf ended up flat and disappointing, though the flavor was good. When I finished mixing it, it looked great and was firm enough to hold its shape. However, the dough got softer with each rise and just didn’t have enough heft to maintain its beautiful oval shape. I was so sad when I saw it after the final rise but hoped it would expand upward rather than sideways while baking. No such luck. I may (but probably not) try it again but would make the dough much stiffer.
Ann,
The same thing happened to me! It was so beautiful before the last rise. I’m thinking that I may try it again in a loaf pan?
I made the sourdough pumpernickel bread, it took a couple of days but it was worth the wait. The sourdough was very active the second day and the bread really had a nice rise. Thank you for your recipe.
I only have KA white whole wheat flour in the hose. Can I assume I could use it in place of the 1/2 cup regular whole wheat flour? It would probably make the loaf a little lighter in color than regular whole wheat?
Yes, you can give it a try. It’s a pretty dark bread anyway so I think you’ll still have a nice color.
Hi thank you for the recipe. Ive been making sour dough for about month.now. the loaf I made tastes great but is very flat although has air holes. Just looking for any advice, as I really like it and want to try again. I know my starter is active and had a good bulk and proof rise. The dough was pretty wet. I used a clay cooker on 400. Do you have any suggestions or should I use s higher oven temp,?
Well I tried again used a dutch oven at 450 and added more bread dough and a little less liquid. It seemed to shape better and rose well but still poor oven spring, arg. But tastes great, I added sesame seeds in top which added a nice flavor. If anyone has advice to help oven spring with this recipe i’d appeciate it.
Thanks
@Chris, I haven’t tried this recipe yet but have baked MANY loaves of sourdough rye bread with overnight fermentation which works and tastes really good. I use a rye starter also. I use to make boules but have gone back to bread pans for a more sandwich type of bread and awesome oven spring…but most of the rise happens overnight in the fridg. I take it out of the fridg and right into a preheated oven. The boules are nice once in a while but proofed in a banneton type of bowl…just my opinion, good luck.
I love the dark color of your bread. Can I substitute non-diastatic malt powder? Will it lighten the color? Or should I buy syrup to ensure a dark loaf?
The malt syrup is for a little sweetness and color. Non-diastatic malt powder will add a nice flavor and sweetness but not the color. Even without the malt syrup you should get good color from the toasted crumbs, coffee, cocoa and rye flour. So go ahead and use a little malt powder for flavor. You could also use a combination of honey and molasses to replace the malt syrup.
I have a question now that I am in the process of trying your intersting recipe. I was up fairly early to check on the rye starter which was ready to go by 6:30 am. So it is in the bulk rise stage now at 11:30 am. Can I leave it to become light and airy most of the day at room temperature & then shape it for the banneton & set in the fridge ro bake in the morning? That would mean it is on the counter at room temperture for 10 hours before shaping & going in fridge overnight. (our house is cool as we are in central Alberta).
Yes, I often mix the dough and just leave it at room temperature all afternoon. You can also shape and refrigerate a little earlier in the day. A few extra hours in the fridge won’t matter either.
I’ve been baking sour dough bread for a couple of months now and love it. I tried this recipe and the flavour is awesome….the only thing that didn’t work for me was that the dough was very wet and I thought I added enough flour when kneading as it seemed that this recipe called for a wetter dough than other sour dough recipes. However, each rise it was quite wet to fold over and although the bread has air holes, it was quite flat. So my question is, when you do the air folds, can you pull it out of the bowl and knead it with more flour if it is too wet? or does that ruin the rise? thanks!
You could pull the dough out of the bowl and knead in more flour if you feel you need it. Bread dough is super-adaptable and resilient.
Thanks – I will try it again! Just made your brownies and looking forward to trying them 🙂
If I make two small loaves and cook them separately (I only have one Dutch oven) how would I change the oven temp or cooking time?
No need to change the oven temp, but a smaller loaf would certainly baker faster. I would start checking at about 20-25 minutes. The interior temp of the loaf should register 190-200F.
My first Pumpernickel!! Love love love!! The coffee, cocoa and molasses give it a wonderful richness!! I didn’t add the bread crumbs but added a little more Einkorn flour. And caraway seeds. Plus refrigerated overnight. Thank for simple straightforward recipes that work!! Blessings. ❤#fromthegardentothetable
Hi Eileen, I want to start off by saying thank you for the recipe. I’m just about to start making it since I finally found a place to sell fresh rye flour. More than excited at this point. The only question I have is about the rye starter. Do I still have to do a float test after the rye starter in a jar overnight before proceed all the steps. Hope to hear from you soon and thank you again.
You don’t have to do the float test if you know your starter is active. It’s just another indicator that your starter is ready for baking.
Awesome! Thank you so much for your reply!
Can this be baked in a Dutch oven like your rye sourdough recipe? If so, still 350 degrees?
Yes. With the Dutch oven I’d go a little hotter, maybe 400F.
I made it in a Dutch oven and it turned out with an “artisan-like crust” and a great oven spring (extra 20% rise). However, be careful of the oven temp and position of a the Dutch oven in the oven as the bottom might brown too quickly. I baked it at 450, 20 minutes covered, 25 minutes uncovered. Also, be sure to let the loaf rest for a long time, I suggest overnight, or it might appear doughy in the center. Be patient, the flavor of this bread is worth the wait.
Thanks Eileen for sharing your recipe! It is delicious.
Looking to make pumpernickel with raisins for my dad. Would this be a good recipe to add raisins to?
Sure. Fold the raisins in when shaping the dough.
I have to say I am so impressed with myself . I made this exact to recipe and it came out perfect. This was my first attempt to use a made from scratch sourdough starter and though I was dubious it WORKED!! The bread didn’t seem to rise as much as I expected but made up during the bake. An absolutely beautiful loaf of bread.
Congrats and welcome to the world of sourdough! The times on sourdough recipes are always a little variable based on how active your starter is, the room temp, dough temp, etc. You can always give the dough a little more time if it doesn’t seem to rise enough. Glad you came out well. It’s a personal favorite (especially for tuna sandwiches!).
Why do you use bread crumbs in the recipe. Can I omit them?
Hi Joy. I used the toasted bread crumbs because I saw that most of the old traditional recipes included toasted crumbs. The crumbs do contribute to the color and flavor of the loaf. If you don’t have old bread you could use packaged breadcrumbs or even crumbled saltine crackers. If you eliminate the crumbs all together you’ll probably get a slightly lighter color on your loaf. Also, you may need to add a little more flour if the dough is very wet. I think you’ll still get a good loaf though.
Il pane e buonissimo !qui in Italia e difficcile trovare il vero pumpernickel xcio me lo sona fatta a casa seguendo la ricetta e un vero successo!
I put your comment through Google translate and I think you’re saying that’s it’s hard to find Pumpernickel bread in Italy and that you made this bread and it was good. If that’s why you said, thanks! I’m glad you like the recipe.
Where do you get rye flour? I have looked for it many times but can never find it.
Hi Barb, the markets in my area sell rye flour in the baking aisle. You can also buy it on-line.
Hello, your recipe looks great and I am anxious to try it. A couple questions….is your starter 100%? I usually work in grams instead of cups, etc. Wondering if this will work if I convert it??
Hi Rebecca. I use a 100% starter, that is, fed with equal weights of starter-water-flour.
thanks! that helps so much!
Sure, and thanks for the question. Reader questions always help me clarify the recipe.
I do love baking bread! And I can’t get enough rye breads – they just bake so well and smell so good. I’ve yet to make a pumpernickel, I think this just got added to my weekend menu! Thank you!
Hope you like it. I love it!