Psyching up for Pumpernickel

That's right, I'm getting ready to try pumpernickel. Actually I'm getting ready to try making russian black bread. That's really my Dad's favorite. Not that he cares.

I was visiting him for Easter and thought I'd mention the bread project. I hoped to get some feedback about preferred flavors and textures of bread. I told him what I was doing with the project and he was totally unphased, uninterested, and inappropriately lacking a reaction. Kind of a deflating response really. But I guess my Dad's never been a big talker, and maybe actual bread will get the reaction. I really hope I haven't missed my window of opportunity on that too. He seems to have lost his appetite over the last month. Maybe this will tempt it back?

I did manage to confirm...
1- Yes, black bread is favorite
2- Prefer heavier breads
3- Don't like anything too sweet
4- Prefer more rustic texture to even
I had to persevere when he tried to change the subject to closed-end bond funds, but I got the info!

Now I've worked this first black bread attempt a bit too much in my mind. Been searching for alternative recipes but all online recommendations seem to lead back to two recipes, one of which is in my Bernard Clayton book. So that's the one I'm going with. All the shopping is done for the gajillion ingredients. The mail order pumpernickel flour arrived. Only one ingredient question remains - what does he mean by "whole bran cereal"? I've seen adaptations that use All Bran, and ones that seem to just drop the word "cereal" and use "wheat bran". Hmmm. Well I won't give up on this recipe if it's not the great success the first time around. I'll blame it on being a bran novice.