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BREADS WITH A GERMAN ACCENT :A BOYHOOD CHUM of mine, who made a habit of bolting down his meat and milk so he could grab his dessert and run out to play, was the frequent recipient of a stinging smack on the hand with a thick slice of pumpernickel wielded by his Father. "Don't fool around. Eat with bread!" came the stern admonition. In his household, a meal without the staff of life simply verged on blasphemy. Taste a good loaf of whole grain rye (pumpernickel is whole grain rye including the husk) and you will know why bread is called the staff of life.

My own preference has always been for the ryes and pumpernickels, though whole grain wheat breads are available. Highly refined, leavened light rye breads like Jewish ryes or extra light Scandinavian or German ryes often contain a large percentage of wheat flour. City breads, as these are occasionally called, are made entirely from wheat flour with a little of the rye culture added. Some of the best German ryes that I've ever eaten came not from Germany but from Canada.

Alfons Dimpflmeier, bread baker, emigrated From Munich to Toronto in 1957. Baking at night and making deliveries during the day, Dimpflmeier quickly turned his one- man bakery into a money-baking enterprise. The bread is baked in much the same way it was done almost 300 years ago. Instead of pans or molds, wooden baskets are used to maintain the shape of the loaves. Special ovens equipped inside with stone plates were imported from Germany to produce genuine stone-baked breads. His authentic recipes call for natural ingredients and "homemade" sourdoughs. Canadian grains are among the best in the world and Dimpflmeier doesn't alter them with chemicals, artificial ingredients or preservatives. Most of the operation is still accomplished by hand, with the exception of a few machine processes such as mixing, slicing and packaging.

Klosterbrot (monastery bread), a tasty, old-fashioned, medium textured firm rye, comes in one-, two- and four- pound loaves; the one-pound loaf is sliced. Bauernschnitten (farmer's slices), with slightly finer flavor and texture than the Klosterbrot, is a one- pound sliced loaf. The real masterpieces, however, are the whole-grained rough-textured breads. Schwarzwalder Schinkenbrot (Black Forest bread for ham) is a fulsomely flavored one-pound loaf made with coarse rye flour, crushed rye, whole wheat flour, water, yeast and salt. A nice companion to ham and full- flavored meats, cheeses and a glass of any good wine or beer. Jagdschnitten (hunter's slices), in a one-pound package, contains the same ingredients but has a slightly different flavor that is terrific with speck (bacon) and wild game. Leinsamenbrot (linseed bread), another one-pounder, is a bit finer textured but contains whole flax seeds. Like the others, it's compatible with almost anything. Vollkornbrot (whole meal bread), a dark grainy textured loaf, and the Pumpernickel, a grainy textured black bread, are the real chefs d'oeuvre of their kind.

You usually see these two thin-sliced one- pound loaves in small packages labeled Westphalian Pumpernickel or Thin- Sliced Cocktail Rye. They are heavenly plain or with a little sweet butter and Roquefort, with Swiss cheese or cucumber and hard-cooked egg slices and a green onion, or anchovies, tomato or whatever. The company trademark, a smiling monk holding bread with the slogan "Gesundheit - good health" is happily believable. In fact all of Herr Dimpflmeier's breads are so good that someone is presently arranging to import them - from Canada to Germany. Loaves are said to have a shelf life of l0 days, but I can tell you from experience that some hold for two full weeks, and others for three weeks or longer. Breads for the U.S. are trucked across the border bi-weekly to Detroit and shipped with UPS to your door. Minimum order is 8 pounds. Request your free price list by phone! 1-800-723-8823 -by Gene Burton