This is a really good recipe for Russian Black Bread. I posted it back when my daughter went on a school trip to Russia as part of an exchange. She went to Russia for two weeks and then her Russian friends came to Chicago for two weeks. It was an incredible experience on so many levels. The Russian kids really loved McDonald's, while my kid fell in love with their black bread.
The recipe is from a little bread baking book I bought at a garage sale years ago, and it seems pretty authentic. In fact, there's a very similar version on The Russian Report. This version doesn't have onion, but rather a lot of other good things including chocolate, coffee, ground fennel and caraway. The two flours are all-purpose and dark rye, and there's just enough molasses to give it a hint of sweetness, though it's a perfect accompaniment to a savory meal.
Lastly, the bread has a strange (in a great way) cornstarch glaze. Brushing a loaf of bread with cornstarch was new to me, but it gave the bread a nice shiny finish.
Update: Fuzz came back from Russia with a new appreciation for Russian Black Bread. In fact, I think it's her favorite bread of all time. Given that, I've made this recipe several times since and have added a few more notes. Also, here are some pictures of the dough. In the first photo it has risen.
This second photo shows it after I've punched it down and shaped it into a ball.
This recipe makes two loaves of Russian Black Bread.
Recipe
Russian Black Bread
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cup rye flour, Bob's Dark Rye (228 grams)
- 1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour (228 grams)
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar (12 grams)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cups Raisin Bran or 1 cup of All Bran
- About 1 tablespoon caraway seed crushed
- ½ teaspoon fennel seed crushed
- 1 teaspoon espresso powder
- 2 ¼ teaspoons 1 packet quick rising yeast
- 1 ¼ cups water
- 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
- 3 tablespoons dark molasses (60 grams)
- ½ oz unsweetened chocolate (14 grams)
- 3 tablespoons butter (42 grams)
Cornstarch Glaze
- ¼ cup water
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch dissolved in 1 tablespoon of cold water.
Instructions
- Combine the rye and white flours. Set aside 1 ½ cups and put the remaining 2 cups of flour mixture in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add brown sugar, salt, cereal, caraway seed, fennel, espresso powder and yeast and stir well.
- In a saucepan, combine water, vinegar, molasses, chocolate and butter and heat until chocolate melts, stirring often. Let the temperature cool down to 125 degrees F , then add the saucepan mixture to the mixture in the stand mixer. Stir well.
- Gradually add remaining 1 ½ cups of flour, about ½ cup at a time, until you have a soft dough. If you weighed the flour, you will probably need all of it. If for some reason your dough is too sticky, you may need a little more. It should just barely pull away from the side of the bowl as it is being kneaded.
- Put the mixing bowl on the stand, attach the dough hook, and let the machine knead for 10 minutes.
- Cover bowl and let rise in a warm (100 degree F) place. When dough has doubled, punch it down and shape into two balls. Place each ball in a greased 8 inch round pan. Let rise until doubled (about 30 minutes).
- Bake the loaves in a 350 degree oven for about 45 minutes. When the bread is almost done baking, begin making the glaze.
- To make the glaze, bring ¼ cup water to a boil. Add the dissolved cornstarch/cold water mixture and boil until thickened. Brush this over the baked bread.
Anna says
Mine always come out a little dense for sandwiches, but the flavor is outstanding. I want to make some right now but I'm out of bran cereal, so I think I'll try with wheat bran and see how that works. But this is one I've never used for sandwiches just because of the texture. Adding more liquid would probably make it a little fluffier.
Sue K says
Glad you updated this and I saw it on the home page. Somehow I missed this the first time around. How do you like it for sandwiches?
sheri tallman says
Found the no knead recipe and cornstarch reference http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/2008/01/06/98
Katrina says
Mmm, love that kind of bread. Especially the chocolate. 😉
Sonya says
Very cool, and interesting to learn about the cornstarch glaze! Hope Fuzz has a great trip in Russia!
Anna says
Sheri, that's interesting. I'll have to read up on it.
Sheri says
I started the cornstarch slurry glaze on my furs free reading it in Artsians no knead bread blog , I love that the finish is exactly like the big reason I remember my childhood