Good day for baking bread! I haven't made any Russian Black Bread for quite a while, so that was my choice this time. Has some dark cocoa, coffee powder, and some caramel powder, in addition to the blackstrap, for the dark color. About 60% rye, so it didn't rise a lot in baking.
Russian Black Bread, before baking. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished Russian Black Bread. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

It looks wonderful, and very authentic.

Those look great! Would you share your recipe? I'll have to check the freezer to see if I have any rye flour left!

Yummy.

PhilaGardener wrote: ↑Sat Feb 20, 2021 9:23 am Those look great! Would you share your recipe? I'll have to check the freezer to see if I have any rye flour left!

Here's that recipe. It's fairly fast and simple, if all ingredients are handy. It's not really 60% rye - I should have said that it's only about 40% wheat flour, as it also has 2 c of wheat bran, which is another thing making it more dense.

Russian Black Bread

4 tsp yeast, instant
2 3/4 cup(s) water
1/4 cup(s) blackstrap molasses
1 tsp sugar
2 cup(s) bran
4 cup(s) dark rye flour
1/4 cup(s) vinegar
5 tb oil
2 tb caraway seeds
2 tsp Russian caraway seeds (nigella)
1/2 tsp fennel seed; crushed
1 tb salt
2 tsp instant coffee powder
2 tsp onion powder
4 tb dark cocoa powder
2 tsp caramel powder (optional)
3-3.5 cups bread flour

A. Combine the yeast, water, molasses, sugar, bran, and rye flour in the mixer bowl and set aside while preparing remaining ingredients, to allow the water to be absorbed. Add the vinegar, oil, seeds, salt, coffee, cocoa, and onion powder, and mix well. Add the bread flour a cup at a time, leaving it just a little moist. Knead 6-7 min. on medium with the dough hook, or 10 min. by hand. Place into an oiled bowl and roll over to coat. Cover and let rise 1 1/2 hrs. or until doubled, turning after 15 and 30 min.

B. Punch dough down and divide into two pieces. Shape each into a round loaf, or place in two 2 lb. loaf pans. Spray with oil, and cover with plastic. Let rise 45 min., or until about doubled.

C. Bake 1 hr at 350º, or less if using a stone at higher temps. I also bake less time in a convection oven - about 45-50 min. at 300º. Cool on a wire rack.

I made Russian black bread again, this time with sourdough, but left the vinegar out, since it doesn't need the acid.
Sourdough Russian black bread, almost ready to go into the oven. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished black bread. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Made another batch of Russian black bread today, this time starting the night before with a rye poolish. And this time I used WW flour, instead of bread, but added some gluten.
Russian black bread. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Wow that looks so good, I bet it would be great with cream cheese.
There is a Pilgrim's health food store in Coeur d'Alene that has all the hippie type ingredients we bought in the '60s , except now it's super expensive Yuppie food.

LindaJean wrote: ↑Sat May 13, 2023 11:39 pm Wow that looks so good, I bet it would be great with cream cheese.
There is a Pilgrim's health food store in Coeur d'Alene that has all the hippie type ingredients we bought in the '60s , except now it's super expensive Yuppie food.

Yep they've ruined everything from chicken wings to Lord only knows what.
The poor Mexicans are suffering the most.

Here's that bread, cut, and ready to make lunch! And the price of braunschweiger just dropped 50¢ at Aldi, to $2.39/lb.
Russian black bread, ready to put some braunschweiger on. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

I love braunschweiger.

Today I made another loaf of rye bread - something I'll pair with that braunschweiger, in these next few days of even hotter weather we're supposed to have. I started it early today, with a small rye sponge, then I made a version of my Russian black bread, using some buttermilk as the liquid, instead of a tb of vinegar with water, and I used WW flour, instead of white flour, with the bran. Otherwise, everything else pretty much the same, and I just made a single, 2 lb loaf. And, ohhhh that smells good baking, as always! I didn't run out of caraway, but came close, and I have another lb of seeds coming tomorrow! That's one spice that they don't have in the Indian market - what they sometimes have labeled "caraway", is actually another seed - shah jeerah - so I have to order regular caraway.
Single Russian black bread loaf, almost ready to go into the oven. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished loaf of Russian black bread. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Today I made a couple of loaves of that Russian black bread - something I got the idea for when I found a bag of wheat bran in the freezer, as this recipe has 2 c of bran. That, plus the 4 c of rye flour, gives a fairly dense bread, with just 2½ c wheat flour, though I added some gluten, to make up for this.
Two 2 lb loaves of Russian Black Bread. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

More bread! A couple of days ago I started some rye/potato sponge, and today I made a batch based on the Russian Black bread, but I wasn't going to root through the downstairs freezer for the wheat bran (though I know it's there!). It's got about the same amount of whole wheat and rye flours, but I added about 1/2 c gluten, to make up for that, and it rose fairly well.

I usually put one into the freezer, as soon as they cool, but I think I'll keep them both in bags, in case we eat more sandwiches tomorrow than I'm expecting during the game, and I will have the second loaf. Otherwise, I'll freeze it tomorrow night.
The Russian Rye dough, ready to fold 3 times, 15 minutes in between, before rising about 90 minutes. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Russian Rye dough, after the 3 folds, ready to rise until double. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Russian Rye dough, risen 100 minutes, more than doubled. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Two 2 lb loaves of Russian Rye dough, almost ready to bake. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished Russian Rye bread. by pepperhead212, on Flickr