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  • From: Tvoivozhd <tvoivozd AT infionline.net>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Homestead] Russian Black bread, right way and wrong way
  • Date: Sat, 02 Oct 2004 18:36:34 -0700




Russian Black Bread

http://bread.allrecipes.com/az/RussianBlackBread.asp (don't bother with a "bread machine", mix, and bake the old-fashioned way---yeah, you're permitted to use a bread hook, I use a bent piece of steel rod mounted in a battery-powered half-inch drill---a "poor man's Hobart" I described in Countryside when J.D.Belanger was running the magazine---an ascerbic cat, my kind of guy, I don't find the newer, blander Countryside all that exciting.

http://bread.allrecipes.com/az/RmnvRssinBlckBrd.asp (well, he's got the right name---Romanov)

http://www.uoguelph.ca/~antoon/recipes/russian.htm (vam Roon recipe)
http://www.uoguelph.ca/~antoon/recipes/bb.htm

http://experts.about.com/q/762/1324133.htm (using a premixed sponge)

http://russianfestival.bizland.com/bread_contest.htm (different kids, using beer or kefir)

http://countrylife.net/pages/recipes/927.html (now we're getting somewhere, "fres ground" rye flour---damned store-bought rye flower would gag an alligator---more on that below at end of this sage commentary.

http://monkeybiz.stanford.edu/~jim/gscb/appendices/students.html#mendeleyev (famous scientists whose mutterings you HAVE to have at your elbow if you dare to make Russian Black Bread) If you don't, you risk severe indigestion.

http://www.recipe-ideas.co.uk/recipes-6/Russian%20Black%20Bread%20(Ceideburg).htm (you want a glazed crust---I don't, just a hard one)

http://familyofmann.tripod.com/lprye.htm (never thought about orqnge juice, might be an improvement0

RUSSIAN BLACK BREAD
This recipe is not particularly rare, but it's a good one. The dough can be shaped into three round loaves and baked in pie pans or it can be shaped into four loaves and baked on a cookie sheet. The latter shape has the advantage when it comes to making sandwiches.

I've never had much luck crushing seeds with a mortar and pestle, but I successfully grind them up in the coffee grinder. (Makes for interesting coffee next time, too.) You can use strong-made coffee in place of instant coffee if you reduce the water accordingly. For molasses, the best is blackstrap, next best is unsulfured, and the least best is dark corn syrup.

1 T (two packages) dry yeast 4 c white flour 4 c rye flour 1 t sugar 1/4 c shortening 1 T salt 2 c whole bran cereal 2 T crushed caraway seed 2 t instant coffee 1/2 t crushed fennel seed 2-1/2 c water 1/4 c vinegar 1/4 c molasses 1 square unsweeted chocolate 2 t onion powder or some grated onion 1/4 c warm water for yeast

Oven at 350 deg for 45 minutes. Makes three or four loaves, depending on shape.

1. Put the yeast to soak in 1/4 c warm water.

2. In a saucepan or mixing pan, heat the water with the chocolate in it until the chocolate melts.

3. Remove from heat and add the sugar, salt, bran, crushed seeds, instant coffee, onion, vinegar, molasses and shortening. This has to cool enough to mix with the flour.

4. Add enough rye flour to make a stirable batter, about 3-4 cups. Stir well.

5. Add yeast mixture and stir well.

6. Add enough white flour to make a stiff dough.

7. Flour counter, dump out dough and knead, adding more flour to counter as needed to avoid sticking.

8. Grease bowl, dump in dough and roll around to coat

9. Let rise about one hour.

10. Dump out on counter, divide into three or four parts, depending on what shape you want. (See above).

11. Shape and place on cookie sheet or pie pans.

12. Let rise for about one hour. Make slashes with razor blade to allow for expansion.

13. Bake at 350 deg for about 45 minutes. Put back without pans if the bottom needs browning. (you won't have a mortar and pestle anyway, use your coffee bean grinder for grinding seeds)


And now to the best of the best of the best, SUH!! Anytime you see adding stuff like bran, it means your store-bought foour is only good for making breadballs to catch carp.

The best black bread uses fresh-ground whole grain rye, wheat and barley---oh, no-no-no, don't use that damned stone grinder either. You HAVE to have COARSE-GROUND WHOLE GRAIN FLOUR to provide proper bread texture and moisture content. That means a grinder with corrugated steel plates. In my sailboat days, a hand-cranked Corona Mill worked best and I had to regrind the first grind---one grinding wouldn't do it. It's too long ago for a foggy memory, but I think I used two cups of wheat grains to one cup of barley and one cup of rye---could be mistaken, make several batches of my version of Russian Rye Bread, varying the grain proportions, use dark molasses, no corn syrup--I didn't use beer, that's probably a matter of personal taste.

http://www.justalotofgoodrecipes.com/g/g1005269.shtml (Russian peasants wouldn't have known what yeast is, nor instant potato mix, would have used grated raw potato to make black bread rise)

http://www.thesustainablevillage.com/servlet/display/product/detail/21115 (Corona mill)

http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=arc&id=5353 (MEN article on Corona)---grind up only so much as you can use, the flour deteriorates quickly)

Oh, yeah, you must sing "Ochee Chorniya during all stages of Russian breadmaking. It may be safe to stop singing after about half the baking period is over. A Russian drinking song may be substituted for Ochee Chorniya, "ei yknem, Volga Boat Song", or "Proschai, Proschai, Podryga Daragaya etc (goodbye, goodbye (girl-friend). You have to gaze into her eyes and sing it with great emotion, or she will suspect you aren't coming back---and you aren't, you are thinking of that Black Sea darling you met on your last longboat trip down he Volga.)
http://ingeb.org/catru.html (Ochee Chorniya translates to Dark Eyes)











  • [Homestead] Russian Black bread, right way and wrong way, Tvoivozhd, 10/02/2004

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