Best Russian Black Bread Recipes

RUSSIAN BLACK BREAD

Steps:

• Combine flours. In a large bowl, thoroughly mix 2 1/3 cups flour mixture, sugar, salt, cereal, caraway seed, coffee powder, onion powder, fennel seed and undissolved yeast.
• In a sauce pan combine 2 1/2 cups water, vinegar, molasses, chocolate and butter.
• Heat liquid mixture over low heat until liquids are very warm (120°-130°F), butter and chocolate do not have to be melted.
• Gradually add heated liquid mixture to dry ingredients and beat (with electric mixer) for 2 minutes at medium speed, scraping bowl occasionally. Add 1/2 cup flour mixture. Beat at high speed for 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Stir in enough additional flour mixture to make a soft dough. Turn dough on to a lightly floured board. Cover dough and let rest for 15 minutes.
• Knead dough until smooth and elastic (about 10-15 minutes), dough may be sticky. Place dough in a greased bowl, turning dough to grease the top. Cover bowl and place in a warm, draft free place to rise until doubled in bulk (about 1 hour).
• Punch dough down; turn out onto a lightly floured board. Divide dough in half. Shape each half into a ball, about 5 inches in diameter. Place each ball into the center of a greased 8-inch round cake pan. Cover; let rise in a warm, draft free place until doubled in bulk (about 1 hour). Bake at 350°F for 40-45 minutes, or until done.
• Meanwhile, combine cornstarch and cold water. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture stats to boil; continue cooking mixture for 1 minute stirring constantly.
• As soon as bread is baked, brush cornstarch mixture over top of loaves. Return bread to oven and bake 2-3 minutes longer, or until glaze is set. Remove loaves from pans and cool on wire racks.
• **I have made this recipe both"as is" and also omitting the fennel seeds and onion powder. Omitting the fennel seed and onion powder changes the flavor a bit, but it is still a very good bread.

RUSSIAN BLACK BREAD (FOR THE BREAD MACHINE)

Steps:

• Place ingredients into the bread machine in order suggested by the manufacturer.
• Use the whole wheat, regular crust setting.
• Remove bread from pan and allow to cool on rack.

BLACK RUSSIAN BREAD MACHINE LOAF

Steps:

• 1. Put the warm water into the bottom of the bread machine pan. Add molasses, vinegar, oil, and salt.
• 2. Stir together flours, bran, cocoa, seeds, espresso powder, and onion powder. Add flour mixture on top of liquid ingredients in bread machine pan.
• 3. Make a well in the top of the flour mixture and place yeast in the well. Set bread machine for whole grain setting, and operate according to manufacturer's directions. Allow to cool well before slicing.
• 4. If you would like to shape the traditional large round loaf, set the bread machine for dough only. When cycle is complete, turn dough onto a well-greased surface and coat all sides with oil. Knead a couple of times and shape into a ball. Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper and lightly grease the paper. Sprinkle with a mixture of cornmeal and whole wheat flour, or just plain cornmeal. Place ball of dough on the surface and flatten slightly to shape into a round loaf. Cover with plastic wrap or an inverted bowl and let sit in a warm place to rise until doubled, about 45-60 minutes. Twenty minutes prior to baking, preheat oven to 350°F. Using a sharp serrated knife, slash the top of the loaf with an "X" no more than 1/4" deep. Place the baking sheet on the center rack of the oven and bake for 40 to 50 minutes, or until the loaf is crusty and sounds hollow when tapped with your finger. Transfer the loaf to a cooling rack and cool completely before slicing.

RUSSIAN BLACK BREAD (BREAD MACHINE)

Steps:

• *Variation: Instead of 3/4 cup brewed coffee, substitute 3/4 cup warm water and add 2 teaspoons of instant coffee granules.
• Place all ingredients except for sunflower seeds into bread pan in order directed by bread machine manufacturer's instructions.
• Add sunflower seeds (if using), at fruit/nut beep cycle.
• Yield: 1 1/2 pound loaf.

MONTANA RUSSIAN BLACK BREAD

Steps:

• Place whole wheat bread flour, rye flour, cocoa powder, bread flour, wheat germ, caraway seeds, yeast, beer, coffee, vinegar, olive oil, honey, molasses, sea salt, and onion powder in a bread machine in the order suggested by the manufacturer. Set bread machine for kneading cycle.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Remove dough from bread machine and shape into a rustic loaf on the prepared baking sheet. Make slits on top of loaf in crisscross formation. Let dough rise for 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 395 degrees F (202 degrees C).
• Whisk egg white and warm water together in a small bowl. Brush egg white mixture over top of loaf.
• Bake in the preheated oven until bread is cooked through, 45 to 50 minutes. Cool bread on a wire rack for 1 hour before serving.

ROMANOV RUSSIAN BLACK BREAD

Steps:

• In a medium bowl, stir together the warm water and corn syrup. Sprinkle the yeast over the top, and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes.
• Add 2 1/2 cups of the rye flour to the yeast mixture, and beat until smooth. Stir in the salt. Set bowl in a warm place, and cover with a cloth or towel. Let rise for 30 minutes.
• Stir in more flour 1/2 cup at a time, until the dough is stiff. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead in more flour by hand as needed to form a stiff but slightly sticky dough. You may use less or more flour. Form dough into a ball. Clean the mixing bowl, and lightly grease it. Place the dough in the bowl, and cover with a towel. Place in a warm place to rise until doubled. This may take as long as 2 hours.
• Turn the risen dough out onto a floured surface, and press out the air bubbles. Roll dough into a loaf, and place into a greased 9x5 inch loaf pan. Turn the loaf so that the seam is on the bottom. Cover the pan with plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Remove plastic wrap from loaf pan.
• Bake for 30 to 35 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom. Bread will not brown very much.

RUSSIAN BLACK BREAD

Steps:

• Place all of the ingredients in a large bowl, reserving 1 cup of the bread flour. Mix until a sticky dough begins to form.
• Mix in the remaining cup of flour and knead for 7 minutes, or until the dough becomes soft and elastic, but may still be somewhat sticky to the touch. Depending on the day's humidity, you may need to add a tablespoon or more white flour to achieve a proper sponge. Cover the bowl and let the dough rise until doubled, 45 minutes to 1 hour.
• After the first rise, shape the dough into an oblong loaf. Place in a greased 9" x 5" or 10" x 5" bread pan, cover with greased plastic, and let rise until almost doubled, about 60 to 90 minutes.
• While the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 375°F When the dough has almost doubled, brush or spray the top with water, dust with pumpernickel or rye flour, and score (slash) the top.
• Bake the bread for about 35 minutes, until it sounds hollow when you thump the bottom, or the inside measures 205°F on a digital thermometer. Remove the loaf from the oven and cool it on a rack before slicing.

RUSSIAN BLACK BREAD

Steps:

• Place ingredients into the bread machine in order suggested by the manufacturer.
• Use the whole wheat, regular crust setting.
• After the baking cycle ends, remove bread from pan, place on a cake rack, and allow to cool for 1 hour before slicing.

RUSSIAN BLACK BREAD

Steps:

• Place ingredients into the bread machine in order suggested by the manufacturer.
• Use the whole wheat, regular crust setting.
• After the baking cycle ends, remove bread from pan, place on a cake rack, and allow to cool for 1 hour before slicing.

RUSSIAN BLACK BREAD

Steps:

• Stir together the lukewarm water and molasses in a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle in the yeast and stir to dissolve. Let stand for 10 minutes, or until slightly foamy. Stir in instant coffee, salt and rye flour. Sprinkle in the cocoa and stir well to combine. Add whole-wheat flour and 1 cup of the bread flour, or enough to make a sticky dough. Turn the bread out onto a lightly floured work surface and let it rest. Wash and dry the bowl. Sprinkle additional flour over the dough and begin to knead. Continue until most or all of the remaining bread flour is incorporated and you have a smooth elastic ball. (Breads with rye flour will always be slightly sticky.) Pour the vegetable oil into the mixing bowl, turn the ball of dough to coat well, cover bowl with a towel, and set aside to rise until dough is tripled in bulk, 3 to 4 hours. Lightly flour the work surface and turn the dough out onto it. Flatten it into a large rectangle and sprinkle with the raisins. Roll up the dough and knead it, to distribute the raisins and let rise until doubled. Sprinkle a large baking sheet with 3 to 4 tablespoons cornmeal. Turn the dough out,cut it into 3 pieces, and shape each piece into a small round loaf. Set loaves on the baking sheet, leaving as much room as possible between them, cover, and let rise until doubled. Preheat oven to 400*. Beat egg white together with 1 tbls. cold water in a small bowl. When the loaves have risen sufficiently, brush the tops with the egg white mixture. Bake loaves on the middle rack of the oven for 35 to 45 minutes, or until they are dark brown and sound hollow when bottoms are rapped. Cool completely on racks before cutting or wrapping.

RUSSIAN BLACK BREAD (ROLLS OR LOAVES)

Steps:

• In a medium saucepan, heat water, molasses, oil, and baking chocolate until very warm (120F - 130F degrees). The chocolate does not need to be completely melted.
• In a large bowl, blend all-purpose flour, bran, sugar, coffee, salt, onion powder, fennel seed, and yeast at low speed until moistened. Beat 3 minutes at medium speed.
• Stir in, by hand, the rye flour.
• On well-floured working surface, knead the dough, adding 1/2 to 1 1/2 cups additional all-purpose flour as needed, until dough is smooth and elastic (about 5 minutes). Dough will be slightly sticky.
• Place dough in a greased bowl, and then turn the dough so the greased side is up. Cover and let rise in a warm place until not quite doubled in size (about 45-60 minutes).
• Generously grease (not oil) two 8- or 9-inch round cake pans or cookie sheets. Punch down dough.
• For Rolls: divide dough into 24 pieces. Shape each piece into a ball. Place in prepared round cake pans.
• For Loaves: divide dough in half and shape each half into rounds. Place in prepared pans.
• Cover and let rise in warm place until not quite doubled in size (30-45 minutes).
• Heat oven to 375F degrees. If desired, brush rolls or loaves with mixture of 1 egg white and 1 tablespoon water.
• Bake rolls for 35-40 minutes. Bake loaves for 45-55 minutes, or until crust is dark brown and loaves sound hollow when lightly tapped.
• Immediately remove from pans and allow to cool.