Russian Black Bread

One of Matt’s favorite things from his mission was Russian Black Bread.

He’s had me make it a few times for him but it never tasted like he remembered it. I have been playing around with different recipes to figure out how to get it to how he remembered it. I think I finally got it. It took ordering some malted rye flour off Etsy and regular rye off amazon.

I don’t know how it is where you are, but I can’t find rye anywhere. I used to get it in bulk from Good Earth but they haven’t had it for months. This was a product of lots of research. It’s a very dense, earthy and heavy bread. Greyson wasn’t a fan but he’s young, maybe it’ll grow on him! I think it turned out pretty good.

Russian Black Bread

Ingredients

125 grams sourdough start, very active (I fed mine rye and whole wheat for a few days before)
700 grams warm water
625 grams rye flour
125 grams whole wheat flour
50 grams malted rye flour
10 grams salt
40 grams sugar
35 grams molasses
10 grams caraway seeds
10 grams coriander seeds

Russian Black Bread

Directions

1. Add all the ingredients into the stand mixer bowl. Then mix on low until all the dough is well mixed.
2. It will be very sticky, this is normal. Then scrape from the sides and coat in olive oil.
3. Do stretch and folds every 15 min for an hour. This will help build the gluten and make it a little less sticky.
4. Then let rise for about 3 hours and then pull out of the bowl and shape it into a loaf and put in a bread pan to rise until it’s about an inch about the rim.
5. Bake in the oven at 400 degrees covered with either foil or another bread pan for about 40 minutes. Then pull off the cover and bake an additional 15 to 20 minutes or until the internal temperature is 195 to 210 degrees.
6. Allow to cool completely before cutting and enjoy!