Görel, one of the well respected Bread Baking Babes goes wild. She made a very exciting recipe by combining two others recipes of Ruth Hensperger and Jeffrey Hamelman.
And you know what? It worked. She baked two wonderful loafs and challenged the other babes and bloggers to bake this black russian bread.
My last attempt baking a bread with lots of rye didn't work out very well. But this time there was a slight difference; I'd taken some rye with me from our stay in Sweden. Knowing that there seems to be a difference in handling dough made with Swedish rye or Dutch rye, I just had to try. Having a freezer filled with enough bread to feed an army, I decided to bake only one bread this time.
Russian black bread
Sourdough
150 gr. medium rye flour
175 ml water
1 tbsp. 100% starter
Soaker
50 gr. bread crumbs
7,5 gr. instant coffee
12 gr. sunflower oil
25 ml molasses
1 tsp. caraway seeds
0.5 tsp. fennel seeds
1 tsp. flax seeds
200 ml. hot water
final dough
150 gr. medium rye flour
200 gr. high gluten bread flour
1 tbsp. glutenpowder
10 gr. salt
7,5 gr. fresh yeast
soaker mixture
sourdough mixture
For the sourdough I've depended on my starter Elvis and he did his utmost. The mixture smelled nice and looked airy after 12 hours.
I skipped the shallots and used bought breadcrumbs instead of old bread.
Making the final dough made me a bit insecure because it looked as if the dough would behave like dry sand. After all the flour had been added the dough became more constistent and a bit sticky, just as Görel described.
After 2.5 hours proof the dough had almost doubled in size and was ready to be formed into an oblong loaf. Covered with oiled plastic, and protected against little cat paws (naughty Puk), it took app. one hour for the bread to get ready for baking. The surface of the dough showed some cracks but that contributed to the rustic look of the loaf. The baking took app. 35 minutes.
The taste, how did it taste?
If I tell you that the first remark my husband made after eating this loaf was: 'don't you ever change this recipe'......................................
I've said enough.
Görel, thanks for this lovely recipe. Making, baking and eating, were all fun.
6 comments:
You must have a great cristal ball, that you knew this bread were coming, so you could plan your holiday in Sweden to pick up this flour!! Great bread you made there.
Haha, great thinking ahead! And a wonderful loaf it is. Isn't it amazing how flours differ?
(Last time I brought flour from Sweden as well, did you get any graham or limpa?)
That's truly thinking ahead! I'm so glad you liked it. Using instant coffee is a good idea if you don't want the grittiness of the ground coffee. Thanks for baking with us!
I was about to send you a Buddy batch, but I can't seem to find your email address?
It IS a great recipe, isn't it? (if slightly odd). Lovely photo with the Russian dolls, too!
Leuke foto, zeg with de pops. De brood ziet er verrukelijk.
My husband loved it too. I really enjoyed the faint onion flavor.
Anne Marie
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