Short stuff first: the elusive rye flavor may be found in a "rye bread
enhancer" available from King Arthur catalogue. It comes with a wonderful
warning about being STRONG, but adds great flavor and lasts a good while.
Here's a recipe for Russian Black Bread that I've had since my Cleveland
years, when I started baking yeast bread in college days. It probably is
from the Cleveland Plain Dealer in the late 1960's, and is still a favorite.
It calls for lots of ingredients, but each one adds to the nice, complex
blend of flavors.
If you haven't worked with rye flour before, be ready for the definite
difference in texture from a full-wheat bread dough. The rye dough has a
slick (some might say slimy!) feel when you try to wash it off, and it stays
fairly sticky during the kneading. Don't make a brick by continuing to add
flour until the dough is not sticky! If it's firm enough to knead, just work
it well and rejoice in the result.
Russian Black Bread
4 cups rye flour
3 cups white flour
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp salt
2 cups whole bran cereal (All-Bran or similar)
2 Tblsp caraway seeds
2 tsp. instant coffee
2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp fennel seed, crushed (mortar & pestle is good)
2 packages active dry yeast, or 2 Tblsp. bulk active dry yeast
2 1/2 cups water
1/4 cup cider vinegar (the brown kind sold in pint or quart jars)
1/4 cup molasses (the darker the better)
1 square UNSWEETENED baking chocolate
1/4 cup margarine (butter is utterly wasted here)
GLAZE:
1 tsp. cornstarch
1/2 cup water
Mix rye & white flours until evenly combined. Combine 2 1/3 cup flour mix
and remaining dry ingredients (sugar, salt, bran cereal, caraway, coffee,
onion powder, fennel, yeast). Heat liquid ingredients (water, vinegar,
molasses) to very warm; melt chocolate & margarine in hot liquid. Add to dry
ingredients in large mixing bowl. Using electric mixer, mix at high speed 2
minutes (or beat 120 strokes by hand).
Mix in enough of remaining flour mixture to form soft dough. Flour work
surface with flour mixture, turn dough out and let rest 15 minutes (cover
with mixing bowl to protect from drying out). Knead until smooth (dough will
be a bit sticky due to rye flour) and gluten is well developed. Place in
greased or sprayed bowl, turn over so greased side is up; let rise.
Shape into two rounds (these will be about 6" in diameter at this point).
Spray or grease a cookie sheet; sprinkle two circles in diagonally-opposite
(kitty-cornered) corners with cornmeal. Place loaves on cornmeal; leave 2"
at least from sides to allow for rising expansion. Let rise until about
doubled in bulk. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350*.
Bake approximately 50 minutes. Toward end of baking time, boil the
cornstarch and water together for about 1 minute (mixture will thicken and
turn clear). When bread is done (tap on bottom produces hollow sound), brush
loaves with the glaze and return to the oven for 2-3 minutes to set glaze.
Cool on racks.
(The adventuresome might want to try a dish of boiling water on the bottom of
the oven ... slashing the tops in a decorative pattern ... glazing a second
time when the hot loaves come out of the oven.)