Talk about unique dough texture ... Talk about funky ingredients ... Talk about “unofficial” names like “Dump Bread” ... this bread is filled with weird wildness and overwhelming success with gorgeous deep rye flavors that get better and better with each passing day.

The texture of this dough is like none other.  It is the most un-dough like I’ve ever kneaded.  If you mix this one, I really encourage you to, you will doubt this could ever turn into a loaf of bread but I assure you it will.   Great thanks to Görel our kitchen of the month for this excellent and unique bread.

Black Russian Bread

Courtesy Kitchen of the Month

***Grain Doe (Görel)

SOURDOUGH***

Dark rye flour                           300 g (10,6 oz)

Water                                          350 ml (1,5 cup)

Active sourdough culture      2 Tbsp

SOAKER***

Old bread**, toasted                100 g/3,5 oz

Coffee, fresh ground               15 g/0,5 oz

Vegetable, neutral oil              25 g/0,9 oz

Molasses                                    60 ml/1/4 cup

Caraway seeds                          2 tsp  heaping

Fennel seeds                              1 tsp

Minced shallots                        2 Tbsp

Water, hot                                  400 ml/1 2/3 cup

FINAL DOUGH

Dark rye flour                           300 g/10,6 oz

High gluten bread flour          400 g/14,1 oz

Salt                                               20 g/0,7 oz (approx. 1,25 Tbsp)

Instant dry Yeast:                      1,5 tsp (0,17 oz)

Soaker                                        All of the above

Sourdough                                All of the above

** I used half English Muffins and half ‘unknown’  bread slices from the freezer for the first bake.  The second bake, I used bread from the first bake.

***  Be advised these are mixed separately but 12 to 14 hours before mixing the final dough.

Sourdough

Mix the ingredients to the sourdough, cover the container with plastic and leave for 12–14 hours at room temperature.

Soaker

Toast the old bread in a toaster or in the oven. The bread should be browned, but absolutely not blackened. Dice the bread or just tear it in pieces and put it in a bowl. Add the rest of the soaker ingredients except the water. Heat the water to near boiling and pour over the soaker ingredients. Cover and leave for the same duration as the sourdough.

Final dough

Mix the two flours in a separate bowl.

If using fresh yeast: Take a small amount of the soaker liquid and dissolve the yeast in it. Add the yeast mixture OR the instant dry yeast, soaker, sourdough and salt to a mixing bowl.

Add half of the flour mixture and work the dough by hand or in machine. Continue to add about 100 ml or ½ cup of the flour mixture at a time and work until the flour is completely absorbed before you add the next round. The dough shall be firm but still quite sticky. You might not use all the flour, or you might need to add more flour, all depending on the flour used.

Place the dough in an oiled container, cover with plastic and leave for 2–3 hours or until doubled in size.

Shaping and proofing

Drizzle some rye flour on the table top and place the dough on top. If the dough is very sticky, pour just enough rye flour on top of it to make it possible to handle.

Divide the dough in two and shape the parts into oblong loaves. (I placed them on parchment paper to make it possible to just slide the loaves into the oven.) Stretch the surface using both hands to get a tight loaf. Use more rye if the dough is too sticky to handle.

Cover with a tea towel and leave for 60 minutes. Don’t over-proof! (Fire up the oven after 30 minutes to have it ready.)

Baking

Pre-heat the oven with baking stone to 225 °C/435 °F.

Water mist oven.

Slash loaves - mostly I did this the second baking because I thought it was in the directions and it wasn’t.

Move the loaves to the hot stone or sheet. Bake for 10 minutes.

Open the oven door to vent out some moist. At the same time, lower the temp. to 200 °C/400 °F. Bake another 30-40 minutes or until they sound hollow when tapped underneath, or when the inner temperature has reached approx. 97 °C/207 °F. 

Both my bakings took another 10 minutes to reach the 207°F.

Let the loaves cool down before you slice them.  I allowed overnight cool down.  Eat with butter and maybe some sharp cheese and salmon and mustard and ... !

If you would like to join us being a Bread Baking Buddy here’s how:

1. * You have one week from our posting date to bake the bread and post about it on your blog with a link to the Kitchen of the Month’s post about the bread.
   

2. *E-mail the Kitchen of the Month with your name and a link to your post  OR leave a comment on the Kitchen of the Month’s blog that you have baked the bread and a link back to your post.
   

3. *Kitchen of the Month will do a round-up of our Bread Baking Buddies at the end of the week and send you a BBB badge for that month’s bread.
   

4. *No blog, No problem - just e-mail the Kitchen of the Month with a photo of the bread you baked and you’ll be included in the round-up.
   

Kitchen of the Month is

***Grain Doe (Görel)

Buddy Posting Date is Monday 7 September 2009.

I feel very confident that if you enjoy dark rye, you will love this one.  An extra benefit is that not only does it keep well, it travels very well.