I baked bread yesterday for the first time since my heart troubles. A dark Russian rye for my favorite Russian. The kids interrupted me several times, and I had to make a couple of substitutions for ingredients, but when I pulled those puppies out of the oven, it was the best fucking bread I have ever baked! Crunchy, seedy, almost sweet crust. Fragrant soft interior. Not too dense. Wow. I wonder if I will ever be able to replicate it.
Recipe please!
Dark Russian Rye Bread
Ingredients
2 packets of active dry yeast (¼ oz each containing 1½ TB for a total of 3 TB)
2½ cups warm water (about 105 - 115°F), divided
½ cup dark molasses (not blackstrap)
¼ cup apple cider vinegar
¼ cup butter
1 oz unsweetened chocolate
½ cup whole wheat flour
3 cups rye flour
3 cups unbleached bread flour plus 1 TB, divided
1 cup wheat bran
2 TB caraway seeds, plus 1 optional teaspoon, divided
½ tsp fennel seeds
1 TB instant espresso powder
1 TB minced shallots
¼ cup cornmeal
Directions
In a small saucepan, over low heat, combine 1 cup of water, molasses, apple cider vinegar, butter and chocolate, stirring often. Once the butter and chocolate have melted, add bran and use mixing wand to chop to coarse texture. Allow to cool to room temperature.
In a small bowl combine yeast, sugar and 1 1/2 cup of warm (not hot) water. Let stand at room temperature for about 10 minutes. During this time it should get foamy.
In a large bowl whisk together the whole wheat flour, rye flour and 2 cups of white bread flour. Set aside.
In a large bowl for your stand mixer, fitted with a bread hook attachment, combine the flours (except for last cup of white), caraway seeds, fennel seeds, salt, espresso powder and shallots. Turn the mixer on low. Add in the yeast mixture and the chocolate mixture. Mix until smooth and then turn the mixer up to medium speed and continue mixing for 3 minutes. Turn the mixer speed down to low. Add 1/4 cup of the remaining white flour at a time, just until the dough clears the sides of the bowl and begins to work its way up the paddle. This is a very sticky yet firm dough. Be careful not to add too much flour. When pressed, the dough will spring back. You might not use all of the remaining flour.
Place the dough onto a well floured surface and knead by hand until you have a smooth and springy, yet dense dough. *if you prefer, add the dough hook to your mixer and knead over low speed for 2 or 3 minutes and then finish by hand with a few kneads. Form your rich dark brown dough into a ball and place it into a large greased bowl, turning once to cover the dough with oil. Cover with plastic and let rise until *doubled*...about 1 1/2 to 2 hours (doubled is more important than time... I've had dough double in 40 minutes before). Towards the end of the rising time, combine the cornflour, remaining TB of all purpose flour, the optional tsp of caraway seeds and set aside. Preheat your oven to 350° F. When your dough is ready, line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Sprinkle the cornmeal mixture over the parchment paper. Gently deflate the dough and turn it out onto a floured surface. Divide the dough in half. Form each half into balls by pulling the edges down and around to the bottom of the ball and pinching to form a seam. Place each ball onto the prepared baking sheet, seam side down.
Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise until almost doubled in size and puffy....about 45 minutes to an hour (again, the key word is *doubled*). I do a two finger test by pressing 2 damp fingers into the dough a little. If the indent springs back right away, the dough is not yet ready. If it springs back very slowly...they're good to go. With a serrated knife, slash an X in the top of each ball, about 1/4" deep.
Bake the loaves for about 45 - 50 minutes, until they are crusty and sound hollow inside or your instant thermometer reads 200 - 210°F (temperature is key here... do not let loaf overbake. Remove when you hit your temperature). Allow to cool completely on a cooling rack before slicing (coarse bread with start to fall apart under knife if you do not allow it to cool). Because the loaves start out to be so dark, you will not be able to easily notice them browning while they're baking.
Note: I like to use an egg wash on the loaves before they go into the oven. Sprinkle with additional seeds, caraway, fennel, poppy, sesame... the crust is almost as good as the bread!