Acornell.2767 net.cooks utzoo!decvax!harpo!floyd!vax135!cornell!gil Thu Apr 15 09:26:56 1982 Russian Black Bread RUSSIAN BLACK BREAD 4 cups rye flour 2 packages active dry yeast 2 1/2 cups water 1/4 cup dark molasses 1/4 cup vinegar 2 TBS butter, softened 1 square unsweetened chocolate 2 TBS caraway seeds, crushed 1 tsp sugar 1 scant TBS slat 2 tsp instant coffee (it's only use known to me) 2 tsp onion flakes 2 cups bran flakes 3 cups all-purpose flour 1 slightly beaten egg white (optional - for glaze) In a large bowl, combine rye flour and yeast. In a saucepan heat together the water, molasses, vinegar, butter, chocolate, caraway seeds, sugar, salt, coffee and onion flakes until just warm (115 - 120F), stirring constantly until butter and chocolate almost melt. Add to dry mixture in bowl; add bran flakes. Beat at low speed of an electric mixer for 1/2 minute, scraping sides of bowl constantly. Beat 3 minutes at high speed. By hand, stir in enough of the all-purpose flour to make a moderately stiff dough. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface, knead until smooth and elastic, 5-8 minutes. Shape into a ball, place in a lightly greased bowl, turning once to grease surface. Cover and let rise in a warm place until double, 1 hour or more. Punch dough down; turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide in half, cover and let rest ten minutes. Shape into 2 loaves and place in two well-greased loaf pans. Let rise until nearly double, 1 hour or more. Bake in 350F oven 25 minutes; brush with egg white. Return to oven and bake 20 minutes more. (For less crunchy top crust, omit egg white and bake 45 minutes.) Makes 2 loaves; recipe can be doubled (my mother always does) to make 4 loaves at a time. Hints: I crush the caraway seeds by placing them between sheets of wax paper (actually I fold them up in one sheet) and then zapping them with a rolling pin. Once crushed their flavor adds to the bread's. To shape the loaves I roll out each ball with a rolling pin and then roll it up (like a jelly roll) to just fit the loaf pan. I guess this is a common tactic. ----------------------------------------------------------------- gopher://quux.org/ conversion by John Goerzen of http://communication.ucsd.edu/A-News/ This Usenet Oldnews Archive article may be copied and distributed freely, provided: 1. There is no money collected for the text(s) of the articles. 2. The following notice remains appended to each copy: The Usenet Oldnews Archive: Compilation Copyright (C) 1981, 1996 Bruce Jones, Henry Spencer, David Wiseman.