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I am interested in making the dense pungent black bread that is traditional in Russia. Recipes for black bread are varied and seem to disagree with one another. Too many of them make spongy, pumpernickel-like loaves which, while good, are not what I'm trying to make.

Is Russian black bread always made with a sourdough starter?

Some recipes have called for cocoa powder or coffee to darken the loaves as just rye flour will often turn out gray instead of dark dark brown.
Are such additives common in traditional black bread recipes? If not how is the dark color obtained?

Sobachatina
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  • i adore russian black bread, and all recipes i've ever seen, even the very old ones, call for either coffee, molasses, or espresso powder. i have no idea how to get that color, though... i am also very curious to know the answer to this! – franko Feb 21 '12 at 20:12
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    Black bread is culturally seen as low-quality bread in Eastern Europe. It is for the people who can't afford the soft bread from finely milled wheat germ. So I am sure that the original recipes won't include exotic (for the USSR, and even more so for Czarist Russia) ingredients like coffee or cocoa. If a recipe calls for these, it must be someone's try to approximate the color, not an authentic recipe. – rumtscho Feb 22 '12 at 08:45
  • @rumtscho- this is what I suspected as well. – Sobachatina Feb 22 '12 at 15:47
  • @Sobachatina is this the bread you wanted? The recipe says it has the "traditional" taste and the picture looks quite black. If it is, tell me, and I will post a translation as an answer. http://www.russianfood.com/recipes/recipe.php?rid=65988 – rumtscho Feb 22 '12 at 18:38
  • @rumtscho- the picture definitely looks correct- excellent color. The instructions also seem authentic as it does contain a sourdough starter and no "exotic" ingredients. I'm going to try this recipe. – Sobachatina Feb 22 '12 at 19:21
  • @ Sobatachina - did you try the recipe posted by rumtscho? How did it turn out? @ rumtscho - Guten Tag! I'm just learning Russian (independently) and understand about 20 words in the recipe. If it's not a hassle for you to provide a translation, I would be SO grateful!! While translating the recipe would be an excellent exercise, I fear the bread will suffer in the translation!! ; ) Vielen Dank! –  Nov 09 '13 at 20:45
  • Whoever wants a translation of the recipe, I posted it in chat. http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/12100394#12100394. – rumtscho Nov 10 '13 at 12:25
  • I know some Eastern European breads use day old bread to get their dark color. You cut or tear stale bread into small pieces, then put it in a low oven until it's very dark (I believe this was traditionally done at the end of the day's baking in wood ovens to use up residual heat). This caramelized day old bread is then soaked in a liquid (beer, coffee, water, etc) to soften it and incorporated into the new dough. – SourDoh Nov 15 '13 at 21:57
  • Danish rye bread can sometimes have malt extract in it, which both gives a lovely, somewhat bitter, taste and a deep dark colour. I don't know if that would be considered Russian though. – citizen Nov 15 '13 at 22:38
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    I have a recipe for black bread that says add a few squares of dark chocolate. I had to chuckle at that. I don't believe that poor people in Russia who made black bread, had money to purchase luxury ingredients like chocolate. I personally don't believe it belongs in an authentic recipe for black bread. –  Dec 08 '13 at 16:59

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The sour dough turns the rye dark - either from sourdough fermentation or from vinegar as some recipes require. The addition of some used coffee grounds (to get the last bit of goodness from it in hard times) helps the color too.

KatieK
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Thomas
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The blackness in Russian black bread comes from rye and black molasses. It will not have the right flavour if you don't use fennel. I never use white flour... only rye and it is an overnight wait before any kneading. Obviously I am not giving you the whole recipe here but there is a strange ingredient... onions. True Russian black bread has no cocoa or coffee to make it dark. The pauper's ingredients were anything but fine milled and originally white flour rarely made it into the cuisine of the poor.

Fennel seeds were gathered for tea making and also for flavouring. Please make the real thing not with the artificial darkeners etc. It is a powerful, solid bread that will sate your appetite and give you strength... chock full of minerals complex carbohydrates and great flavour. You won't need much as it is very filling.

Glorfindel
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E Klavins
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The primary coloring agents in a traditional black Russian loaf are molasses and dark rye flour.

heathenJesus
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