Papa Fiasco's Russian Black Bread. ================================================ This is a rich, heavy dark brown (okay, black) bread that is just full of flavor, even if it doesn't smell too good while you're mixing it and letting it rise. It's well worth the effort though! ================================================ The ingredients: 2 1/2 cups warm water 2 packages yeast 1/2 to 1/3 cup good dark molasses 1/4 cup (or more) good local honey 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar 2 cups unbleached white flour 1 to 2 cups whole wheat flour 3 cups good Rye flour 1/3 cup corn oil _or_ 4 tablespoons butter 2 cups old fashioned rolled oats or 1 cup wheat or oat bran. 1 ounce unsweetened chocolate _or_ 2 tablespoons powdered cocoa. 2 tablespoons caraway seeds 1/2 teaspoon fennel seed 2 teaspoons salt 1 tablespoon instant espresso powder (see note below) 1 tablespoon minced shallot The instructions: If using butter and hard chocolate: In the mixing bowl, add 1/2 cup warm water and the yeast to get it started. In a small saucepan, mix 2 cups water, molasses, vinegar, butter, honey and chocolate. Heat slowly to about 110 degrees or until the butter and chocolate just melt. Poor this into the mixing bowl. You may have to let it cool a bit before adding. If using oil and powdered cocoa: In the mixing bowl, add the warm water, oil, cocoa, molasses, vinegar and honey. Now: Add the yeast ( if using the second method above) and two cups all purpose flour and two cups rye flour. Mix well. You can let this rise for 1/2 hour for the 'sponge' method, or continue with the rest of the ingredients. Now mix in the rest of the flour, caraway seeds, fennel seeds, espresso (see below!), salt and shallot. Also add the oatmeal or bran if you're using it. Knead into a firm ball, adding whole wheat flour as needed. Coat a large bowl with corn oil and place the ball into the bowl. Turn the ball over so it's completely coated with the oil. Cover with a damp towel and let rise in a warm, draft free area for a good hour (or until doubled in size). Now remove the dough onto a floured board and beat it down. Go ahead, beat it! Knead it a bit more too. It's good for the dough and good for you. Now cut the dough in half to make two loaves. We prefer to use stoneware bread pans to hold the shape of the loaf. You can also place a ball of dough on a cookie sheet to make old fashioned round loaves. To keep the bread from sticking to the bottom, sprinkle a little corn meal on the bottom before you put the dough in/on. Cover the loaves with a damp towel again and let rise for another hour, or until doubled in size. Then place loaves into a preheated 350 degree oven. Bake for about 45 minutes. This depends on the size of the loaves, your oven, the humidity, the moisture in the dough, the altitude.... A lot of things... When the crust turns a nice golden brown and the house smells like a bakery, their done. If you take a loaf out of the oven and tap on the top, it should have a hollow sound, or so they say. Mine don't sound too hollow because there's so much in the loaf... After they're done, place them on a wire rack to cool for about an hour before you remove them from the pans. Once cooled a bit, turn the pans upside down. If the loaf doesn't fall out, tap one side of the pan while it's upside down. If it still won't come out, let it cool for another half hour. Comments: First, let me explain the salt. Usually I say 'optional'. You could leave the salt out of this bread too if you have to. With all these ingredients, it really needs the salt. Salt also makes bread stronger. Don't ask me why or how, but that's what they say... Now that 'instant espresso powder'. Well, we don't use 'instant' anything! That's what they used in this recipe when I first found it in a book. I wasn't about to brew up fresh espresso just for this bread. So I used 2 cups of good strong fresh coffee (which we always have on hand). All you have to do is skip the 'instant' powder and substitute 2 cups strong coffee for two cups of the water that this recipe calls for. Works just fine! We add 2 to 3 cups of old fashioned oatmeal to all our bread recipes. It's healthy for you and tastes good too! Works just fine with this recipe also. You could also add a cup of sunflower seeds to this recipe as with the oatmeal-honey bread. It goes just as good! Following is my usual 'bread stuff' so you can skip it if you've already read some of our other bread recipes... ------------------------------------------------------ After you get them out of the pans, let them cool on the wire racks for 3 to 4 hours. Do NOT place fresh loaves into plastic bags. Fresh baked bread contains much more moisture than that commercial 'bread' you buy in the stores. It also contains other things like natural ingredients and nutrients, but that's another story... Before you can package fresh bread, you have to let them cool and dry for a day. I leave mine out all night and package them the next day, late in the day. You can also freeze the second loaf. Once I package the loaves in a plastic bag, I put one in the freezer to save. We've kept frozen bread this way for six months and it tasted oven fresh when we defrosted it. Before you package the bread. Before its completely cooled. Cut a slice or two off and 'sample'! There's nothing in the world as good as home baked fresh warm bread! It doesn't need anything on it. Just take the warm slice and eat! As far as the kneading, texture of the dough, baking times, etc. That's another whole discussion. This is just the recipe. If you want to bake bread and don't know how, ask! We'll get the other information up on the web site soon. My biggest recommendation is to buy a Kitchen Aide mixer. If you ever hear me say 'mix master', I mean Kitchen Aide. We bought one when we got married and it's been used more than I could tell. I make bread with it every week. It moans & groans, but makes great dough and saves me all that work. They're not cheap, but believe me they will pay for themselves many times over! But before you buy one, make bread by hand! It helps more than I can say to know the feel of the dough, when it's right, when it needs a bit more flour, etc. You get a feel for the bread when you do it by hand. If you have the time (and energy), skip the machine altogether and do it the old way! If your old, do it the new way ;-) If you're stuck with a 'bread machine', let it do the mixing but do the baking yourself! Try it, cook, eat, enjoy! Papa... © 2000 Fiasco Farms http://www.fiascofarms.com Any reproduction or distribution prohibited without prior authorization in writing.