Country Black Bread

Country Black Bread

This recipe produces a dark rye bread with a deep rich flavor. It is similar to Russian Black Bread. Using a Tangzhong roux creates a very soft, fine cell structure which allows it to be sliced very thin.
*This recipe may not be for novices. See the notes before attempting.

Ingredients

Cell structure

Starter

• 1 cup lukewarm water
• 1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast
• 1/2 cups White Bread flour
• 1/2 cups dark rye flour
• 1/2 cups Multi-grain Bread flour

Tangzhong Roux

• 3 tbsp white bread flour
• 1/2 cup warm water

Black Sauce

• Roux from above
• 1 tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
• 2 tbsp Molasses
• 3 tbsp Cocoa
• 1 tsp instant coffee
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

Dough

• Prepared Starter (from ingredients above)
• Tangzhong Roux/Black Sauce (from above)
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 3/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
• 1 cup Rye flour
• 1 cup Multigrain
• 1 1/2 to 2 cups White Bread Flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Directions

• In a large bowl, mix starter ingredients together until completely mixed and sticky. 
• Cover with plastic wrap and leave it overnight or for about 10-16 hours. 
• Once starter is ready, stir the bubbles out with a spoon
• Prepare the Tangzhong Roux by mixing the 3 tbsp flour and 1/2 cup flour. Heat for 25 sec in Microwave, stire and continue heating and stirring in 5 sec increments until the roux is 'set'. It should look like "a white translucent pudding". 
• Prepare the black sauce by mixing the Roux, 1 tbsp Balsamic Vinegar, 2 tbsp Molasses,3 tbsp Cocoa,1 tsp instant coffee,1 tablespoon brown sugar,1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• Mix the black sauce into the starter. 
• Stir in the 1/2 cup of water, 3/4 tsp yeast, 1 cup of rye flour, 1 cup of multi-grain flour and 1 1/4 cups of  white bread flour, and the 1 1/2 tsp salt to make a sticky dough. Let stand for 15 minutes and then work it for a minute or two until it is smoother and ready to knead. 
• Knead the dough for about 10 minutes. Add flour as needed and work until it is a soft spongy dough.
• Lightly oil another large bowl, put the dough in and turn to make sure there is a sheen of oil on the dough. 
• Cover with lightly greased plastic wrap, and let rise until about doubled. How the bread rises depends a lot on temperature and humidity. It can take as little as 40 minutes or so or as long as 90 minutes or more.
• Split the dough into two portions. 
• Store one loaf in the fridge for baking in the next day or two. 
• Preparing a loaf for baking. 
• With the first half, or the second half after taking out of the fridge:
• Gently knead for about a minute and form into a loaf being careful not to lose too much air. 
• Place lightly dusted parchment paper onto a baking sheet. Gently place the loaf on the sheet, seam-side down.
• Cover the bread gently with lightly greased plastic wrap, and let rise for 40 to 90 minutes until proofed dough will spring half way back when poked gently with your finger. If it dents and springs right back it is not ready. Be careful because when it dents and won't spring back at all it is over-proofed and your bread may fall and be heavy. 
• In our kitchen, the loaf is ready to preheat the oven after at about the 50 minute point and ready to bake at about the 80 minute mark. 
• 30 minutes before baking, preheat oven with covered casserole dish or dutch oven to 450 °F.
• When ready, carefully (dish is very hot) and gently (you don't want your dough to fall) shift the loaf into the heated dish. A tip is to simply trim the parchment and lift the loaf up on the parchment and put it into the casserole parchment and all. 
• Slash the bread with a lame, if you have one, or a very sharp knife or razor blade. Slashing lengthwise once on top in the middle and once each on top toward either side works well in our kitchen. 
• Cover dish and bake the bread for about 30 minutes, until light brown. 
• Remove lid and bake for another ten-twelve minutes or so until crust is nicely browned. 
• Remove the dish from the oven, and dump the loaf out of the dish on to a rack to cool for about 20 minutes. 

Notes

There are a number of things you need to know that are not explained here. If you are not familiar and comfortable with making bread, you should study up online to learn how to knead properly, how to do 'the poke test', etc.

There are a lot of variables that affect timing and so you need to learn to recognize when things are in the correct state.

All purpose flour does not have enough protein. If you can, you should stick to flour made especially for bread.

If you can't leave the starter overnight, let it set for at least 2 hours. The longer it gets to set the better the flavor will be.

For the first rise you can let the dough rise slowly in the fridge if you need to. If your dough has been refrigerated, allow it to come to room temperature before shaping; it'll warm up and rise at the same time.

The dough you saved in the fridge is ready for that last 40 to minute rise but because it is cold and has to warm up, you need to give it about 30 to 60 minutes longer. The 'poke test' is your guide to when it is properly risen.

Smoked Meat and Swiss on thin black bread.