This Russian black bread is rich, dense and flavorful! The unsweetened cocoa powder and molasses make it a little sweet and darker in color, but the high ratio of dark rye flour, whole wheat flour and bran bring the flavor and nutrients!
The bread does taste strikingly similar to my beloved steakhouse style pumpernickel bread. The ingredients — rye flour, molasses, cocoa powder are similar, but this bread is richer and more dense. There is more rye flour and less molasses, cocoa powder and no brown sugar.
I can’t say I’m disappointed in my slightly off-track endeavor — this bread renders a flavor so rich and dense that it is, dare I say, better than pumpernickel. I only say this because I’ve eaten pumpernickel so often that this bread offers a new dynamic of flavors: A refreshing change. It’s a bread worthy of putting on a bucket list and crossing off as soon as possible. There there, Pumpernickel, I still love you.
For all the flavors of pumpernickel without the yeast, try Finnish rieska! I also recommend serving this rich black bread with my hot reuben dip! And, if you’re into this bread, try my Irish brown bread or peasant bread next!
Russian Black Bread
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen
Yields: 1 round or sandwich loaf
Ingredients:
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
pinch of sugar
1/4 cup warm water
1 cup water
2 tbsp molasses
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 oz unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups rye flour (Deb suggests medium, but I used dark rye because I already had it, and didn’t think anything was lacking)
1 1/2 unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup bran
1 tbsp caraway seeds
1/4 tsp fennel seeds
1/2 tbsp salt
1/2 tbsp instant espresso powder
1/2 tbsp minced shallots or red onion
Directions:
In a small bowl, whisk together yeast, sugar and warm water. Let sit about 10 minutes until foamy.
Heat cup of water, molasses, vinegar, butter and chocolate in a small saucepan until the butter and chocolate are melted. Set aside.
Whisk together whole wheat, rye and all-purpose flours in a separate large bowl. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, combine 2 cups flours, bran, caraway seeds, fennel seeds, salt, espresso and shallots (or red onion). Mixing on low speed, add yeast and chocolate mixtures. Mix at medium speed until smooth, about 3 minutes.
At low speed, add 1/2 cup remaining flours at a time, using a spatula to scrape excess flour from the sides of the bowl. Add just enough flour until the dough comes away from the sides of the bowl. Switch to dough hook and knead about 5-8 minutes on medium speed — adding 1 tsp all-purpose flour at a time if needed for dough to pull away from the sides of the bowl — until smooth and elastic (or knead by hand on floured countertop for about 10 minutes until smooth and elastic).
Shape dough into a ball and place in a lightly greased bowl, turning once to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled, about 1-2 hours.
Turn out risen dough onto a lightly floured surface. Shape into round or sandwich loaf and place either on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet (for round) or in a lightly greased loaf pan (for sandwich loaf). Cover lightly and let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes to 1 hour.
Slash an X in the top of the round before baking (this is not needed for the sandwich loaf).
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Bake bread until deeply browned and 200-210 degrees when an instant-read thermometer is inserted in the bottom center, about 45 to 50 minutes. Allow bread to cool completely on cooling rack before slicing.
I don’t know where you got your recipe for Russian black bread but it is not correct. Russian black bread does not use molasses. As a matter of fact you can’t even find molasses in Russia. You can look up the translation but they are bot the same. Russian “molasses” is made from Kvas, which is a drink made from black bread. Also, Russian black bread has a very strong flowery taste to it and is much denser than pumpernickel.
I can only assume your recipe and similarity in taste that you describe comes from a take on Russian black bread from Eastern Europeans who immigrated to the U.S.
As an American whonhas lived and traveled around Russia for the past 27 years and a lover of pumpernickel, I can honestly say there is nothing here that remotely resembles pumpernickel
Hi Frank! Thanks for sharing your insights about traditional Russian black bread! You’re totally right that this is an adaptation. The ingredients mimic the traditional flavor, but using things like molasses makes it more accessible to folks to might not be able to travel to Russia for their ingredients. Thanks for being in the conversation, we love talking bread! ~gvd team
The bread is a Dark German Rye Bread. A baker somewhere along the line added raisins. The German word for raisin is Rosine. When non Germans heard it they mistook it as Russian. Overtime it became Russian black bread even though it was German (with or without the raisins)
Dave, Interesting!!
Pumpernickel is different to black bread in texture, usability and making. Unfortunately many people, particularly Americans don’t know the difference between pumpernickel and black bread and even flour is sold or marketed as pumpernickel even though you use whole or cracked rye grains
Yuuk ! I am sorry, but Yuuk ! You need to put Russian Black bread back on your list. Yes, I happen to be a bread snob, and I have also baked thousands of loaves…
You did not have enough water in your recipe, and you did not autolize the loaf long enough, and you baked it for too short a time, on too low heat.
Now, what you need to do, is get a good Russian rye bread recipe, then rest the dough in the frig for about 4 days ,( autolize it ) under cold, so it cannot rise ! Next, take it out of the frig, let it rise by double or a tad less.
Heat the over to HOT ! When the light blinks off, after about 30 minutes,( full heat ) put the bread into an oiled pot, slash the top, and add the lid. To the oven, let it bake under full heat, till the light blinks off, and bake it at 425f for a total of 1 hour, and 1hour, 15 minutes.
Remove the loaf from the heat, and put it into a turkey roasting bag, close it tight, and let it cool, when room temp, break out the butter.
You will have a loaf to be proud of ! If you want some advice go to; The Fresh Loaf, ( on the internet ) or e mail me..
I hate to disappoint you, but it is not a Russian bread at all. Raisa has already explained why, but I’d like to add that Russian rye bread is always made with sourdough, not even yeast. It helps keep the dough acidic enough to manage rye flour enzyme activity.
Raisa and Helen — Thanks for the comments! I didn’t label it as “Russian” with the intention of claiming it to be the type — I simply followed suit from the original recipe’s name (see here). Russian or not Russian, it’s delicious.
I`ve seen this recipe before and I always wander why people call this kind of bread “russian”? Really. I live in Russia and can assure you that traditional black (rye) bread never contains such ingredients like vinegar, cocoa powder or espresso. The most popular kind of rye bread here is called “Borodinsky”. It contains water, rye and wheat flours, yeast, salt, molasses (or more often sugar), rye malt and coriander seeds – that`s all.
But I`m such a bore now, sorry)) Anyway I think this bread looks very tasty, I should try the recipe)