Submitted by mrpeabody on February 10, 2006 - 9:11am

Russian Black Bread-baking suggestions?


I was thinking of making a Russian Black Bread and was given a recipe from a friend. However, it is a bread machine recipe and I want to bake it in the oven. So, does anyone have any suggestions as to handling and baking? For example, for this type of bread, do you create steam in the oven (for thick, crunchy crust)? What temperature and time? I have been using a very hot oven for Italian breads, but I think with the sugar content of the black bread, it would scorch. Still, I like the initial very hot oven for a fast initial rise. Any hints and tips would be greatly appreciated.

Mr. Peabody

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Hope this helps!

First, let me say that I am a novice but I recently made a Russian Black Bread that was originally a bread machine
recipe and it came out quite well. I found a website for converting recipes and basically it said that bread machine recipes usally have you combine ingredients in reverse order. So, just do as you normally would with a regular recipe..yeast, liquid, sugar, flour and then salt. Knead, into a greased bowl to rise etc. My recipe had molasses and it was sticky, a bit of work when I first started kneading it. I baked it on a cookie sheet with cornmeal (I'm working on getting a stone) with a pan of water on the bottom of stove at 425 deg for 2o minutes. Good luck!

I usually bake mine with

I usually bake mine with steam in the oven. I heat the oven to 425, add 12 oz of hot water to my steaming pan, give it a few minutes to steam up, put in the bread and then ater 10 minutes drop the temp to 350 and insert my thermometer. Then I bake to 205 internal temp.

Lynda

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Thanks!

Thanks for the baking recommendations. I am just mixing the dough now and I find it very sticky (must be the molasses). It also seems a bit wet, but that's OK, I'll see how it bakes up.

Mr. Peabody

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