Black Bread Recipes

STEAKHOUSE BLACK BREAD

Steps:

• Place all ingredients in bread machine pan in order suggested by manufacturer. Select Dough cycle. When the machine indicates the end of the final rise, remove the dough.
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Shape the dough into 12 dinner rolls, or one 9x5 inch loaf. Let rise until doubled in size while the oven preheats, they should rise quickly.
• Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven for rolls, or 35 minutes for a loaf, or until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.

BLACK BREAD

Steps:

• In a small bowl, dissolve coffee in 1/4 cup warm water. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine remaining 1 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons warm water and molasses. Sprinkle yeast over top, stir, and let stand 5 minutes.
• Add honey, flours, cocoa, and salt to yeast mixture. Attach bowl to stand mixer fitted the dough-hook attachment and beat on low speed 1 minute. Increase speed to medium-low and beat until dough is smooth and slightly tacky, about 3 minutes (or knead by hand 15 to 20 minutes).
• Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface; knead by hand, turning dough over, 4 to 5 times before shaping into a ball. Transfer dough, smooth-side up, to a lightly oiled large bowl. Cover with plastic wrap; let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
• Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide in half. Set one half aside, loosely covered with lightly oiled plastic wrap. Shape remaining half into a 9-inch rectangle, with a short side parallel to work surface. Fold top third of dough towards center, then fold bottom third of dough on top, pressing gently to seal. Turn dough 90 degrees and repeat folding process, pinching seam and sides closed. Place seam-side down and roll dough back and forth with palms of hands to form a loaf about 12 inches long with tapered ends. Repeat shaping process with remaining half of dough. Sprinkle a clean cotton cloth with cornmeal and place loaves on top, spacing about 6 inches apart. Loosely cover with lightly oiled plastic wrap and a clean kitchen towel. Let rise in a warm place 45 minutes.
• Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees, with a pizza stone on rack in lower third and a skillet or baking pan on lowest rack, 30 minutes. Transfer loaves to a pizza peel or unrimmed baking sheet dusted with cornmeal. Brush tops with egg white. Using a lame (baker?s blade), razor blade, or serrated knife, make four diagonal cuts, 1/4 to 1/2 inch deep, across each loaf. Slide loaves from peel onto stone. If not using a stone, slide loaves onto a parchment-lined baking sheet dusted with cornmeal. Quickly pour boiling water into preheated skillet to create steam. Bake until loaves are dark brown and hollow-sounding when tapped on bottoms, about 30 to 40 minutes. Transfer loaves to a wire rack; let cool completely.

AUTHENTIC GERMAN BLACK BREAD (SCHWARZBROT)

Steps:

• Combine the water, sourdough starter, and one half of the cracked rye. Mixture will be soupy. Cover and allow to set at about 70° F for 8 to 10 hours.
• After 8 to 10 hours, the mixture will have absorbed water and be similar in consistency to porridge. Save 1 cup of this mixture for the next batch of bread, then add salt and the rest of the cracked rye.
• Allow the dough to ferment at about 70° F for 4 more hours. At the end of this time, work and squeeze the dough with your hands to develop its cohesiveness. The dough is nothing like wheat bread dough. It is very moist and slippery and cannot be kneaded. When a handful is squeezed, it will squirt out between your fingers.
• After working the dough for several minutes, pack it into bread forms, preferably glass. There's not much rising that goes on and too much air space in the bread would be detrimental to the texture. The moistness and acidity of the dough and the long baking time will strongly rust steel pans and etch aluminum ones. Pack the dough into the pan tightly and smooth the top with a spatula. Lay a piece of parchment paper over the top of the form and then cover tightly with aluminum foil. The aluminum foil keeps the bread from drying out and the parchment paper keeps the aluminum foil from dissolving into the bread. Bake at 225° F for 3½ hours.
• Turn the oven off but allow the bread to remain inside for a couple more hours. Carefully remove the bread from the pans and place on a rack to cool and dry. Ideally, you should wait a day or two until the bread becomes firmer before attempting to slice it.

RUSSIAN BLACK BREAD

Steps:

• Place ingredients into the bread machine in order suggested by the manufacturer.
• Use the whole wheat, regular crust setting.
• After the baking cycle ends, remove bread from pan, place on a cake rack, and allow to cool for 1 hour before slicing.