Comments on: black bread

By: Libby

Libby — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 23:37:35 +0000

Hello. I made this black bread yesterday. I found the dough to be very wet and sticky even after I added all the flour (I used all-purpose rather than bread flour, don’t know if that made a difference). I ended up adding about 3/4 c more flour to make it knead-able without sticking to the counter and my hands. But it rose great and the loaf turned out fantastically! Tasty and sturdy but not too dense. For me, it slices better the second day. Thanks for the great recipe!

By: Dave J.

Dave J. — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 03:58:53 +0000

This is an excellent recipe–I made it tonight, and have been working hard to keep myself from devouring an entire loaf before tomorrow morning. As others have indicated, my first attempt was not so successful: I didn’t let the water/chocolate/molasses mixture cool enough, and it killed my yeast. Today I made it before doing anything else, and let it get down to room temp, and had no problems with the rise. The bread itself is amazing–dense, flavorful, incredible. I’ve been eating it with some Kerry Gold salted butter spread on top–perfect! Thanks, Deb!

By: Froggy

Froggy — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 17:53:28 +0000

My Latvian co-worker is pregnant and was missing the food of her homeland. I gave her a loaf and both she and another co-worker (Belarussian) were practically drooling. She reports that it is excellent, and I trust her judgment :)

To those with rising issues: perhaps you just need patience? I did my first rise in the microwave after nuking a small glass of water to get the air moist, and it doubled beautifully in about 90 minutes. The second rise wasn’t as marked, but still enough to give a lovely shape. The loaves are still dense, but that’s how they’re *supposed* to be. There are photos of my loaves up on my blog. Great texture and flavour (though maybe a little too much caraway for my personal taste, might try a little less next time).

Thanks for the great recipe!

By: Valentina

Valentina — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 05:42:16 +0000

My poor Russian mother misses black bread so much! From what I’ve been told, most “Black Bread” we have in the states is what Russians would call “Grey Bread”. The baker I spoke to told me that there is some ingredient, common in Russia, which we do not have here. I believe it was a kind of yeast. I may be wrong, but that is probably why unique ingredients like espresso and chocolate are used to imitate the flavor. Anyhow, it still sounds delicious and I’m looking forward to making some! :)

By: lostinsimulation

lostinsimulation — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 06:55:35 +0000

thanks to alta for the tip! i’m pretty good with gauging the water for the yeast but it didnt even occur to me that i might have killed the yeast with the hot water from the stove!
The inside remained moist, despite prolonged baking time, and i believe the hot water was the cause. But my mother and I loved the flavor!
Also, was I the only person who wound up with an extra 3/4 cup of flours left? Seems like a lot.

By: wendy

wendy — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 18:47:59 +0000

I made this bread last night (twice!) and it worked well and tastes good. I’m not a fan of rye, but my husband loved it! I made it for my mother-in-law who loves black bread. That said, I thought it might be “blacker” like the black bread at Central Market, but it was the same color as your photos, so I did it right. I had to go all the way across town to find the rye flour, but found a box of “wheat bran” at our local HEB.

So…my comedy of errors! I set the dough to rise in my turned off oven, assuring myself that I had no reason to turn on the oven in the near future. An hour later, I suddenly had a great idea to turn pitas into pita chips for the hummus I had just made. Great idea! Turned the oven on to 375. Yeah…cooked my dough. Had to start completely over. Was not pleased. Especially since it was 8:00 at night by then. I tried to crush the seeds in a bowl with an ice cream scoop but after five minutes they looked exactly the same! So I just threw them in. I sprinkled the cornmeal mixture on top, but most of it fell off after baking – all the seeds anyway. I baked one round in a cake pan and one just on a cookie sheet. The one on the sheet spread out into a giant cookie about 2 inches thick! My husband ate that one and we sent the other one overnight to my mother-in-law, at a cost of $32. So, this has been the story of my 45 dollar, 8 hour loaf of bread.

By: Doug

Doug — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 16:59:12 +0000

This sounds more like pumpernickel than black bread, at least the way I know it. My Latvian grandmother used to make black break that was more of a cross between rye bread and sourdough. Dark and dense with a grainy rye flavor but with a tang to it. I wish I was into baking while she was still alive so I would know how to make it. :(

By: deb

deb — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 02:54:08 +0000

Huge with big bubbles might mean that it has over-risen. Different climates and kitchen temps can lead to bread rising faster. You want it to just double, not feel overly loose or seem like it deflates a lot when you press on it. You should check out my bread tips post.

By: Jill

Jill — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 02:42:25 +0000

Help Deb! I have made this bread three times now, and the second two times I have had the flying saucer problem as Erica mentioned above. I added more flour the third time because I thought that my dough was too wet, but it didn’t help. I still got a flat loaf on the second rise. Why is this happening and how can I avoid it? I am letting it rise too much? I am barely letting it rise for 90 min (but it is huge, with big bubbles). It is a delicious bread, nonetheless!

By: Susan

Susan — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 23:53:02 +0000

We made this today. It was good, I guess I’m just not a fan of rye though. I ate the “pumpernickel” bread at the cheesecake factory and thought I would like this… not the same. I hope you are not offended by this, but do you know how they make their brown bread?