Eastern European Black Bread

(I'm hijacking my own blog for all my baker friends today. Lunch posts will resume next week after the chic's Fall break.)

I finally got up the nerve to try to make Eastern European Black Bread in my new-ish (after 6 loaves, it's not so new anymore) Pullman pan. What kinda intimidated me about it were all the soakers, starters, and sours. Take a look at the recipe and you'll see what I mean Easter European Black Bread Recipe I've used starters for bread a buncha times, but the soakers and sours were new territory for me. Plus I had to strategically time these things. The starter was a week ahead of baking, the soaker 24 hours ahead, and the sour 15 hours ahead. But, I decided to just go for it and see what happened.

(clockwise from top) sourdough starter, rye soaker, rye sour

I wish I would have taken a picture of the sour after it's resting time. It starts out looking like paste but ends up all puffed up and full of air bubbles. It was pretty cool. I gotta tell you though, that the soaker and the sour were stinky! I went back and re-read the directions to make sure that I wasn't supposed to put them in the fridge and still didn't believe it so I looked up a few more rye recipes. Nope - counter. Just a warning to anyone else that might decide to make the bread and then worry all night that you are poisoning your family. You're not! So after making sure that no one would die from my bread baking adventure, everything else went smoothly.

Ready for the oven
Once cooled, you're supposed to wait 24 hours before slicing it. After waiting for a week to make the bread and spending two days on prep, I wasn't waiting a minute more. I sliced into that sucker and tried a slice. And so what...they were right...I shoulda waited cause it really tore up the piece that I sliced, but it was still good. The Hubs, who normally dislikes all black, brown, rye breads actually liked it. I think it was the textural difference. The black bread I've bought in stores, and even at the bakery, had a drier, more fine crumb to it. But this was the opposite, soft and moist. I reminded me of the black bread I ate while in London when I first fell in love with it- almost like a steamed bread. Maybe that's what the lid helps with...steaming it a bit.


I let it cool completely and sliced off my impatient end and the rest of the bread sliced beautifully. So despite all the smelly ingredients and the week long prep work, it was a hit and I would definitely make it again!

10 comments:

Velva said...

Wow, that's impressive that you made six loaves of black bread! No easy task. Looks like you did wonderful and now you can sit back and enjoy fresh homemade fresh baked bread.

Michelle said...

Velva- I only made one loaf of black bread. I've made six loaves of other assorted breads since I got the pan a couple weeks ago. :)

Kitchen Butterfly said...

Fantastic. Welcome to the foodie blogroll

chow and chatter said...

great bread, oh and the quinoa lunch box rocks !

ShellyH said...

Welcome to the foodie blog roll. I have never made that type of bread as it always intimidated me. Perhaps I should think about it again and give it a try.

Astrid said...

Could you make it in a round casserole instead of the pullman loaf pan? I'm having a hard time finding one.
It looks great!

Simply Life said...

Oh this bread looks great!

Val said...

Was talking to your mom today about the bread baking adventure this weekend. I've recently had to go gluten free and am dying for a pizza? Do you have any ideas for a rockin gluten free pizza crust? She said you would. No pressure :)

Michelle said...

Astrid- I don't see why you couldn't. You'd just have to adjust your cooking time a bit.

Val - Emeril did a gluten free pizza. Haven't tried it, but Emeril can do amazing things. Here's the link: http://planetgreen.discovery.com//food-health/emerils-gluten-free-pizza.html

Pam said...

Nice blog you have and Congrats on the Foodie Blogroll!

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