Russian-style quick rye soda bread; photo by Karen Sheer
My Russian Bread recipe is a quick soda bread method with Russian style ingredients. Original recipes won’t include ingredients like coffee or cocoa. An authentic Russian Black Bread gets its deep color from a sour dough fermentation. While delicious, the bread is a few days in the making. My quick bread is full of flavor and light in texture, so get baking: prep and baking time is less than one hour!
Russian-Style Quick Rye Soda Bread
Yield: 1 large loaf
A quick soda bread with Russian-style ingredients, namely dark rye flour, a sour element (I have used Kefir, a fermented milk product) and Caraway Seeds. To darken and enrich the bread, use cocoa powder and a touch of expresso powder.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups dark rye flour, organic
3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour, organic
3/4 cup unbleached flour, organic
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
2 tablespoons caraway seed
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 tablespoons coconut cane sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon expresso powder
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 cups kefir, fermented milk, or buttermilk
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the first 9 ingredients into a large bowl (rye flour through sugar).
Add the butter (it should be very soft), and the kefir (try it—it’s good for your health and gives a great tang). Mix with a large fork until the dough is crumbly, but seems to be coming together.
Use your hands to bring the dough together quickly. Lightly flour your work surface, add the dough, form into a neat ball, then knead about 2 minutes. Lightly oil a baking sheet (I use a silpat liner) and place the dough on it. Sprinkle with flour if desired.
Using a very sharp knife cut an “x” on top. Bake in the oven for 45 to 50 minutes until golden and has a kind of hallow sound when tapped. Not sure it’s done? Stick the loaf with a thin knife to test for doneness.
Cool, slice and enjoy. Serve with creamed butter or, even better, creamed butter with honey.
All photos by Karen Sheer
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