черный хлеб
Black bread
The classic food of life for Russian people.
Here's what Ruscuisine says about black bread:

Bread has always been considered as the wealth of the Rus. Give us this day our daily bread…
Slavic people mainly grew wheat, barley, oats, and millet. Rye bread became Russia's real "daily bread", even though it had come to Russia from outside.

How did the first bread taste? Sour bread from leaven dough was particularly loved by Russians. They used beer or kvas base, yeast or a part of old dough as leaven that gave sourness. "A working man," wrote 18th-century historian Ivan Boltin, "can eat at one go up to two pounds of black bread together with schi. While in France one person eats on an average a pound of wheat bread a day, a Russian, not only a working man but also an idle person, cannot be satisfied with this amount."

The role of bread in the life of Russian people was so great that famine began in the country in bad harvest years despite the fact that in Russian woods there was plenty of game and the rivers teemed with fish. But as numerous sources recorded, meat could not replace bread for the Russians.

Neither could white wheat bread substitute black leavened bread. When Russian troops, who entered the boundaries of the Khanate of the Crimea in 1736, got isolated from the rye flour carts and bread had to be made from wheat flour, diseases set in among the troops.

Black rye bread is "black" because of the chocolate, coffee, and molasses mixed in. In Ya Lublu Tibya, the great cookbook by Lisa Finneran created to raise money for Arkangels, a non-profit organization devoted to helping the orphans of Arkhangel’sk, Russia (you can order the cookbook by clicking on that link), there's a fairly simple recipe to make your own Black Bread. Walker Bennett, the contributor of the recipe, suggests serving it with (homemade) Russian dressing, but it's equally as good with plain old butter.


Black Bread

Ingredients:
2 1/2 c. water
1/3 c. molasses
1/4 c. butter or margerins
1 oz. unsweetened chocolate
2 T. instant coffee crystals
2 T caraway seeds
1 tsp. fennel seedns, crushed
1 T. sugar
2 T white vinegar
2 pkg. active dry yeast
4 c. all-purpose flour
4 c. rye flour
2 c. whole bran cereal
1/2 c. cold water
1 T. cornstarch

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. (My note: it says to preheat...but you have to let the dough rise 2 1/2 hours so I'd wait until right before your dough is done rising). In a saucepan, heat together 2 1/2 cups water, molasses, butter, chocolate, coffee, seeds, sugar and vinegar until just warm and chocolate and butter are melted, stirring constantly. Add yeast (make sure it isn't more than 115 degress or yeast will die). Mix together rye flour and cereal. Add molasses mixture to flour and cereal mixture and beat until fully combined. Add as much of the all-purpose flour as you can to make a sticky dough. Turn out onto lightly floured surface and knead in enough of the remaining flour to make a dough that is stiff and elastic (dough may remain slightly sticky). Grease a bowl, form dough into a ball, and put in bowl. Turn to coat. Cover and let rise in a warm place until nearly doubled, 2 to 2 1/2 hours. Punch down and divide dough in half. Shape each peice into a ball. Place each ball on a greased cookie sheet and flatten slightly with hand to a 6-7 inches in diameter. Cover and allow to rise again until doubled. Bake until well browned and bread sounds hollow (when you tap it) 50-60 minutes. Remove from baking sheets and cool on wire racks. While cooling, combine water with cornstarch. Cook, stirring constantly, until thick and bubbly, and brush over hot bread. -- Walker Bennett