Russian Black Bread

2 ½ cups warm water

2 packages Traditional Active Dry Yeast
¼ cup butter or margarine, softened
¼ cup white vinegar
¼ cup molasses
1 ounce unsweetened chocolate, melted
2 /12 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons instant coffee granules
1 tablespoon fennel seeds
3 ¾ to 4 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
4 cups rye flour
¾ cup raisins

old cookbooks are good cookbooks
...published 1977...

Place ½ cup warm water in large warm bowl. Sprinkle in yeast; stir until dissolved. Add remaining water, butter, and next 6 ingredients. Slowly stir in 3 cups all-purpose flour; blend well. Stir in rye flour, raisins, and enough remaining all-purpose flour to make soft dough. Remove dough to lightly floured surface. Cover; let rest 15 minutes. Knead dough until smooth and elastic, about 8 to 10 minutes. Place in greased bowl, turning to great top. Cover; let rise in warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, about 1 ¼ to 1 ½ hours.

Punch dough down. Divide dough in half. Shape each half into 5-inch ball. Place each ball in greased 8-inch round cake pan or on large greased baking sheet. Dover; let rise in warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until done
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... page 21 ...

Notes from Arta:

Today I am thinking of taking a new moniker: the Careless Cook. Since I am typing out these recipes I am thinking – well, I am careless.  I only glance at the ingredients and then decide where I will substitute so that I can get the bread made in 10 minutes and be off dong some other job. I may use the rye flour, but I may just use brown flour. I look at the chocolate the recipe calls for and eat it, Then I substitute the chocolate with cocoa and a bit of margarine. I don’t like round loaves – I make traditionally shaped loaves.

This recipe is from Sunday’s at Moosewood. I like the taste of the bread – I would rate it among my top 10 bread recipes. And what would the top five be? Country Seed Bread, Multi Grain Bread, Russian Black Bread, Whole Wheat Bread and I have yet to select the last of the top five.

Arta