Russian Black Bread and a Pastrami, Egg on Russian Black Bread Sandwich

I have always loved hearty and rustic breads because they seem to have so much flavor. So when a friend told me about trying some homemade Russian Black Bread, I was excited to try making it also. Since I wanted to be sure to have a really rich, dark bread like dark pumpernickel bread, I increased some of the ingredients from other recipes I found. I absolutely love the seeds in this bread! They really add to the texture and flavor. This recipe was adapted from one on Allrecipes.com and a couple other ones that were a little different. Additionally, if you have whole rye berries (whole rye grains),  try adding 1/2 cup (that have been softened by soaking or cooking) to the dough when almost finished kneading for a wonderful chewy texture. After this came out of the oven, everyone was in heaven eating it warm with butter. Later, it was wonderful made into a Pastrami Egg Sandwich with Thousand Island Dressing (a half-wink to the Reuben sandwich). I also made this in my bread machine but it can also be mixed/kneaded with a stand mixer or food processor (or by hand) and then baked in a large loaf pan. This is the perfect bread to have with a hot bowl of soup!

Makes 1 loaf- 1 1/2 pounds

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• 2 Tbsp cider vinegar
• 2 cups bread flour
• 1 1/2 cups rye flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 Tbsp coconut oil or butter
• 2 Tbsp black strap or regular molasses
• 1 Tbsp brown sugar
• 3 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 Tbsp instant coffee granules
• 1 Tbsp caraway seed
• 1/2 tsp fennel seed
• 2 tsp active dry yeast
• 1 tsp dried onion flakes or 2 Tbsp finely chopped onion

Directions:

• Place ingredients into the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. 
• Use Whole Wheat setting, regular crust.
• After baking cycle ends, remove bread from pan and allow to cool on wire rack for about 1 hour (or as long as you can resist!) before slicing or the bread will be gummy.
• If making by hand and using instant yeast, mix yeast with dry ingredients and stir in wet ingredients until the dough is no longer very wet and able to be kneaded.
• If using Active Dry Yeast, you need to rehydrate the yeast by mixing it in 1/4 cup of the warm water and proofing first- wait until it gets a little bubbly.
• Then mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until worked together well. Cover with a bowl and allow to rest for about 30 minutes. 
• Knead dough for about 10 minutes. Cover and place in warm place to double in size. (It may not completely double if using this much rye flour.)
• Punch dough down and knead for about 5 more minutes. 
• Place in greased bread pan and bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees F for about 45-50 minutes. 
• If desired, baking sheet may be used that has cornmeal sprinkled and then dough put on the sheet with top of dough ball slashed diagonally a couple times with a sharp knife.

Here is the perfectly sublime sandwich that was so good! Use Thousand Island salad dressing on both slices of bread, then layer slices of pastrami, add a semi-soft yolk fried egg (well seasoned), slice of cheese- pepper jack or a creamy cheese is good, thin slices of onion. A little sauerkraut layer would be wonderful, also!