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!

Pierogi (Polish Stuffed Dumpling)

There is nothing as good as homemade pierogies. Where I grew up, the local Ukrainian church women would sell freshly handmade pierogies regularly as a fundraiser. One of my good friends was the granddaughter of one of these women who did not even need a recipe to make wonderful pierogies. We felt like we were in heaven eating these. The ones I typically enjoy are filled with mashed potato and cheese. However, you might try making them with both potato and sauerkraut. I love these fried with some sautéed onions and butter and some keilbasa. They can easily be frozen and later boiled in some water for a few minutes to thaw, and then baked or fried with butter, onions and keilbasa.

Ingredients:

3 -3 1/2 cups sauerkraut
4 Tbsp butter or oil
1 medium or large onion, chopped
1/2 tsp salt
dash pepper

Basic Dough:

4 cups flour, white or combination white/white whole wheat
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1 cup lukewarm water

Cook the sauerkraut 15 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. (If you desire sauerkraut not as sour, rinse it before cooking.) Push to sides of the pan; melt butter and sauté onion. Mix together; sauté 1/2 hour, stirring occasionally. Season to taste.

While filling is cooking, prepare dough. Mix ingredients together, adding water a little at a time. Dough should not be sticky. Roll out 1/8 inch thick on a lightly floured surface. Cut into circles approximately 4-6 inches in diameter. Fill each circle with a spoonful of kraut mixture. Fold in half; wet half the rim with water. Crimp with a fork. Drop into a large kettle of gently boiling water. Boil until they float to the top, stirring at times to keep them from sticking to the bottom. Remove with a slotted spoon. Let cool and dry on wire racks. Makes 25 pierogies.

When ready to serve, fry in butter or oil until golden brown on each side. Or for larger servings, dip in melted butter; bake at 350 degrees in a 9x13 inch pan until golden.

Try other fillings such as cottage cheese, mashed potato and cheese.

Recipe by Kathleen White in Whole Foods For The Whole Family La Leche League International Cookbook, 1981.

Meat Tarts (Piroshki)

This eastern European food probably has some different variations. I was served a variation of these years ago by a good Russian friend who introduced me to their foods.

Ingredients:

yeast dough for 1-2 loaves
3-4 cups shredded cabbage or 2 cups sauerkraut
2 medium onion, chopped
1 pound ground beef
1/4 tsp salt
dash pepper
1 tsp prepared mustard (optional)

Let dough rise once. Steam cabbage for 10 minutes. Saute onion with the meat until browned; drain off the fat. Add cabbage or sauerkraut and seasonings. Cool. Meanwhile, roll out dough to 1/8 inch thick. Cut out circles or squares about 6 inches across. Put meat and cabbage mixture in center of each circle or square. Bring up the sides and seal shut. Place on lightly greased cookie sheet, pinched side down, and let rise until almost doubled, about 45 minutes. Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

They freeze well. Serve hot or cold. Is good with potato salad, vegetable sticks, baked beans and fruit compote. You may also try other meats, fish, deviled eggs, cottage cheese, potatoes or whatever is handy for a filling. Fruits, jams and jellies work well for a sweet filling.

Russian Easter Bread (Paska) and spread

This is a traditional bread that you need to start the night before. It is rich and reminiscent of Challah with the eggs, cream and butter, giving a wonderful flavor. The spread is really not hard to make- creamy and slightly sweet with a hint of lemon. To obtain the traditional shape (mushroom shape), you need to bake them in coffee cans.

This recipe makes 3 very large loaves of bread and a huge amount of the spread. Since I did not want to make so many large ones, I reduced the recipe by 1/3. I then divided the final dough into 3 parts and used small coffee cans. If you do not have coffee cans, you might used regular loaf pans and adjust the baking time. Even reducing the spread recipe, it still made a fairly large bowl- approximately 2 1/2 cups of spread.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour (plus more to finish dough later)
• 1 cup cream
• 1 cup milk
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 10 eggs, yolks and whites separated
• 1 cup butter
• 1 tsp lemon extract
• 1 1/2 yeast cakes (3 tsp dry instant yeast)

Directions:

• Dissolve yeast and 1 Tbsp sugar in 1/2 cup warm water. 
• Scald milk and cream; while hot, pour over the 2 cups of flour. 
• When flour mixture is cooled, add beaten egg yolks that have been mixed well with sugar. 
• Add dissolved yeast and beaten egg whites. Beat thoroughly and put in a warm place to rise overnight- a crock pot on warm (lowest setting) would be good, depending on the type of slow cooker, or in a warm oven with towels around it. 
• In the morning, add butter and enough flour to make a dough that no longer sticks to fingers. 
• Let rise for about 1-2 hours. Then divide dough into 3 parts, putting each part into a greased gallon tin can (large coffee cans). 
• Let rise 2 hours and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour, or until golden brown.
• Cool in tins on cooling rack about 15 minutes, then turn out onto rack to finish cooling. 

this is the starter after being in the warmed oven all night

the dough after adding the extra flour and butter

Cheese Spread for Paska:

• 4 cups cottage cheese
• yolks of 10 hard cooked eggs
• 1 cup cream
• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp grated lemon rind or 1/2 tsp lemon extract or flavoring

Directions:

• Press cheese and egg yolks through a sieve- or mash together. 
• Bring cream to a boil and then cool. 
• Cream together butter and sugar and add the other ingredients. Mix thoroughly. 

This is now ready to use as a spread when serving Paska.

As mentioned above, I made this recipe by reducing it and making 1/3 of it. It is as follows:

Paska ingredients:

• rounded 3/4 cup flour
• 1/3 cup cream
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1/3 tsp lemon extract
• 3/4 tsp yeast

I needed about 3 3/4 cups of extra flour to get the dough to hold together and not be too sticky. Follow directions as above but reduce baking time to 25 minutes or until golden brown.


Cheese Spread ingredients:

• 1 1/3 cup cottage cheese
• yolks of 4 hard-boiled eggs
• 1/3 cup cream
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp grated lemon rind (or 1/4 tsp lemon oil, may use closer to 1/2 tsp of lemon extract if you don't have lemon oil)

Follow directions as above and refrigerate for at least 45 minutes for flavors to blend well.

*Recipe from Mrs. H. J. Fast in the Mennonite Community Cookbook 1978.

This recipe was shared with the following:
     Simple Lives Thursday #90- A Little Bit of Spain in Iowa

Borscht (Russian Soup)

This recipe is the ultimate cheap and easy comfort food of many Russian and Ukrainian people. I enjoyed this many times with Russian and Ukrainian immigrants I had the pleasure to get to know years ago.

Ingredients

1 large onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp oil or butter
3-4 potatoes, cubed
3-4 carrots, sliced
4 cups beef or vegetable broth
4 large beets grated (may use the tops, cleaned & chopped) or 1 1/2- 2 cups cooked
2 Tbsp vinegar
1/2 tsp salt, more or less (I prefer Adobo seasoned salt)
dash of pepper
1 Tbsp dried parsley

Optional:

1/2-1 pound beef, cubed or ground beef
chopped greens- spinach, escarole, mustard or turnip greens, swiss chard fresh or frozen if not using beet greens
plain yogurt or sour cream
cottage cheese

Saute onion, garlic, carrots and celery in oil in a large soup pot until onions are soft. Add potatoes, seasonings and broth. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until vegetable are soft, about 15 minutes. Add beets; cook 15 minutes (or about 3 minutes if beets are already cooked). Add vinegar. Cook 1 minute. Garnish with yogurt and/or cottage cheese for more flavor and nutrition.  Makes about 6 cups.

If using beef, you would dredge the beef cubes in about 1-2 Tbsp flour mixed with couple dashes of salt and pepper. Saute with oil and onions/garlic as above. If using ground beef, saute in pan with onions and garlic, drain off fat and then continue sauteing with vegetables. Follow remainder of recipe as above.

Serve with hunks of bread- wholegrain, rustic, pumpernickel, vienna etc.

*Recipe adapted from Marie Tobaben- originally in Whole Foods For The Whole Family La Leche League International Cookbook 1981.