Borodinsky Dark Rye Bread

Preferment (day 1)

Dough (day 2)

For the tin

Pantry swaps

Borodinsky is the traditional dark Russian rye, flavored with caraway and coriander and sweetened with molasses. The classic version is a brick of a bread. This recipe keeps the flavor but swaps the dense formula for a rye sourdough preferment, some white bread flour, and an unconventional hit of dark cocoa powder – not for color, and it does not taste of chocolate, but it gives the crumb depth and a lighter texture. It keeps for up to a week and freezes well.

Method

1. Day 1, preferment: mix the 250 g water with the 150 g active rye sourdough starter in a jar or suitable container until combined.
2. Add the 200 g rye flour and mix until the preferment is homogeneous. Seal the container and leave it at room temperature overnight, at least 8 hours. The next day it should be bubbly and active.
3. In a large bowl or stand mixer, combine the white bread flour, wholemeal flour, rye flour, salt, ground caraway seeds, and whole coriander seeds.
4. Add all of the preferment (about 625 g). Use the 280 g water to rinse out the starter container, then add the water to the bowl. Mix until well combined with the flour.
5. Add the molasses, then the dark cocoa powder, and mix until you have a super sticky dough.
6. Cover the dough and let it rest for 1 hour. Oil your hands generously, then pick up and fold the dough back onto itself all the way around the perimeter. Cover again and let it rest about 3 hours. (Short version: skip the folds and just let the covered dough rest 3-4 hours until doubled.)
7. Meanwhile, line the tin – a 16 x 26 x 10 cm gastronorm or a springform cake pan – with baking paper. Trace around the bottom and cut within the borders, then cut a long strip for the sides with a big overlap. Oil the tin and both sides of the baking paper: it makes the paper stick and conducts heat better. Sprinkle semolina, coriander seeds, and ground caraway over the oiled paper, then cover with a small piece of plastic.
8. When the dough is risen and wobbly, loosen the sides with an oiled plastic dough scraper and fold the dough onto itself around the outside. Oil the work surface, turn the dough out, and fold it onto itself a few more times, then give it a gentle slap-and-tap fold. Cover and let it rest for 15 minutes.
9. Oil your hands and the dough one final time, shape the dough, and dump it into the prepared tin in one swift movement. Tap the tin so the surface spreads evenly. Dust with more caraway and coriander seeds and press them in lightly. Cover and let the dough rise in a warm place until doubled.
10. Meanwhile, heat the oven to 220 C (428 F) and put a container of water inside to generate steam.
11. Bake for 20 minutes at 220 C, then turn the oven down to 180 C (356 F) and bake until the internal temperature of the bread reads above 90 C (194 F). Two small tins take about 30-40 minutes total; one large tin like this video takes about an hour.
12. Remove the loaf from the tin and bake it directly on the oven rack for another 5 minutes to dry out the bottom and sides.
13. Cool completely on a wire rack before slicing – it is difficult to wait, but be strong.
14. Store wrapped at room temperature for up to a week, or slice and freeze wrapped; toast a slice whenever you want.

Serving suggestion from the creator: softened butter, finely chopped chives, coarse ground black pepper, and a little sea salt on barely-cooled bread. The flavor combo works brilliantly with the coriander, caraway, and molasses.

Notes

Servings: 20 slices (about 75 g each; a roughly 1.5 kg loaf – the creator does not state a slice count). Per serving: about 155 kcal, 5 g protein, 33 g carbs, 1 g fat, 5 g fiber. Macros are estimates summed from USDA per-100 g values; the creator does not state macros. Fiber is high because rye, wholemeal flour, and cocoa all contribute.

Quantities are exact from the creator’s written recipe in the video description. The tin-dusting amounts (semolina and extra seeds) are not quantified in the written recipe – treat them as estimates from the video.

No sourdough starter? The video description also carries a yeasted version (750 g water, 650 g rye flour, 150 g wholemeal flour, 50 g malted rye flour, 10 g instant yeast, 8 g salt, 40 g sugar, 30 g molasses, 10 g caraway, 10 g coriander) and the traditional Soviet formula. Malted rye was originally used to feed yeast in cold weather; the rye starter and molasses make it obsolete.