A hearty and fragrant rye loaf you’ll want to make over and over again.

Black Russian sourdough is a family favorite loaf and is often in my bread rotation. It’s a hearty rye flavored with plenty of caraway, dried minced onion and topped with a generous amount of everything seasoning. Together, all these components make a hearty and delicious loaf that will sustain you and your family throughout the colder months. There’s nothing better than waking up on a cold winter morning, having this bread freshly sliced with plenty of cream cheese and a piping hot cup of coffee.

Black Russian Sourdough

*Makes one large loaf

100g active starter

320g warm water

¼ tsp active dry yeast

50 g whole wheat flour

50 g medium rye flour

450 g bread flour

20 g cocoa powder

10 g dried minced onion

10 g caraway seeds

11g fine sea salt

20 grams warm water

¼ cup everything seasoning

In a large bowl, weigh out your active starter, 320 grams of warm water and active dry yeast. Mix together with your hands breaking up the starter with your fingertips, mix until yeast and starter are fully incorporated in the water. 

Next add the flours and cocoa powder. With your hands mix in the dry ingredients until about half of it is incorporated. Add the dried minced onion and caraway seeds, continue mixing by hand until no more dry flour remains. The dough will be very shaggy and the inclusions won’t be evenly distributed and that’s ok, during the folding process the dried onion and caraway will get fully included into the dough. Cover the dough with a tea towel and let the dough rest for 40 minutes. This resting period is called autolyse and it’s an important step in the sourdough process. It ensures that the flour in the dough is hydrated by the water molecules and will aid in gluten development. 

After the resting period is over, make a dimple in the middle of the dough with your index finger. Fill the dimple with your sea salt and pour 20 grams of warm water on top of the salt. With your fingertips, you’re going to pinch the salt into the dough until it is all incorporated. After your salt is added lightly knead the dough in the bowl to get the dough to absorb any water left in the bowl. Gently fold dough over on itself to create a rough ball. Cover and let rest for 30 minutes. 

When the 30 minutes are up, take the dough and gently fold it over itself. I do this by picking up the dough on one end while letting the other end fall. You will do this one more time to shape the dough into a rough ball or oblong shape. This motion will gently strengthen the gluten without knocking out all the air bubbles that your yeast are creating and help get the inclusions incorporated into the dough. After the dough is folded it shouldn’t be flat but a little ball. It takes some practice to get this motion right. When I first started working with sourdough I was a bit rough with stretching the dough and would try to force it to stretch. You never want to really force the dough. You want the weight of the dough and gravity to do all the work. 

Cover and let rest for another 30 minutes before continuing to stretch and fold again. You will repeat this process of resting and stretching the dough three more times. You want to do this five times total. I will keep track of how many times I stretch and fold so I don’t forget. You can easily forget how many times you’ve worked the dough, especially when you’re doing other things. 

At the end of the stretching and folding you will notice that the dough will become more elastic as well as smooth. This is a sure sign that the gluten has been developed properly and you’re on your way to a beautiful loaf. 

Once you have a beautifully developed dough it’s time to shape it. Dump the dough out of the bowl onto a very lightly floured counter and gently pat the dough flat to knock out some of the air bubbles. Next pull the top sides of the dough to roughly shape a T. Starting at one side of the dough, take the dough and pull the side into the middle. Continue until you have worked your way around the entire thing, all sides should be in the middle. Take the short side of your dough and fold it inward by rolling it up tightly to form a log. Tuck the ends of the log underneath. Then cup both hands on the long side and slide the dough on your work surface until the dough becomes taut and the surface is smooth. This seals the seam of the loaf.

On a clean kitchen towel, measure out the ¼  cup of everything seasoning and make sure that it is spread out evenly in the middle of the towel.  

Prepare a basket or a banneton by lining the inside of the basket with a clean kitchen towel or if you have a banneton it should come with a linen liner. Thoroughly flour the towel so it won’t end up sticking to the dough. Now with some confidence, grab the dough by the bottom seam and roll the top of the dough all over the everything seasoning that you spread on the kitchen towel. Once you feel like the dough is topped with enough everything seasoning, place the dough in your banneton or basket seam side up. This can be very intimidating if you haven’t done this a lot. Just take a deep breath and with confidence grab the dough, roll and plop it in the basket. Deep breath, grab, roll and plop! 

Cover the dough with a towel and leave to proof on the counter for 2 hours. 

After the 2 hours have past, preheat your oven to 450°F and place a clean baking sheet on the bottom rack of the oven. 

Place a piece of parchment on the counter approximately the same size of the loaf but with a little bit extra to allow for overhang. With a quick and swift motion, dump the dough onto the middle of the parchment, just like if you were building a sandcastle with a bucket. Score your dough with a sharp razor blade at about a 90 angle down the upper side of the dough. Scoring is a very important step in the sourdough baking process. It allows for the dough to expand properly by having a spot for the steam to escape from the bread. Plus it adds an opportunity for artistic expression. The score mark is very much the bread baker’s signature and you can have it as simple or as ornate as you want. Here’s a video example of the scoring technique I use. 

After you have scored your loaf, lift up the parchment and carefully place it all into your Dutch oven. Firmly put the lid on the Dutch oven and bake your bread for 25 minutes.

When 25 minutes have passed, carefully remove the lid from the Dutch oven. There will be lots of steam trapped in the Dutch oven so please be very careful when removing the lid. Your loaf should be doubled in size and beautifully baked. However, you will need to bake your loaf for an additional 10-15 minutes to develop the crust. You want your loaf to be a lovely deep brown and to be very fragrant from the seasoning. 

Once your bread is baked, shut off the oven and leave the oven door cracked open for 30 minutes. This step can be optional but I found it to be essential for a very crusty, crispy crust. 

After your bread has sat in the cooling oven for half an hour, you can remove the loaf from the oven and place it on a wire rack to cool completely. Once cooled, slice and enjoy! My favorite spread for this specific bread is whipped cream cheese and chopped fresh dill, yum!