[Sca-cooks] Russian Rye

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

I sent the jpg of the Russian recipe for rye bread in Cyrillic to a
young Russian friend of mine in the SCA. He's not a cook, although he
has helped in the kitchen at two of my feasts - one of those
wonderful people who come early and stay late and expend lots of
energy.

Here is his translation and comments. Also, he wanted to know where
it came from, and i can't find the original message - what was the
source?

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Anahita -- the translation is below.  It's a bit rough, partially due to my
unfamiliarity with the subject and partially due to the fact that the recipe
is written rather strangely (it almost seems pseudo-archaic), but it should
give you an idea of what's going on.  My comments are in square brackets.
Where did it come from?

Homemade black bread
     If one is baking rye or coarse white ["sitnyi" -- my dictionary says
"coarse white bread made of sifted flour] bread at home for the first time,
he should take a good oaken tub (on three legs) or a deep trough, which must
first be well steamed with juniper and hot stones.  Also, the dough should
be prepared for fermenting as follows: 1/2 pound of rye flour is scalded
with boiling water with 2 spoons of vinegar, then it is stirred with the
same amount of flour added in, so as to make the dough fairly thick. A bit
of the dough should be left for the next time, wrapped in a piece of cloth,
in the corner of the oak tub, which is not to be washed, but covered with a
big tablecloth tied at the four corners to protect the tub from dust.  The
tub should be kept in a dry place to prevent mold.
The proportions of the water and the flour depend on the dryness of the
flour, the leavening, and the temperature of the stove, but usually you
should use about three times as much flour as the water, so for example, for
a quarter of a bucket of water people use about a bucket of flour, and
before baking the bread another third part of the flour is added, and
sometimes even more.. In the evening pour  into the tub half the flour, add
warm water enough that you get fairly liquid dough (so that you can easily
stir it with a shovel [spade? trowel?]).  The fermented dough should be a bit
watered down with warm water and well stirred.  Then, after sprinkling some
flour on top and covering the tub, it should be placed in a dry place (near
a not too hot stove).  The next day, in the morning, when the dough has
risen, add some salt (not too much) and some more flour so that the dough
has normal thickness. Then the dough is kneaded until it stops sticking to
the hands.  Then cover the dough with a tablecloth, and then with a wool
blanket, and let the dough rise in a warm place.  It should be ready in
about 3-4 hours.   When the stove is hot, let the loaves rise another 1/2 to
3/4 of an hour. Then, rake away the coals to the front of the stove and
throw a handful of flour into the middle of the stove.  If the flour begins
to blacken, then the stove is ready.  Then put the loaves on a wooden shovel
[think the kind they use in a pizza place, but wooden] slightly dusted with
flour, wet the surface of the loaves a bit with warm water, and put them
into the stove for 1.5-2 hours, depending on their size.  Having shut the
oven door tightly, move the coals to the door.  After 1.5 hours take one of
the loaves out to try it.  If it is light and you can hear the noise from
knocking with the knuckles on the bottom crust, then the bread is done.
Wet the loaves a bit and put them on the table so that one of the ends is
raised a bit (for example, by putting them on a stick), so that air can flow
under them while they cool down. This way, the crust will be soft.

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