How to Bake Fruited Black Bread
Yields: one 13’’ loaf
Preparation time: 20 mins
Cooking time: 1 hour 15 mins
Ingredients needed to make Fruited Black Bread:
For the soaker:
- 4 oz cold water
- 2 ¼ oz cracked rye
For the rye soaker:
- 8 oz water
- ½ oz ripe sourdough starter
- 9 oz whole rye flour
For the dough:
- Rye sour
- Soaker
- 8 oz whole rye flour
- 7 ½ oz ripe sourdough starter
- 1 tbsp cocoa powder
- 2 tsp instant yeast
- 4 ½ oz high gluten flour
- 2 cups dates, chopped
- 1 tsp whole fennel seed, coarsely ground
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 ½ tsp blackstrap molasses
- 6 oz water
Cooking instructions for Fruited Black Bread:
- To make the soaker, add a splash of water into the rye flour and stir them well together in a small, non-reactive vessel until well combined; put a lid on and set aside overnight to soak.
- For the rye sour, beat the rye flour, starter and water in another bowl until they blend together to form a smooth mixture; let it rest, covered, for about 12-15 hours.
- To make the dough, preheat your oven to 500 degrees F.
- Grease the sides and base of a Pullman pan as well as its lid with non-stick cooking spray/
- Sprinkle small amount of rye flour into the pan and set aside.
- Dump all its ingredients into a large bowl, attached to a stand mixer and process them with its paddle attachment, until well combined.
- Replace the paddle with a dough hook and continue to knead the mixture for about 4 minutes at low speed.
- Increase the speed to moderate and continue to knead for another 5 minutes.
- Fold in the chopped dates until they are distributed evenly throughout the sticky dough.
- Place the dough in the Pullman pan and smooth out its surface.
- Sprinkle some rye flour on top of the dough and fasten its lid.
- Let aside for about an hour to let it rise so that only an inch of the pan remains free.
- Bake the dough in the oven for about 15-20 minutes and then lower the oven temperature to 400 degrees F before baking it for another 15 minutes.
- Do away with the lid and bake further for 45 minutes at reduced temperature of 325 degrees F.
- Take it out of the oven and invert the pan on a wire rack to remove the bread.
- Set aside to cool to room temperature and slice into thick slices.
- Serve and have fun!
Image credit: Wikimedia Commons
