Ukrainian Black Bread

I have never been to the Ukraine, but I love bread. Based of a recipe here and various others.

1T yeast
1/3 cup water
3/4 cup strong coffee (I used what was left in my cup from this morning.)
1T molasses
1 3/4 cups rye flour
1 1/2 cups white flour
2t salt

Dissolve yeast in water in mixer bowl. Add warm coffee and molasses. Stir and let sit 5-10 minutes.

Add flours and salt and mix on low to combine, then let mixer knead for 10 minutes or until smooth.

Let rise in warm spot in covered bowl for 2 hours. Shape into loaves on sheet pan and allow to rise 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 450'. Place bowl of water in oven and bake bread for 20 minutes. Lower to 375', remove bowl, and bake additional 30 minutes or until done.

So, it turned out, well, not as I had expected. The crust was nice and chewy, so I'll have to be sure to use the water trick again. It was much denser than I had expected. I think I'll add either more molasses or a bit of sugar since the whole thing didn't rise much. I'm not sure my water was warm enough, and I didn't think of warm water since it didn't say as much. Which is strange as I am not much of a precise recipe follower. I might also add a bit of gluten. Definately a try again though.

8/29/08 Calzones

Friday night is (almost) always calzones and pizzas. We used to order pizza in, and while I miss that sometimes, I have found it is WAY cheaper to make my own. Also, everyone gets exactly what they want, and I can make as much dough as I need. DH and I get loaded calzones, and the kids get little pizzas.

Here's my basic recipe. I used about 1 cup whole wheat flour because I ran out of white flour. I may need to add a bit of gluten to get it to rise more, but no one complained. It helps we normally eat whole wheat bread.

1 cup warm water
3 tablespoons yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
3 cups flour -- or more if needed
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
oregano, garlic powder, Italian seasoning -- to taste

Place all ingredients in breadmaker according to your machine's instructions. Make
on dough cycle.

When finished, remove, roll into a ball and let rest covered in olive oil coated bowl 30-45 minutes on counter or up to overnight in refrigerator.

Separate into 3-4 pizza sized pieces of dough, 5-6 calzone sized, one large Stromboli, or whatever form your family likes to make pizzas. Bake at 425' with whatever toppings you prefer until golden brown - approx. 6 minutes for a pizza and 12-15 for a calzone.

I also make this in my Kitchenaid mixer - place water, yeast and sugar in bowl and
let proof for 5-10 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and mix with dough hook 15
minutes or so. Form into a ball, coat mixer bowl with olive oil, roll to coat and
cover with plastic wrap. Proof in refrigerator 2 hours to overnight. I let it
rest at room temperature 15 minutes or so to make the dough easier to work with.