Traditional rye bread is called an object of intangible heritage of Ukraine.
Rye and wheat flour, and less often barley and corn flour, were the main ingredients for making Ukrainian bread. During periods of grain shortages, carrots, beets, and later potatoes, as well as acorns, oak or birch bark, nettles, and quinoa were often mixed into the bread dough.
It is important to say that the yeast we know has never been part of everyday Ukrainian bread, but was used only for baking. Our ancestors used leavens: malt, hop, berry, oat, raisin, etc. Leaven recipes are a topic for a separate article, so here we will only briefly dwell on them. And you can search for the nuances of preparation separately.
Monastery rye bread
There is no specific amount of ingredients here; as experienced housewives say, you should take as much flour and water as the dough will take.
To prepare the dough, you need to take old dough from a previous bread baking, pour it with water in the ratio: 6 parts cold water to 1 part boiling water.
Next, sift 1/4 of the rye flour, stir it with the sourdough with a wooden spoon. After that, sprinkle the dough with flour on top, and cover the container tightly with a lid for fermentation. The dough should rise and settle to half its previous height.
When the dough is ready, sift the remaining flour, knead the dough with wet hands and leave to rise. Add the salt directly to the dough.
Grease the inside of the baking tins with hemp oil and pour the dough into the tins to 2/3 of their height. Then smooth the dough into the tins with your hands moistened with water. When the dough rises to the edges of the tin, place the bread in the oven.
In fact, the recipe that has come down to us says that the bread is placed in a "heated oven, cleaned of coal and ash. At the same time, the oven must be heated so that the bran poured into it burns without a flame. When baking bread, you must carefully monitor that the oven damper is not closed, but only covered - so that the water vapor from the bread can escape freely." Therefore, it seems that you will have to experiment with the oven modes.
After baking, the loaves are placed in a cold place, the top crust should be moistened with cold water or jelly.
Sourdough wheat-rye bread
This bread has excellent taste, stays fresh for a long time and does not go stale.
Composition:
- 200 g rye sourdough
- 100 g rye flour
- 300 g wheat flour
- 2 tsp salt
- 230 ml of water
- 1 tbsp. l. sunflower oil
- coriander or cumin
Preparation
You need to sift the flour, add salt, coriander, yeast, water, oil and knead a soft elastic dough. One of the features of the dough on rye flour is that it is very sticky. Therefore, you should not add more flour than the norm. After kneading the dough, leave it to rest for 2 hours and rise, covered with a damp towel.
After the 2nd hour, knead the dough and place it in a greased baking dish. The dough should only fill the dish halfway. Sprinkle the formed loaf with flour and cover with a towel again. Leave it in a warm place for 4 hours. During this time, the dough should increase in volume by two to two and a half times.
About 10-15 minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 220 degrees, place a bowl of water underneath. Bake the bread for 7-10 minutes. Then, reduce the temperature to 180 - 200. And continue baking for another 30-40 minutes.
Place the baked bread on a board and let it cool for at least 20-30 minutes. That's it, incredibly tasty, soft and mouth-watering bread is ready.
Bread with hop sourdough and honey
Preparing the sourdough
Take a glass of hop cones for 2 glasses of water, boil slowly until evaporated by about half. This will take about an hour. Remove from heat, leave to infuse for 8 hours, then strain and pour into a glass container. Add 1 tbsp. of honey and rye flour to the broth to the consistency of thick sour cream.
Put in a warm place (38-40 degrees) until the volume increases by 2 times. This will take about 4 hours. That's it, the sourdough is ready. Fresh sourdough can be immediately added to the dough for baking. It is stored in the refrigerator for 7-10 days, the sourdough from the refrigerator must be "revived" before use - add a little honey, water and rye flour and put in a warm place.
Making bread with hop sourdough. Ingredients
Sponge:
- ¼-⅓ cup sourdough starter
- 1 liter of water
- 1 tbsp. honey
- 1 tsp salt
- rye-wheat flour
Dough:
- rye-wheat flour
- bran
Preparation
For the dough, mix a quarter to a third of a cup of sourdough starter, a liter of water, a tablespoon of honey, a teaspoon of salt, and a rye-wheat flour mixture to the consistency of liquid sour cream. Place the dough in a warm place for an hour and a half.
Add bran and flour to the dough and knead until the dough comes away from your hands. The amount of flour depends a lot on the proportion, grade, etc. So add and knead gradually and be guided by your feelings. Divide the finished dough into loaves, immediately spread them into molds or form the bread on a baking sheet and cover with a towel so that it does not dry out. Put in a warm place, and when it rises, bake for 40-60 minutes over medium heat.
Rye-wheat bread with potatoes
Composition
- 280 g rye flour
- 225 g wheat flour
- 420-500 ml of warm water
- 15 g salt
- 60 g of pre-fermented sourdough
- 80 g boiled grated potatoes
Preparation
Rye flour should be mixed with sourdough and ⅔ of water. Add wheat flour, potatoes, salt, and the remaining water. Grease the mold with oil, put the future bread in. Cover with a towel, leave to rise for 8-9 hours (!). The bread should be baked at 180 degrees. This will take about an hour. When the time is up, you need to sprinkle the bread with water, you can use a regular spray bottle. To understand whether the bread is ready, you need to knock on it a couple of times and hear the sound of emptiness.
Buckwheat bread with cabbage pickle
Composition:
- 300 g unroasted buckwheat
- half a glass of water
- a third of a cup of cabbage pickle
- spices to taste
- 2-3 tbsp. l. oil
- nuts, seeds
Preparation
Soak green buckwheat in salted water for 5 hours. Then drain the water, rinse the buckwheat, add water, and blend the mixture with a blender until it has the consistency of very thick sour cream.
Next, add the cabbage pickle. The consistency should be like muffin batter. You want the dough to ferment slightly without yeast. Cover it with a thick towel and leave it for 8 hours. Bubbles will appear on the dough.
Add any spices to taste, a few tablespoons of oil, chopped nuts, seeds. Mix. Bake in the oven for about an hour at 180°C.
Barley-oat bread
Composition:
- rye flour 55 g
- oat flour 65 g
- wheat flour 270 g
- water 190 ml
- sourdough starter 180 g
- salt 6 g
- sugar 12 g
- vegetable oil 20 ml
Preparation
Mix three types of flour, salt and sugar, mix. Add sourdough to the flour, mix well. Knead the dough, gradually adding water. Everyone's flour and sourdough are different, you may need a little less or a little more water. At the end, add oil. Gather the dough into a ball and leave it under a towel for 2 hours. Then knead it well and leave it to rest for another 1 hour.
After that, place the dough on parchment in a baking dish and leave the dough to rise for 1.5 hours. Bake the bread at 190 degrees for about 40 minutes, the first 10 minutes with steam.
Donuts
Along with borscht, with which they are served, pampushki are a symbol of Ukrainian cuisine. The name "pampushki" has Italian and French roots, and their recipe is German. History shows that this dish was first invented and prepared in Ukraine, but it was the Germans who did it. Pampushki got their name in Odessa, from where the fragrant buns spread throughout Ukraine and became national. Usually pampushki are served with borscht, but they can also be used instead of bread.
Composition:
- 400 g wheat flour
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 12 g yeast
- 50 g vegetable oil
- 4 cups water
- 30 g garlic
- dill, parsley
Preparation
Dissolve yeast, sugar, salt and a quarter of the prepared flour in warm water, knead the dough. Leave the dough to rise. Then add the remaining flour, vegetable oil, knead well and leave it for another hour to rise.
Roll the dough into a sausage shape, cut into small, even pieces, sprinkle each with flour and roll into balls. Place them tightly in a baking dish.
Leave the buns in the form and let them stand for 20 minutes so that they rise. Brush with beaten egg and send to the oven, preheated to 200°C for 20-25 minutes. While the buns are baking, prepare the sauce. Mix the garlic with vegetable oil and water, add herbs. Brush the finished buns with garlic sauce and let them stand for a while.
Kalach
Interestingly, buttered kalach is mainly common in southern Ukraine. In the central and northern regions, it was made from unleavened bread dough.
Composition
Dough:
- 135 ml milk
- 245 g flour
- 1 egg
- 30 g sugar
- a pinch of salt
- 30 g butter
- 20 g yeast
- vanilla sugar
- 1 egg for greasing
- poppy
Pour the warmed milk into a bowl, add the sugar, and dissolve the yeast. Leave for 15 minutes until foamy. Add the eggs, flour, salt, and 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil to the yeast mixture. Knead a soft and elastic dough and divide it into 3 parts.
Separate one small piece from each part. Roll the three large pieces into thin sausages and braid them. Connect the small pieces of dough and roll them into one bundle. Lay the braid woven from the large pieces in a circle and wrap it with a thin rim of dough.
Grease a baking dish with vegetable oil, place the kalach on it, brush it with yolk and sprinkle with poppy seeds, leave to rise for 60-90 minutes. Bake the kalach in an oven preheated to 180 degrees for about 45 minutes.
Loaf
Wheat palyanitsa on the table symbolized happiness and prosperity. In Ukraine, any holiday or ceremony was not complete without it; it was a symbol of hospitality and a talisman. Wheat palyanitsa was more often eaten as a festive dish, because in everyday life, rye bread was preferred.
Dough composition:
- 250 g flour
- 150 ml of water
- 13 g fresh yeast
Dough composition:
- 150 ml of water
- 260 g flour 12 g salt
Preparation
For the dough, dissolve the yeast in water, add flour, knead the dough, form a ball, and cover with a towel to rise for 3-4 hours.
For the dough, mix the yeast mixture with the rest of the ingredients, knead until the dough is smooth in appearance. Transfer it to a greased bowl and leave to rise for an hour and a half.
After that, put the dough on the table, knead it, form a ball and place it in a bowl with the seam side up. Sprinkle it lightly with flour and cover with a towel.
The proofing process takes about an hour. During this time, preheat the oven to 250C and place a container of water on the bottom baking tray.
After rising, turn the dough onto a perforated sheet, make one cut around most of the circumference, about 2 cm deep, in the upper quarter of the loaf. You can brush the top of the loaf with an egg for a golden shiny surface, or you can lightly sprinkle it with flour.
Bake the first 10 minutes with steam at 250C, then remove the water, lower the temperature to 200C and bake for another 20-25 minutes.
Loaf
Preparing, or baking, a loaf of bread is an important wedding ritual. It was believed that the loaf symbolized the future life of the newlyweds, and if it was beautiful and neat, then everything would be fine in family life.
Composition:
- 15–17 cups flour
- 1 glass of milk
- 20 eggs
- 200 g butter
- 15 tablespoons of sugar
- 3 tsp salt
- 40 g dry yeast
You can diversify the taste with lemon zest, vanilla sugar, candied fruits, raisins, nuts, etc.
Sponge
Heat the milk, but do not bring to a boil. Pour it into a large deep bowl and mix with the yeast. Add 2 tablespoons of sugar and mix well to dissolve it in the milk. Then sift 1/3 cup of flour into the liquid. The dough should be slightly thick, like pancake batter. Sprinkle it with a little more sifted flour on top and cover the bowl with a dry, clean towel.
Leave it like this for about an hour. You can speed up the increase in volume of the yeast. To do this, place the bowl in an even larger container with warm water and replace the cooled water with new water several times during the infusion.
Dough
Separate the egg yolks and egg whites. Leave one yolk for greasing the baking dish. Grind the other 19 yolks with sugar and mix with the yeast mixture. Sift the flour, add 1–2 cups to the dough. Mix the rest with the yeast mixture and the yolks. Beat the egg whites until stiff and add them to the dough. Knead the dough with your hands or a wooden spoon. Add the salt and butter melted in a water bath to the dough.
Next, you need to knead the dough for a long time and thoroughly, at least half an hour, so that it becomes loose and elastic. When it stops sticking to your hands, transfer it back to the bowl, cover with a towel and leave in a warm place for 2 hours to rise.
When the dough has risen, shape the loaf. To do this, set aside about 800–900 g of dough for decoration. Form the rest into a large ball. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, place the dough ball on it, and moisten it with a little water on top. Continue to grease periodically, as the loaf may crack while the decorative details are being formed.
Decor
Experienced housewives attach the elements to raw dough, but if you are not sure that it will work the first time, attach the elements 15 minutes before the baking is ready. Then the elements will already be ruddy, but will not burn or lose their shape due to swelling. And to make the color successful - cover the elements with yolks.
Each decoration has its own meaning. Viburnum is a symbol of abundance and love; a braid is the sun and vital energy; spikelets are fertility and abundance; roses are love; leaves are youth; a pair of birds is a couple in love.
Baking
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees, mix the egg yolk with water and cover the loaf with it. Bake until the loaf is golden brown and do not open the oven until then, as the loaf will settle.
Remove the already browned pastry from the oven, cover it again with the egg yolk and water. Attach the decorative details and bake for another 15–20 minutes. Then turn off the oven, open the door, but do not touch the loaf for another 20 minutes.
Transfer the finished loaf to a tray, cover the top with a little butter. Or, alternatively, with water and sugar. Cover with a clean towel and leave until the wedding day.
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