9-27-2026 4:03am

Philosophizing About Food With Francine: Russian Borodino bread.

Lesley Misko Editor

by Francine Black

I first tasted this bread at a New Jersey restaurant when I was a child.

There was a small community of Russian emigrés who escaped their post-revolution country and settled there peacefully, farming the rich sandy Jersey soil. They built a beautiful golden-domed Orthodox Church where we often worshipped with our father.

After the service, we’d walk through the beautiful gardens and make our way to the small restaurant. Before we could even order our food, the waiter brought a loaf of black bread on a board, a fearsome looking knife and a bowl of butter to the table.

I don’t really remember the meals we were served but I’ve never forgotten that amazing bread.

My father spoke a smattering of Russian and often chatted with the parishioners. The sad story that an old Russian lady told us was of the Battle of Borodino during the Napoleonic Wars. General Tuchkov lost his life there and upon learning this, his widow, Margarita, built a convent on that site. The nuns henceforth baked black bread and called it Borodino bread as a testament to the widow’s grief. (I can’t vouch for the veracity of the tale).

The Russian waiter suggested enjoying the bread dipped in cabbage soup, slathered with salted butter or alongside a chunk of hard cheese. Today we’re trying it with butter!

Several friends have requested the recipe for this dark bread so I’m happy to share what I did. This is a two-day sourdough that begins with a preferment, a mixture of a strong sourdough starter, water, and pumpernickel rye flour.

Day 1:

You will add 250 grams cool water to a bowl. Stir in 175 grams of starter and then add 200 grams of the rye flour. Mix well until there is no dry flour visible.

Cover your bowl with plastic wrap and leave on your counter at room temp at least 12 hours, or up to 18 hours.

(I get it ready in the evening and then the following day, I use it to prepare the final dough.)

Day 2:

In a large bowl, stir the preferment into 280 grams of room temp water and then add: 350g white bread flour, 50g dark rye flour, 100g whole wheat flour, 16g salt, 60g barley malt syrup, 40g dark cocoa powder. This mixture can be worked by hand or in your Kitchen Aid mixer until there is some elasticity to show that the gluten has been activated. This is a wet dough. (If you don’t have the barley malt syrup, molasses works too.)

If you like the flavors of coriander and or caraway seeds, you can certainly add 4 or 5 grams during the day 2 prep. I did not this time. Instead I added a few handfuls of dried currents and chopped walnuts.

Cover and rest the dough in the bowl for an hour to allow it to autolyze fully.

Next step is to do 8 stretch and folds for which you’ll need to oil your hands. I use olive oil.

At this point the dough should return to your bowl and rest covered at room temperature for 3 to 4 hours. By now it will have doubled in size.

Baking:

Prepare 2 lidded cast iron loaf pans, by preheating them in a 450 degree oven for about 45 minutes.

Gently allow the dough to drop out of the bowl onto an oiled board or counter. Carefully eyeball it and cut it in half. Again working carefully, so as to not deflate it, sprinkle a bit of flour and fold the dough in on itself a few times to activate the gluten and to form it in a loaf shape.

Place the dough onto a square of parchment and carefully lower the parchment into a banneton for 40 minutes rest then lower the parchment and dough into the hot loaf pan. Score the top of the dough -- then the lid goes on and oven temp is lowered to 425 F.

First bake is 25 minutes. Then, remove the lids and bake 25 minutes more.

Remove pans from oven and loaves from pans and be careful because it’s hot. Cool the loaves on a rack. With sourdough it’s best to let the loaves cool completely before cutting.

Priyatnava appitita!

High in the mountains above Bally, where the dense groves of treetops seem to touch the sky, is Francine Black, Boyertown’s own version of chef Julia Child. Her daily activities reflect the things she most values: family and friends, music, and lovingly prepared food.