Borodinsky bread facts for kids
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| Type | Bread |
|---|---|
| Main ingredients | a mixture of rye and whole wheat flour, yeast, salt, barley malt syrup, black treacle or molasses, coriander and caraway seeds |
Borodinsky bread (which is borodinskiy khleb in Russian) is a special kind of dark brown sourdough rye bread. It comes from Russia and is known for its sweet taste from molasses and its unique flavor from coriander and caraway seeds.
Contents
What is Borodinsky Bread?
Borodinsky bread is a very popular and traditional bread in Russia. It's famous for its deep, dark color and its rich, slightly sweet, and spicy taste. People often enjoy it with savory foods.
How is Borodinsky Bread Made?
This bread is usually made using a special mix of flours. Most of it is whole-grain rye flour, which gives it its dark color and strong flavor. A smaller amount of wheat flour is also added.
The bread also includes barley malt, which helps give it a slightly sweet taste and a darker color. Instead of regular yeast, it often uses a special sourdough starter. This starter makes the bread rise and gives it a unique tangy flavor.
To make it sweet and even darker, molasses is added. For flavor, salt is used, and the most important spices are coriander seeds. Sometimes, caraway seeds are also added, which gives it a slightly different aroma.
There's even a special "supreme" version of Borodinsky bread. This version is made with 100% rye flour, using both whole rye and white rye flour. This recipe was found in an old book from 1940!
Fun Legends About Its Name
There are many interesting stories about how Borodinsky bread got its name. Here are a few popular ones:
The Battle of Borodino Story
One of the most famous legends connects the bread to a big battle called the Battle of Borodino. This battle happened during the Napoleonic Wars. The story says that a woman named Margarita Tuchkova, whose husband was a general who died in the battle, started a convent on the battlefield. The nuns at this convent supposedly created the bread recipe. They made it dark and serious-looking for mourning events. The round coriander seeds on top were said to represent deadly cannonballs or grapeshot.
Another legend also linked to the Battle of Borodino tells a different tale. It says that a food cart carrying caraway seeds and rye flour was hit by a cannon. This forced local people to mix these ingredients together for the first time, creating the bread.
The Composer's Idea
A third story suggests that the famous composer and chemist Alexander Borodin brought the idea for the bread to Moscow. He supposedly got interested in local baking while visiting Italy. However, this story is probably not true because rye was not commonly grown in Southern Europe.
The Real Story
While these legends are fun, historians believe the name "Borodinsky bread" probably appeared much later, after 1917. There's no mention of this bread by name before the 1920s. The modern recipe we know today wasn't even written down until 1933! Before that, similar rye breads existed, but they usually used caraway seeds instead of coriander.
