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or other cereal beverage, or cocoa. You can use dark liquids like coffee or prune juice, or the broth left after you steam raisins. Other ingredients that will darken bread: boiled, blended raisins, cooked black beans, black molasses. Carob, like any of the others, can shout if you don’t use a light hand, and weigh down the loaf as well. Just a little, though, as in the recipe that follows, will do a great job of darkening the dough.

We were interested to learn that the traditional “black” breads were really brown, taking their color from the wholegrain flours of which they were made—rye or buckwheat, for example. In preindustrial days, oftentimes whole wheat flour was bolted to extract white flour for the upper classes, and then the poor folks’ “black” bread was dark because it included extra bran and wheat germ.

Dark Rye Bread

2 teaspoons active dry yeast (¼ oz or 7 g)

1 cup warm water (235 ml)

3 cups whole rye flour (385 g)

4 cups whole wheat bread flour (600 g)

2 tablespoons carob powder (18 g)

2 ½ teaspoons salt (14 g)

½ teaspoon caraway seeds

1 cup tepid water (235 ml)

2 tablespoons honey (30 ml)

2 tablespoons cider vinegar (30 ml)

2 tablespoons oil (30 ml)

1 cup more tepid water to knead (235 ml)

Tender and caky with the oil, slightly chewy without it—no one will guess that the rich color and round flavor come from carob. A good all-around loaf for sandwiches of any kind, this is a light bread, and a good keeper.

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Mix the flours, carob, salt, and seeds. Mix the liquid ingredients, except for the last cup of water.

Stir the yeast, then the vinegar mixture, into the flours gradually, using enough liquid to make a very stiff dough. Add any remaining liquid, and then the cup of water as you knead, making the stiff dough gradually soft.

Form the dough into a ball and put it smooth side up in the bowl. Let it rise in a draft-free place until a ½-inch poke from your wet finger does not fill in. Press flat, form again into a smooth round, and let rise again as before. The second rising will take about half as long as the first.

Deflate the dough and form into two 8″ 4″ pan loaves, or three hearth loaves. Let them rise in a warm place until the dough slowly returns a gently made indentation of your wet finger. Put the loaves into a preheated 350°F oven for about 50 minutes. This bread does better if you do not slash the loaves; it is a good candidate for the cornstarch glaze.

Sour Corn Rye

¾ cup cornmeal (90 g)

¾ cup boiling water (175 ml)

2 teaspoons active dry yeast (¼ oz or 7 g)

¼ cup warm water (60 ml)

3 ½ cups whole wheat bread flour (525 g)

2 cups whole rye flour (255 g)

2 tablespoons caraway seeds (16 g)

2 ½ teaspoons salt (14 g)

1 ½ cups yogurt (350 ml)

2 tablespoons cider vinegar (30 ml)

¼ cup oil (60 ml)

2 tablespoons honey (30 ml)

½ cup water (120 ml)

A delicious bread: the flavor delights, almost surprises and delights, with every bite. Outstanding sandwich bread, scrumptious toasted—and it keeps well, too.

Stir the cornmeal into the boiling water and set aside, covered.

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Mix the flours, seeds, and salt in a bowl.

Mix the yogurt, vinegar, oil, and honey into the corn mixture, stirring until smooth.

Stir the cornmeal mixture into the flours, then stir in the yeast. Use your hands to work the ingredients together into dough, adding more water if required. The dough should be quite stiff. Knead for about 5 minutes, dipping your hand every 10 strokes or so into the extra ½ cup of water so that you gradually work it into the dough. The dough will become quite soft: stop kneading when it gets dramatically sticky. This should take about 15 minutes, but whatever the timing, once the dough gets sticky, stop kneading.

Form the dough into a ball and place it smooth side up in the bowl. Cover and keep in a warm, draft-free place. After about an hour and a half, gently poke the center of the dough about ½ inch deep with your wet finger. If the