In Ukraine, bread is treated with special respect. Indeed it is always present in everyday and festive menus and has a special symbolic meaning for Ukrainians. That is why Ukrainians have prepared fresh bread at home since ancient times and passed down family recipes from generation to generation.
Flour is the main ingredient for making bread. Most often, Ukrainians used wheat, rye, and buckwheat flour, while corn and barley flour less often. In lean seasons, various vegetables were mixed into the dough, for example, potatoes, carrots, beets, etc. As for yeast, it was not part of traditional recipes and has been used in the last century, but instead, Ukrainians made sourdough based on malt, hops, berries, etc.
Today we bring to your attention 5 authentic Ukrainian bread recipes. Each of them has a unique taste and is worth cooking and trying.
Recipe 1 – Palyanytsya
Wheat palyanytsya on the Ukrainian table symbolizes happiness and prosperity. In Ukraine, wheat palyanytsya was used more often as a festive meal, so even today, it is associated with something festive.
Palyanytsya is a type of Ukrainian round-shaped bread; made chiefly of wheat flour. This bread has a trump crust on its top because you should make a semi-circular cut across the top third of the loaf before baking.
Ingredients:
- 250 g flour for dough
- 260 g flour for predough
- 13 g fresh yeast
- 150 ml of water for dough
- 150 ml of water for predough
- 1,5 tsp salt
Cooking
1. For predough, dissolve yeast in 150 ml of warm water and add 250 g of flour. Next, knead the dough, and form a ball. Cover it with a towel and leave for 3-4 hours.
2. For dough, mix the dough with the rest of the ingredients and knead the dough until smooth. Then you should leave it to rise for 1.5 hours.
3. After a while, knead the dough, form a ball, and put it in a bowl. Dust it lightly with flour, cover it with a towel, and let rise for about 1 hour.
4. Preheat the oven to 250°C (482°F) and place a container with water on the bottom baking sheet. Then turn the dough over onto a baking sheet, and make one cut across the larger part of the circumference, about 2 cm deep in the top quarter of the bread. Finally grease the top of palyanytsya with an egg for a shiny golden crust, or sprinkle it with flour lightly.
5. Bake the pie with steam at 250°C (482°F) first 10 minutes, then remove the water, reduce the temperature in the oven to 200°C (392°F), and bake for another 20-25 minutes.
Recipe 2 – Wheat-rye sourdough bread
This type of bread has an excellent taste; it remains fresh, and fragrant and does not get stale for a very long time. By the way, if you want to add a touch of spice to your food, we have a wonderful recipe for garlic bread here.
Ingredients:
- 200 g rye sourdough
- 100 g rye flour
- 300 g wheat flour
- 2 tsp salt
- 230 ml of water
- 1 tbsp. sunflower oil
- coriander or cumin to taste
Cooking
1. Sift flour, and add salt, coriander (cumin), sourdough, water, and oil. Then knead the soft elastic dough, leave it to rest, and rise for 2 hours, covering it with a damp towel.
2. Next, knead the dough once again and put it in a pre-oiled baking dish. Note that the dish has to be half-filled. Leave the dough in a warm place for 4 hours. During this time, the dough should increase in volume by about 2-2.5 times.
3. Now it’s time to heat the oven to 220°C (428°F); put a container with water on the bottom baking sheet. You should bake bread for 7-10 minutes. Then reduce the temperature to 180-200°C (356 – 392°F) and continue baking for another 30-40 minutes.
4. Put freshly baked bread on the surface and let it cool for at least 20-30 minutes.
Recipe 3 – Buckwheat bread based on cabbage brine
Buckwheat flour is not the most popular in Ukraine. More often, Ukrainians eat buckwheat as porridge, but bread made using this cereal based on cabbage brine turns out to have a unique taste and thus has a special demand.
Ingredients:
- 300 g unroasted buckwheat
- 125 ml water
- 85 ml cabbage brine
- 2-3 tbsp. vegetable oil
- nuts, seeds – to taste
- spices to taste
Cooking
1. First soak green buckwheat in salt water for 5 hours. Then rinse the buckwheat, add clean water, and whisk the mixture with a blender until very thick consistency, like sour cream.
2. Next, add cabbage brine, thanks to which the dough will ferment slightly without yeast. Cover the mixture with a thick towel and leave for 8 hours until air bubbles appear.
3. Lastly add your favorite spices to taste, vegetable oil, and chopped nuts and seeds. Mix everything thoroughly and transfer to the baking mold. Bake the bread in the oven at 180°C (356°F) for an hour.
Recipe 4 – Barley oatmeal bread
This bread is known for its soft, tender texture and rich taste. We will use 3 types of flour for cooking it, namely rye, oar, and wheat flour. These types of flour perfectly complement each other. For those who want to go further and diversify their cookbook even more, we have a mouth-watering pumpkin bread recipe.
Ingredients:
- 55 g rye flour
- 65 g oat flour
- 270 g wheat flour
- 190 ml water
- 180 g sourdough
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tbsp sugar
- 20 ml vegetable oil
Cooking
1. First mix three types of flour, salt, and sugar. Next, add sourdough to the flour and knead the dough, pouring in water gradually.
2. Then add oil and shape the dough into a ball. Leave the dough to rest under a towel for 2 hours. After, you need to knead the dough once and set it aside for another hour to rest.
3. Finally put the dough on parchment paper in a baking dish and leave it to rise for about 1-1.5 hours. Bake bread at 190°C (374°F) for about 40 minutes. Now let it cool.
Recipe 4 – Monastic rye bread
The recipe for monastery bread does not include a specific amount of ingredients. All products are added in such an amount that the dough turns out to be dense, but not too heavy. Indeed, these pieces of advice help give the bread its particular, incomparable taste.
Cooking
1. To prepare the dough, you need to take the old dough left from the previous baking and pour it with water in a ratio of 6 to 1.
2. Next, sift 1/4 of the rye flour and mix it with the sourdough. After that, sprinkle the predough on top with flour, transfer to the container and cover tightly with a lid.
3. Then, sift the remaining flour, knead the dough, and leave it to rise. Important: salt should be added to the dough.
4. Finally grease baking molds with oil and spread the dough to fill 2/3 of the height. When the dough rises to form edges, put the bread in the oven and bake until cooked.
5. After baking, leave the bread in a cold place and moisten the top crust with cold water or kysil (jelly).
These recipes of traditional Ukrainian cuisine will amaze you with the taste and aroma of the finished dish! Try to bake homemade bread on your own and treat your loved ones.
