Borodinski
Form: Black brick
Country of origin: Russia
What distinguishes it from other methods of bread making: Dough made of rye mixed with wheat, seasoned with coriander seeds and cooked in a baking tin
Category of bread: (5) Numerous brothers and sisters, especially in regions where wheat is hard to grow: German bauernbrot; Polish pradnik; Dutch roggebrood; French pure rye bread
Particularity: Resembles a black brick, cut into slices; eaten with all dishes. The Russians eat great quantities of it.
Ingredients: Rye flour; whole-wheat flour; baker’s yeast or leaven; coriander seeds; malt syrup; salt; warm water
Russia
Traditionally, it is said the borodinski was born during the battle of Moskova (a river located north of the scene of the combat), which brought Napoleon’s armies up against those of Alexander 1st on September 7, 1812. Why borodinski? Because even if the French deem that they had the upper hand over the Russians and opened a large road into Moscow, the Russians saw it differently. They stood up to the French tyrant with a ferocious resistance and prefer to call the confrontation in question the “Battle of Borodino” (name of neighboring village). Borodino is there not a French victory. In fact, once the French took Moscow, empty because all its inhabitants had fled beforehand, they were obliged to withdraw in a hurry. We all know about the disaster that followed.
Borodinski is therefore partisan bread and resistance bread. The love that the Russian people have lavished on it for two centuries now demonstrates this national pride that no army has ever managed to overtake.
A black bread like darnitski, borodinski is the privilege and pride of Moscow’s industrial bakeries for the reasons we have stated. If history had gone the other way, they might well be eating crispy baguettes in Moscow today. Borodinski is highly acidic, due to the large percentage of rye (60%), which is counterbalanced by the malt and coriander seeds, which give it its distinctive flavor, and sometimes by the addition of barley, buttermilk or even yogurt.