I Like It Black

Wherever I go I like to try the regional and traditional food. As long as it's safe, I mean... I have to know what I am eating and there are some things I would never touch even if eating them would make me a millionaire. I am being careful mostly when it comes to meat, but trying bread in most cases is absolutely safe.
So, trying different breads in different places I have come to the conclusion that very often bread eaten far away from home somehow is tasting better, at least for the first few days. After the first few days very often I notice it is not that good after all and I start to be missing my favorite bread from the bakery next to my place (next to my old place I should say, since I am speaking of Poland. I haven't been missing Belgian bread for a single day in my life and I will leave it with no comments. I love Belgian croissants, though.).
Anyway, trying all those breads that cannot really compete with the bread from "my" bakery I have discovered few that actually can. It's not that they would win, because they all are quite different, but I would place all of them together on the highest level of my private bread-podium.
But if I really had to pick a winner... Well, in that case the gold goes to the traditional Lithuanian bread (sorry, my favorite bakery round the corner).
You can get "Lithuanian Black Bread" in some supermarkets in Poland and it is not bad, even though it's not extremely nice either. But you can go up to the north-east of Poland, or even to Lithuania itself, and there you will get the real stuff (plus few other very nice regional treats and beautiful surroundings to spend time in) which is very well worth the trip . And when you are back home there is a big chance you will start trying to bake your own black bread - at least I did. And I must say it was not easy... I have tried quite a few recipes, and it never was what I wanted - until I tried a recipe for Peasant Black Bread out of a book that I brought many years ago from... the USA. It is not exactly the same bread, but close enough. Delicious. I love it, my kid's love it as well... OK, my husband does not love it, but actually I don't mind at all. That means that I can have more, so why would I worry? ;-)

Peasant Black Bread
(two loaves)

3.1/2 cups rye flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons caraway seed
2 packages active dry yeast
1 tablespoon instant coffee (powder or crystals)
3 teaspoons salt
2.1/2 cups hot water
1/4 cup vinegar
1/4 cup dark molasses
1/4 cup vegetable oil or melted butter
5-6 cups unbleached or all-purpose flour

Thoroughly mix rye flour, cocoa, sugar, caraway, yeast, coffee and salt in a large mixing bowl.
Stir in water, vinegar, molasses, and oil; beat until smooth.
Stir in enough unbleached flour to make a soft dough.
Turn onto a floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic (about 5-7 minutes).
Place in an oiled bowl; turn to oil top of dough. Cover, let rise in a warm place until doubled (about 1 hour).
Punch dough down. Divide in halves, shape each half into a ball and place on a baking sheet sprinkled with flour. Cover and let rise in a warm place until double in bulk (about 1 hour).
Bake at 180ºC 45-50 minutes, or until done.