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You’re gonna appreciate this; a simple, authentic bread kvas that doesn’t need a concentrate! My hubby’s cousin, Angelina, shared this recipe with us. We’ve made it with rye bread and with black bread and both were so refreshing! New favorite for sure – thanks Angelina!
This kvass lasts up to a week in the fridge (probably longer, but it might start tasting kinda strong). You’ll notice it loses sweetness daily as it stands. I think it’s best after a full day in the fridge.
Bread Kvas is uber popular in Russia and Ukraine. You might compare it to a sweet, non-alcoholic beer. From my research, kvass only has up to 1% alcohol content (still probably not recommended for pregos). The longer it sits in the fridge, the more slightly “alcoholic” it gets, but it’s still considered non-alcoholic.
So if you drink it in the first day or 2, there is probably no alcohol in there yet. From what my readers have said, it’s best to store kvas in plastic soda bottles since they are designed to hold pressurized drinks. I like to release the pressure from my bottles 1-2 times a day because an over-inflated bottle just makes me nervous.
Ingredients for Bread Kvas:
2.5 gallons or 10 qt of water
1 lb or 9 slices of classic black, dark or rye bread
1 handful of raisins
1.8 lb (4 cups) of sugar
1.5 Tbsp of active dry yeast
3 large plastic soda bottles
How to Make Russian Bread Kvas: (best if prepared in the evening)
DAY 1:
1. Fill giant stock pot with 2.5 gallons of water (or divide it into two large pots) and bring to a boil.
2. While waiting, toast the bread slices twice on the darkest toaster setting. Yes. Seriously. Darker bread makes darker kvass. Toast bread either outside or in your garage or your house will get smokey. We learned the hard way :). It should look like the photo below.
3. When water starts to boil, remove the pot from heat. Add a handful of raisins and toasted bread to the pot, cover with the lid and let it stay overnight or at least 8 hours.
DAY 2:
4. Carefully remove toasted bread and discard it.
5. In a medium bowl, mix together 4 cups of sugar and 1.5 Tbsp of yeast, add them to kvas mixture and stir.
6. Cover with plastic wrap or lid and leave the mixture on the counter for another 6 hours, stirring every couple hours.
7. Discard floating raisins by scooping them up with a large spoon. Using strainer or cheese cloth, pour kvass into bottles, loosely cover with lid and refrigerate overnight. The following day once the bottles are completely chilled, you can tighten the lid.
P.S. According to my readers, it’s best to store kvas in plastic soda bottles since they are designed to hold pressurized drinks.
DAY 3: enjoy
DAY 4: enjoy
DAY 5: …..did it really last that long?
How do you make your kvass?
Easy Bread Kvas Recipe
Ingredients
- 2.5 gallons or 10 qt of water
- 1 lb or 9 slices of classic black, dark or rye bread
- 1 handful of raisins
- 1.8 lb 4 cups of sugar
- 1.5 tablespoons of active dry yeast
- 3 large plastic soda bottles
Instructions
DAY 1: (best if prepared in the evening)
- Fill giant stock pot with 2.5 gallons of water (or divide it into two large pots) and bring to a boil.
- While waiting, toast the bread slices twice on the darkest toaster setting. Darker bread makes darker kvass. Toast bread either outside or in your garage or your house will get smokey.
- When water starts to boil, remove the pot from heat. Add a handful of raisins and toasted bread to the pot, cover with the lid and let it stay overnight or at least 8 hours.
DAY 2:
- Carefully remove toasted bread and discard it.
- In a medium bowl, mix together 4 cups of sugar and 1.5 Tbsp of yeast, add them to kvas mixture and stir.
- Cover with plastic wrap or lid and leave the mixture on the counter for another 6 hours, stirring every couple hours.
- Discard floating raisins by scooping them up with a large spoon. Using strainer or cheese cloth, pour kvass into bottles, loosely cover with lid and refrigerate overnight. The following day once the bottles are completely chilled, you can tighten the lid.
DAY 3: enjoy
Notes
Finished a Kvass with Anadama Bread last night based on this recipe. It turned out quite well I think. But I have no frame of reference as it was my first. In any case thank you for your help!
And it will change in flavor every day as it stands! I’m glad you like it and it’s good to know that other breads work well.
This is the first time I had kvas and I liked it. It’s very different than American beers. The recipe was easy to do. But I thought the next time maybe I’ll try lemon peel or zest instead of the raisins. I think it may provide a nice citrus flavor. Any thoughts?
I’ve heard of lemon kvass but we haven’t tested it. I don’t see why not 🙂
use raisins they are like vitamins for the yeast, but you only need about 20 per gallon
Ok this is by far the best kvas I have ever made!!! Thanks so much for posting this recipe.. My husband said finally the real kvas 🙂
And thank you ladies for adding that little tip about blackening the bread in the oven (broiler) I was a little scared that it was too burned but turned out really good.
Inessa, that’s awesome!! I’m so glad you and your husband loved it! I’ll tell Vadim; he’s are resident kvas expert. 🙂 The first time my hubby was making this kvas, I was also shocked that we had to burn the bread that much! I gave him a hard time over it and made him call his cousin to verify.
Hi,
I’m in the process of making kvas for the first time. For some reason I’m not getting the foam you’re getting on the photos. I’m already up to step 8, and still no foam. Did I mess up?
Thank you.
It only foams when you stir it. The yeast is what causes it to foam like that when it’s stirred. It doesn’t really foam that way until you stir it. Does that help?
Oh, OK. I thought my yeast were on strike or something.
Thank you.
Natasha this kvas is very good! My grandma makes the best kvas and this is very similar to hers, thank you so much! I’m going to ask her for the recipe and try and compare these two. This one is very good and so easy!
So glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
Natasha – thank you for sharing this recipe. Question – which kvas do you think is tastier – this one or the one from your original recipe here (https://natashaskitchen.com/2010/07/09/russian-kvas-recipe/) ?
This one is a little sweeter, but if it stands for a few days, it gets quite a kick to it! I really think they are equal in flavor. We have been making this one lately since there is no concentrate required. This is our favorite.
My friend (one has actually been to Russia and has tasted kvass before) has yet to try it. But, in my opinion, the kvass this recipe makes is sweet and refreshing! It’s the first time I have every had it, and I’m not disappointed at all!
Oh, and there wasn’t any dark rye at any stores nearby, so I used a marble rye bread.
Thanks for the tip! It does get less and less sweet as the days go by. I’m glad you liked it! 🙂
How long should you stir the mixture after you add the sugar and yeast? Do you want to stir it until dissolved?
Yes, stir until they are dissolved.
I just made the kvas. and it turned out superrrrrrrrrrrr delicious!!!! Thank you so much for this amazing recipe=))
I live in Houston and have a hard time finding dark Russian style bread. I have to drive too far to the international store to get it. I bought some rye bread at our local grocery and toasted it. We’ll see what happens. As soon as I get a little better from this flu, I will make the Kvas. Can’t wait!!!
We also just used regular black bread with rye in it. Let me know hot it turns out and I hope you feel much better very soon.
My mama used to always make kvas with rye so that what I made my kvas/ your recipe with rye bread and it was really good. Thank you
My husband just made it again earlier in the week, and it’s almost gone. I’m glad that you liked it.
Natasha…This looks soo good!!!! Can I use instant yeast?
I haven’t tried instant yeast so I really can’t say. I’ll ask around, but I have no idea. Sorry.
actually if you use ANY beer yeast your kvas is better than made with bread yeast, black rye that tastes of molasses and BEER yeast= BEST kvas..
Thank you for the recipe…babushka would make this with black bread but she would also make another version with raisins. Do you have a recipe without the bread? I will definitely try making this…as children we would sneak into the kitchen and steal the raisins floating on top….mmmmm!
That’s cute; the raisins 🙂 I never thought to taste them! I don’t have one without bread. I’m still working on a lemon kvas though which doesn’t have bread and there’s the apple juice kvas that doesn’t require bread that I have posted. Check out the drinks section.
Hey, sort of off topic, but do you know any recipes for poppyseed strudel? You should definitely make a blog post for it if you do! :j
I don’t but that does sound really good! I’ll keep it in mind.:)
Do you have it covered when it’s sitting on the counter for 6 hours?
Yes, cover with the lid or plastic wrap. I added that little step to the post 🙂 Thanks!
hey does it really matter what kind of name brand, of bread you use?? like the “natures own”, do you think that would be a good one?
Any brand is fine. I just picked a black bread from Winco.
does the store kind have slight alcohol in it too??
You know, I don’t think so. I think homemade kvas becomes slightly, slightly alcoholic because the yeast settles at the bottom and the store one doesn’t seem to have that. The first couple days it probably has little-to-no alcohol content, but it does get a little stronger with each day because the yeast continues to work on the sugar in the bottle. But really, even after 5-7 days (if it lasts that long), it should still be less than 1%.
Hi everyone, I added a tip up there if you’ve already printed the recipe: Toast bread either outside or in your garage or your house will get smokey. We learned the hard way 🙂
Ha ha ha i learned this the hard way all my smoke detectors went off and i have three downstairs and one upstairs. So i switched it up , I placed bread on a cookie sheet and stuck it in the oven broiler high for about 3-4 minutes pulled it out flipped them and then i stuck it back in the oven. Got them blackened all at once and took less time. And I used to always use Pepsi bottles. Yes they are made for drinks with pressure before i used a sturdy plastic juice bottle and it exploded my entire kitchen was covered in freckles. That was not fun mopping the ceiling.
That’s a great tip to bake the bread. Oh my gosh!! it exploded? That’s wild. Ok, I’m going with all glass next time or pepsi bottles. Thanks for the tip. I wouldn’t like mopping the ceiling either!!
Like Fritz stated above, it is best to use plastic bottles designed for holding pressure. If I remember correctly soda/coke bottles can hold up at least 10x more pressure than the carbonated drink contains, and that’s a whole lot more than a kvass recipe can produce. And if something should happen it will be the cap that pops off. So essentially the cap can be viewed as a safety valve similar to what they use in industry on pressurised reaction vessels.
When in doubt point the top with the cap away from your face.. 🙂
It is no wonder that a plastic bottle designed to hold fruit juice or something similarly non-carbonated will rupture in no time. When using glass, I’d be careful only to use glass bottles designed for holding pressure, such as champagne/vin mousseux bottles (or high fermentation beer bottles but they are of course limited in volume). The glass is much thicker and the bottles are more sturdy than your average wine bottle.
When I was a student I was experimenting with brewing herbal beers, and foolishly put the broth containing *way* too much sugars and yeast in individual beer bottles, some of the high fermentation type, and some were the ultra cheap type which were very thin walled. I put them inside a closet, luckily, about a week later when watching TV in the evening there was a sudden, loud explosion and there room filled with a penetrating fermentation smell. One of the thin el cheapo bottles exploded and the glass shards actually penetrated the wooded closet door.
The high fermentation type held well, but when opened all the contents shot two meters high and none was left in the bottle.
So all this to say: plastic soda/coke bottles are your friend here, don’t use glass if you are not certain they were designed to withstand pressure.
Thanks for your delicious recipe btw!
NOOOO!! Don’t use glass!!! That can be extremely dangerous. As a homebrewer who has exploded glass containers before, I can tell you, the plastic is MUCH safer and less apt to explode. I’ve had to pull glass fragments out of the wood of my cabinets, deeply embedded from the force of explosion.
I’m guessing you could use glass bottles with a cork top? I would think the cork would pop out before the glass would explode….they sell these types of bottles at IKEA.
You know I haven’t tried that but I would hope it popped out before it exploded. :-O
I just printed your recipe and so excited on trying to make it. But why cant i use pepsi plastic bottles? I will let you know how it turned out…
I wouldn’t use pepsi plastic bottles. I haven’t tried using them but I’m afraid to. I think they’re too lightweight and have a higher risk of,… well, explosion. I’d either use sturdy plastic juice bottles or glass.
P.S. I posted an extra tip on the recipe to toast the bread outside or in the garage or your whole house will smell like burnt bread.
My other cousin tells me that he makes kvas in pepsi bottles and that they are made to hold pressure. I guess if you try it, do it at your own risk 🙂
when my mom makes kvas and doesnt have sturdy bottles, she puts them in pepsi bottles. when she notices that the bottles swell, she simply opens the top to let the “gas” out for a few seconds and closes them again. overnight, she leaves the cap just a tad bit loose to let the gas escape and not explode. lol. but kvas doesnt last long in our house. maybe 2-3 days max, so its still pretty good even when she kept opening the bottles…
I do the same thing; open the bottles when they get a little too inflated!
The plastic Pepsi bottles are less likely to explode than that glass jar. The Pepsi bottle is designed to hold pressure, the jar is not. Also, it it does explode, the Pepsi bottle will just make a mess while the jar will send shards of glass flying. Putting anything that will produce pressure in a glass container that is not specifically designed to hold in pressure is dangerous.
As for the recipe, I think I’ll try it out soon. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you Fritz!! That is a great point. I’ll edit the recipe to reflect what you said. Enjoy the Kvas!
Just reading through the recipes and comments here. And just so you know the glass jar won’t actually explode it will more likely crack and leak onto the floor or just break. The danger area is when you try to pick it up when the pressure is just under popping it and it breaks in your hand.
I know this from experience. I have been making fermented beverages for over 13 years now. I started in college in my dorm room closet.
Concerning soda bottles they will completely loose shape and won’t stand straight due to the bottom rounding out before popping and even then it will most likely shoot the cap of and that does go quite high and by then most of the liquid will have exited as well in the show.
As Fritz mentioned glass bottles can explode violently… I experienced it. However I was lucky that nobody was in the same room when one of my bottles exploded because it was enough to spread shards of glass throughout a 15’X20′ room.
You can get broken glass all over and the danger of it flying all over too.
Should use a water/gas lock as used in fermenting wine or beer. The safest
and preserves your alcohol content.
As often as we make kvas, we should invest in that! Where can I find one?
You can puncture a balloon with a needle and simply use a balloon as a cap. It lets pressure out slowly but doesn’t let the drink oxidize and loose flavor. It will also allow you to use any container without fear of explosion of the vessel.
That’s a great idea! Do you have to puncture the balloon? Thanks so much Bob 🙂
Elvira, we purchased the bread at winco; all the ingredients are easily accessible; that’s why I love this recipe!!
My husband attempted making kvass a few months ago…. It didn’t turn out too great. I think its because he didn’t use a good dark Russian style bread. We will have to try your recipe and see how it goes!
I tried making this recipe for Kvass and I skyped my Latvian and Russian friends a picture of what the kvass looked like and even a photo of Natasha’s kvass. They all said that it was too light in color and that it is not opaque in color. Here is a photo website they sent me to use for reference: http://www.photo-dictionary.com/phrase/4410/kvass.html#b
btw they said that it should taste similar to coca-cola and it is carbonated. And for those who are wondering if store bought has alcohol in it…. Yes it does. Anytime you have active yeast in a drink, it’ll eat sugar and produce alcohol as a by-product. So yes kvass does have alcohol but very little unless you keep it fermenting for a week or two and add more sugar. The process for this recipe is similar to home brewing. So if you can make this then congratulations you made your first beer lol.
Natasha’s recipe tastes good by the way. But according to my internet friends it doesn’t look like the real deal, homemade or commercial. And I personally don’t think it tastes anything like coca-cola.
It does clear up as it stands, but we like to drink it sooner or it gets too strong.
Kvas bought on the streets in Russia looks exactly like in the “Russian Kvas recipe” here, slightly lighter than this one thought. I’ve had it many times. I never though it tastes like coca-cola because it’s not so sweet and the flavour is different, completely unique. Looking forward to trying this recipe!
Definitely nothing like coca cola and much healthier than a coca cola; you’re right there is less sugar and it’s unique in flavor 😉
There are factory-made versions of kvas that do taste similar to Coca Cola, but they are not fermented but carbonated in the same way as most soft drinks. Natashas recipe results in real, homemade kvas. (I like both but prefer the homemade kind. I like the sweet, yeasty flavour).
I prefer fermented taste to carbonated as well :). My husband is going to make some again for Thanksgiving. He was planning on adding some dried apricots and cranberries besides just raisins to see what difference in flavor it will make.
It doesn’t seem as they describe because they describe manufactured kvass we can nowdays buy in any shop in Latvia, Russia etc. And they are right. But have to remember that there was a time when kvass was homemade drink and this is a way how our ancestry did it.
I’ve seen and tried a variety. There is a color spectrum when it comes to kvass. It all depends on the ingredients.
I loved this one.
Thank you Natasha!
Thanks Dasha! 🙂 I’m so glad you enjoyed it 🙂
Shaun,
You can add molasses to it to darken it.
There are a lot of Russians in America (our recipes are considered authentic Russian too! ^-^). To have good kvass- an authentic Russian could prepare it, it doesn’t necessarily have to be made on the geographic region ^-^
Dear Natasha, so refreshing to find your site and this recipe! I used to buy kvass from a huge barrel while travelling in Russia, it was indeed the most addictive lite drink. I am thinking to start making my own kvass at home for its probiotic health benefits, but I am wondering if there is a way to make a rye bread kvass with less sugar, or better without sugar? Will really appreciate if you can throw some light. Btw, finding so many traditional recipes I grew up enjoying as a child, is so….tasty. Keep up the great work!!
Hi Victoria, the yeast feeds on the sugar which helps to develop the flavor. Over time, the sugar is eaten up by the yeast and it becomes less and less sweet. I haven’t experimented with using less so I’m not sure how that would affect the fermenting process.
Kvass in Russia has different colors from light to dark brown and in the dark ages use to be an alcoholic beverage too. Still alcoholic in communities of old orthodox refugees and baptists from Russian empire to the Northern and Latin America.
Thanks so much for sharing! 🙂
I’ve tried several commercial kvas samples both in Russia and in the local Russian store. Because it is marketed as a soft-drink in most countries it cannot contain alcohol, even 1%. That is why commercial kvas nowadays isn’t even kvas, but carbonated malt extract. In the old days when they had the kvas-tanks outside it was real, fermented kvas. As is Natasha’s recipe. The more rye your bread contains (the blacker the bread), the darker the resulting kvas, but when you wait too long this will lighten too, such is the chemically reducing action of yeast.
To compare: in Belgium we have a sort of table-beer (Piedboeuf) that only contains 1% alcohol and children are allowed to drink, and is by many considered more healthy than sugar-loaded cola.
The children probably sleep well in Belgium. lol. 😉 Thanks for sharing!