Recipe: Honey Wheat Black Bread (AKA Canadian Brown Bread)

HONEY WHEAT BLACK BREAD

"This loaf from King Arthur Flour, often known as Canadian Brown Bread, is dark and quite sweet, but pleasingly so; it's great with just a plain pat of butter.

This bread stays moist and delicious for at least four days. If you want a less sweet bread, just cut the honey to 1/4 cup and leave out the 1 tablespoon sugar. The bread won't stay moist as long, but it still will have a very good flavor. We also tried this bread with molasses in place of the honey, and it was very good."

1 1/2 cups (12 ounces) warm water
2 tablespoons unsalted butter or margarine, room temperature
1/2 cup (6 ounces) honey
2 cups (8 1/2 ounces) unbleached bread flour
1 2/3 cups (6 3/4 ounces) white whole-wheat flour
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 teaspoons instant coffee
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon powdered caramel color (optional)*
2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast

TO MIX THE DOUGH:

MANUAL/MIXER METHOD:
In medium-sized mixing bowl, or bowl of your electric mixer, combine all ingredients. Stir mixture together, using your hands, a spoon or your mixer, until dough forms a shaggy mass that begins to pull away from side of bowl. Knead dough, by hand or mixer, about 10 minutes, until smooth. Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, turning to coat all sides. Cover bowl and let dough rise until doubled in bulk, at least 1 hour.

BREAD MACHINE METHOD:
Place all ingredients into pan of your bread machine. Program machine for manual or dough, and press Start. Examine dough about midway through the kneading cycle; it should be soft and smooth, but not overly sticky. Adjust consistency with additional water or bread flour, as needed. Allow machine to complete its cycle (with a rise until doubled after kneading stops).

TO SHAPE THE LOAVES AND 2ND RISE:
Divide dough into 8 pieces. Shape each piece into a small log-shaped loaf. This dough is soft, so use flour or a non-stick vegetable oil spray on your hands. Sprinkle a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet with cornmeal, place loaves on the sheet and cover. Let loaves rise 1 hour, or until they look "puffy" but aren't doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Bake bread in a preheated oven 20 to 25 minutes. Loaves will appear slightly darker on the top when they're done. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.

*Caramel color and instant yeast are both available at kingarthurflour.com

Makes 8 mini-loaves
Adapted from: King Arthur Flour
Source: David Lewellen in Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, October 20, 2009