Bread Machine Breakfast Bread

Everybody has a favorite bread recipe, and this is mine.

You don't need to use a bread machine if you don't have one.  In fact, for this recipe, I use the machine just to mix and knead, and for the first rise.  The loaf shaping, second rise, and baking I do manually, because the heaviness of this dough doesn't work in my machine, which is biased toward white bread.

You should already know how to make homemade bread, because you won't find any procedure here.  If you haven't made homemade bread by hand before, trust me, start with a basic white bread recipe, not this one.

I call it breakfast bread because it's dark (not real dark) and heavy and can be sliced very thin. It's perfect toasted and spread with butter or orange marmalade. It's also great for canapés if baked in a Pullman pan (but try finding one of those).

This recipe is secret, and is going into my book, so don't give it to anyone.  If I ever find it published in a cookbook or article somewhere, without credit, I'll hunt you down and hurt you.

The recipe uses 4 cups of dry ingredients, so you'll need a good-sized machine (such as a Zojirushi).  If yours isn't large enough, buy a bigger one.

Breakfast Bread

1 1/3 c dark beer (room temperature)
3 T dark molasses
2 t salt
2 t cocoa powder
2 t coffee powder
3 T homemade or natural peanut butter
(the oily, unsweetened kind)
1/3 c Scottish oats (or oat bran)
2 1/3 c white unbleached bread machine flour
(or 2 c unbleached flour and 1/3 c gluten)
1 1/3 c wheat flour
2 ¼ t yeast

If using a machine, add the ingredients in the order listed. Use the "make dough" setting, or equivalent, and finish manually, unless your machine can handle dark breads well.

If baking in the oven, bake for 40-45 minutes at 375°F.