A Guinness and millet based bread enhanced through the judicious use of molasses and chocolate – my latest foray into bread baking.  I was actually aiming to make a dark sourdough rye for my mother on Mother’s Day, but I could not find any rye flour at the local supermarket.  Which is, in my humble opinion, ridiculous!  You should not have to go to a specialty store to buy any other kind of flour, other then white, which they have about 5 different brands of.  Who needs 5 different brands of white flour?  Anyways, time was short, if I wanted to give my bread a few days to sour, and I settled for creating this alternative.  Nothing like a dark sourdough rye, but it has it’s own unique rich, deep flavors.  The interior of this bread turned out soft and chewy with crisp, crunchy crust.

Recipe makes 2 boules.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup cooked Millet
• 1/2 cup Molasses
• 3 tbsp Cocoa Powder
• 1 tbsp Salt
• 2.5 tbsp Dry Active Yeast
• 15 fl oz can of Guinness
• 1/4 cup melted Butter
• 1 cup warm Milk
• 1 cup Whole Wheat Flour
• 5 – 6 cups Flour

Directions:

1. Stir the yeast into the milk.
2. In a separate mixing bowl combine the millet, molasses, cocoa powder, salt, butter, and whole wheat flour.
3. Stir in the yeast/milk mixture.
4. Mix everything together for a couple of minutes.
5. Add in the remaining four, 1/2 a cup at a time, until the bread begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl.
6. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes.
7. Place the dough into a greased container, and store it in the refrigerator for a few days.  This allows the flavors to deepen and develop, but you can also choose to skip this step and bake it on the same day.
8. Remove the dough from the refrigerator, and divide the dough into two equal halves.
9. Roll each half into a large ball.
10. Place each ball into a proofing basket or set on a baking sheet, cover, and let rise (~2-3 hours if you have refrigerated your dough).
11. Preheat your oven to 400 F (~204 C).
12. Score your bread using a sharp knife or razor.  I attempted to score a vine and leaf pattern onto my boules.
13. Bake for about a hour.  You can bake your bread on a baking stone or within a thick pot.  Sprinkling your bread with water and utilizing a water bath will also help with ensuring the bread’s crusty exterior.