If You Like Outback's Brown Bread...

I have had several requests to share my CopyCat Outback Brown Bread. I adore Outback Restaurant's mini-loaves of brown bread. My mother-in-law kindly sent me a copycat recipe she had found. It originally called for a LOT of food coloring. I'm not real big on food coloring for health reasons and started tweaking the recipe so that it would be slightly more healthy. After about a year experimenting with the recipe, I came up with the recipe below. I lessened the sugar and honey, removed the food coloring and added the wheat germ and molasses. Whenever I make it, it just gets scarfed down. Best served fresh right out of the oven. It makes for a very flavorful, yet very tender bread. It's wonderful to include in a meal that you're taking to a sick friend. It's great with a hearty soup. I have made the bread with a greater portion of whole wheat than the recipe below without altering the texture and flavor too much. My attempt to use entirely whole wheat flour made for a really tough crust.

Charity's CopyCat Outback Brown Bread

Place the following into your bread machine in this order:

1 ¾ cup warm water
2 tablespoons butter, softened
½ cup honey
¼ cup blackstrap molasses
2 cups bread flour
1 2/3 cups whole wheat flour
¼ cup wheat germ
4 teaspoons gluten flour
1 heaping tablespoon cocoa
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon instant coffee
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon bread machine yeast

Run through your bread machine's Dough cycle. Do not bake
in the bread machine. Once the dough cycle has completed,
turn out dough onto a floured surface. Shape into one long
tube about 3 inches across and 16 inches long (very approx).
Cut into 8 equal sections. Place into greased or PAM-sprayed
mini-loaf pan. While I'm not one who is usually fanatical about
name brands, I have found that I get fabulous results with the
Pampered Chef stoneware mini-loaf pan. Let the mini-loaves
rise again and then bake at 350 for 20 to 24 minutes. These
are really yummy served with butter that has been whipped with
honey, orange juice and grated orange peel.

Enjoy!!! I'd love hearing about any alterations or experimentations
you come up with!

Charity