Am trying to make a dark rye loaf like you’d find on a stall or in a shop. Not the really dense ‘pumpernickel’ style but round or oblong tin shaped.
Have tried various percentages of strong dark rye, muscovado sugar and black treacle but the loaf is still not that dark. I did try some cocoa in one loaf but that just gave an odd colour.
Am using a Panasonic bread machine and in over 5 years it’s only ever produced a couple of duff loaves - which were down to me (forgetting yeast, mixer blade or water) and often use it for the dough function and then finish in oven. Am not averse to resorting to full manual though if needed.
Any ideas?
TIA
It might be that the bakers of the really dark stuff are using a caramel colouring, I have seen a couple of recipes that use it: https://artisanbreadinfive.com/2008/10/26/pumpernickel-bread-how-to-make-your-own-caramel-coloring/
I could imagine it might be popular with commercial/artisnal breadmakers as people think darker breads are healthier breads.