Anyone have a good recipe for the dark brown, nearly black, rich brown bread I seem to see mostly in brewpubs and taverns? I've tried a number of recipes from Beer bread through Pumpernickel but haven't found something that quite matches this bread. I'm assuming it has a bunch of molasses in it for color and sweetness.
Try [url=http://www.bartleby.com/87/r0045.html]Boston brown bread[/url] from Fanny Farmer's Cookbook, 1918. Delicious.
gary
And if a soda bread isn't what you're looking for, there's also a tradition of Irish treacle breads that are yeast-risen. I have this great little book from Irish baker Georgina Campbell, https://www.amazon.com/Best-Irish-Breads-Baking-Contemporary/dp/190316415X, with about a dozen variations of this type of brown bread.
Some are as simple as whole wheat flour, treacle (molasses), and yeast. Others add oats, fats, dried fruit, and of course Guinness :) If you're looking to explore a little, it's worth a read!
The Balllymaloe Yeast recipe and sub Guinness, Molasses and red malt to get the color you want. If you have been to Ballymaloe you know how great this bread is. You can make it with IDY too or sourdough like I do
http://www.davidlebovitz.com/ballymaloe-irish-brown-bread-recipe/
And here is my sourdough version
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/32740/if-ballymaloe-baked-sourdough-brown-bread-ww-scald-guinness-do
Here is a yeast version
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/32718/st-paddy%E2%80%99s-day-feast-sort-ballymaloe-100-ww-brown-bread-and-irish-ruben%E2%80%99s