Spiced Coffee Bread

Main dough:

⅓ cup fresh coffee, cooled to body temperature

1 tsp dry yeast

1½ TBSP sugar

Whisk together, and set aside. Let it sit for a few minutes until the yeast starts working. This is a good time to create the filling (see below).

Add:

1½ teaspoon olive oil,

⅓ tsp salt

1 cup white flour

1 tsp buttermilk powder

Mix quickly together with fingers or a wooden spoon. This is to take seconds, not minutes.

                                                                                              

Filling:

1½ tsp fresh ground coffee

2 TBSP half and half

1 TBSP white sugar

Contents of 1 Stash Licorice Spice herbal tea bag

1 tsp wheat gluten

Warning: this will be both ugly and messy.

Load these into a small-size food processor and blend for several minutes, until the particles are very fine.

(Optional: Let the bread rise once for 30 minutes; I don’t do this, but I hear it’s not a bad idea.)

Turn the bread dough onto a floured board and sprinkle more flour on top, on the sticky places. Press it flat (it should make a circle 10” – 12” diameter). Cover one half of the surface with ⅓ of the filling mixture. Fold the empty half over the covered half, and press flat again. Cover one half of this new surface with the second ⅓ of the filling. Repeat a third time.

(Optional: use half of the filling (¼ each time) in the first two cycles of this; roll the resulting dough flat and use the remaining half of the filling to coat the entire top surface. Roll the dough up with the coated surface inside; slice into 1” “coffee rolls” or raise and cook as a single loaf [see first photo].)

Using a dry pastry brush, dust the dry flour off of the loaf or rolls. 

(Optional: melt 1 TBSP butter and brush onto the top of the loaf/rolls. Then dust with powdered sugar.)

Shape into a roll: 1¼” diameter x 4 or 5” long. Let it raise for 30 minutes, or until doubled in size. Cook for 20 minutes at 350 degrees, or until done. 

Serves 2 or 3.