A few weeks ago I did a multi-course southwest-themed meal, and used this recipe from Mark Miller's Coyote Café Cookbook. It's written for two bread-pan loaves, but I shaped mine into a long "Indian braid" to fit the theme, a shape the dough seemed particularly suited for since upon being played with, it kind of striated itself in a way that really did look a bit like hair. It was not only the prettiest loaf of bread I've ever made, it was one of the most successful in that nobody had ever had anything like it and everyone wanted the recipe. I served it with goat butter, which was a pretty special match, but it also made an addictive breakfast toast the next day. The flavor reminded Bob and I quite a bit of Sun-Maid brand cinnamon-raisin bread, something we both grew up on, without the raisins. And it looked like it too--that small amount of buckwheat (Bob's Red Mill, which is uncut where I think some buckwheat flours commercially available are actually mixed) produced a gray loaf.
To make the big, approximately 18" long loaf you see in the picture, I made .75 of this recipe though I might have erred on a measurement, as I had to add more flour than anticipated to get the right consistency so in effect I made more a less a full recipe and would follow his recipe, as is, next time. Last time I was concerned about having too much left over. After consuming this one? I'd be concerned about NOT having enough left over.
2 tblsp plus 1 tsp dry yeast (I just used one envelope)
2 cups warm water
1/2 cup dry milk (I don't own any and wasn't about to buy it, I just adjusted the warm water above to include milk)
2/3 c sugar
1/4 c buckwheat flour
5 1/2 cups bread flour
2 tblsp cinnamon
2 1/2 tsp salt
1 tblsp corn or canola oil
2 eggs whites (I skipped, wanted the dry flour look)
Grease two 4.5" x 8 1/2" loaf pans.
Sprinkle the yeast over the warm water and let sit approximately 10 minutes until bubbles form. In a mixing bowl, combine dry milk, sugar, buckwheat flour, 5 cups of the bread flour, cinnamon and salt. Add yeast misxture, and beat vigorously with hook attachment or by hand for 8 to 10 minutes until the dough is silky and resilient, adding more flour as necessary to keep the dough from sticking.
Place dough in a bowl greased with oil. Rotate the dough until coated; cover with plastic wrap and let the dough rise in a warm place for 30 minutes or until it doubles in volume. Punch the dough down and let rise for another 30 minutes.
Divide the dough in half and form into logs. Place into the prepared loaf pans and brush with whisked egg whites. Allow to rise further until bread reaches just over the lip of the pan (approximately 30-40 minutes). Make two diagonal cuts in the top of each loaf with a sharp knife and sprinkle lightly with more bread flour.
Bake in a preheated 400 F oven until the crust is a dark golden brown and the bottom of the loaf is hollow when tapped. Cool on rack.