In Bali, the nectar of the flowers that hang from coconut palms is boiled to a sweet syrup, then set, making dark loaves of palm sugar.
The Baker Shelves of bread are stacked up along the walls of the Boulangerie Morieux: dense, dark loaves of rye; rustic sourdough rounds made with whole wheat and spelt; butter-rich, yeast-puffed croissants; golden-crusted baguettes with a honeycombed interior.
And do try the cakes: chocolate brownies, fig and toasted almond frangipan, dairy-free orange and dark chocolate loaf, and a flourless hazelnut cake.
The recipes in "Bread Alone" are skimpy but solid, like Plain Old Bread, pain de campagne and Patty's Cakes, dark chocolate loaf cakes that are mixed up in a saucepan and finished with an over-the-top caramel espresso sauce.
Sales of the breads -- hand-formed, all-natural, dark-crusted loaves once found only in small bake shops -- rose 10percentt last year, according to Mintel Consumer Intelligence, a market-research company, even as the rest of the industry cowered before the low-carb onslaught.
And mixed with walnuts they stud a dark quick tea loaf, which, out of season, can be made with pitted prunes instead of fresh plums.
We walked down St . Nicholas Avenueto a store with a red neon sign, where my father bought a small jar of something that looked like black beads, along with a loaf of dark bread.
And I could never come back to our rented flat without a baker's loaf of dark, moist multigrain bread.
There is a delicious dark chocolate and berry loaf or round, another one dense with cranberries, orange and walnuts, and another loaded with berries, cherries and nuts.
The resulting loaf is dark and has a mix of pull, sponge and chew.
