Pepper Spice Bread

Pepper spice bread has a sweet, unusual flavor that makes it unique in the world of yeast breads. It tastes delicious fresh out of the oven and makes a great bread for morning toast. This recipe for pepper spice bread makes 2 round loaves.
Prep Time: 4 hours, 15 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Ingredients:
* 5 cups bread flour, approx.
* 1/2 cup sugar
* 1 tbsp active dry yeast
* 1 tsp salt
* 1 cup warm water
* 1/2 cup milk
* 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, soft
* 2 eggs
* 1/2 cup molasses
* 2 tsp ground aniseed
* 1 tsp ground black pepper
* 1/2 tsp allspice
* 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Preparation:
1. The first step to making pepper spice bread is to make the sponge. In a large bowl, mix together 2 cups flour, sugar, yeast, salt, water and milk. Cover bowl with plastic wrap or with a clean kitchen towel and set aside, room temperature, for 2 hours.

2. After this first rise, stir down the sponge and mix in the butter, eggs, molasses, aniseed, black pepper, allspice, and cinnamon.
3. Mix in enough flour to make a soft dough.
4. Turn dough out onto a floured board. Knead the dough for 10 minutes, adding small amounts of flour, as necessary, until dough is soft and not sticky.
5. Put dough in greased bowl. Turn dough over in bowl so that the dough top is also lightly greased. Cover bowl with plastic wrap or clean kitchen cloth and let rise in warm place for 1 hour.
6. Punch down dough.
7. Turn dough out onto board and knead for 5 minutes.
8. Divide dough into two equal parts. Shape each half into round loaf.
9. Put loaves on greased baking sheet. Cut a 1/2-inch X onto the top of each loaf.
10. Cover loaves with clean kitchen towel and let rise for about 45 minutes or until double in size.
11. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 45 minutes or until brown.
12. Cooled loaves can be bagged and frozen for later use.