I wanted to make a bread with some maple sweetness to it. I varied it off of my mixer bread recipe.
I used the 1/4 butter instead of olive oil, and 50/50 white and whole wheat flour. I put in 1/4 cup of maple syrup instead of sugar to proof the yeast, and added another 1/2 cup in when I blended in the rest of the ingredients.
It didn't seem to need as much water, I assume because of the liquid from the maple syrup. I baked it for about 32 minutes. I think that in general, for best results, I should be baking my bread longer than the 20-25 minutes of my first experiments.
It ended up fluffy and delicious. It didn't taste much like maple, but it had a very pleasant mild sweetness to it. The top crust did have a mild maple and caramelized sugar flavor.
I intended this as a first step, but I think that it's a keeper as-is. It should also be a good base for other more complex breads.