Tint the water
Measure 170 ml of water in total. Mix in a small amount of concentrated edible purple gel until evenly coloured. If using liquid colouring, count it within that 170 ml.
NIX STORIES / KITCHEN HORROR
NIX Kitchen presents · Halloween 2026
THE
WITCHING
CRUMB.
The loaf that should never have risen.
A golden crust. A heart of impossible violet. Pecans and raisins buried in a bread that has no business being this beautiful… or this unsettling.
Fictional Halloween story · Real PN100 baking guidance · AI concept illustrations, not photographs of a tested loaf.
✦ THE LOAF THAT SHOULD NEVER HAVE RISEN ✦ KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE BREADMAKER ✦ THE LOAF THAT SHOULD NEVER HAVE RISEN ✦ KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE BREADMAKER ✦
250 gFlour limit
50 gFruit + nut total
03Basic Raisin menu
4 hApproximate cycle
Chapter 01 / The disturbance
AT
03:03
IT BEGAN.
The house was silent. The kettle was cold. And somewhere in the kitchen, something knocked three times.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
From the breadmaker.
Which wasn't even switched on.
That was the first curious detail. The second was the faint purple glow underneath the lid. The third was the handwritten note on the worktop: “Do not slice until the moon is high.”
Of course, this is just a Halloween tale. But the recipe that follows is quite real—and the bread really is designed to be a gloriously unnatural shade of purple.
Incident report · fictional
Subject: one Panasonic SD-PN100. Suspected contents: flour, purple colouring, raisins, pecans… and an unusually active imagination.
03:03
The hour of the first knock
The next thing the kitchen heard was the measured scrape of a teaspoon. Something was preparing the ingredients.
AI fantasy illustration · Not an actual bake photograph
Chapter 02 / The gathering
EVERY
CURSE NEEDS
INGREDIENTS.
Nothing exotic. Nothing expensive. Only ordinary cupboard ingredients arranged as though a midnight ritual were about to begin.
Fantasy styling is decorative. Do not put candles or loose materials beside an operating breadmaker.
The spellbook · Check off as you prepare
THE
PURPLE
FORMULA.
Strong white flour for structure. A little butter for tenderness. Sweet raisins, buttery pecans and enough concentrated purple colouring to make a vampire reconsider breakfast.
The checklist works without JavaScript; when scripts are permitted, it also updates the progress indicator. Use food-grade colouring suitable for baking.
The Witching Crumb / Ingredients
0 of 9 gathered
Strong white bread flour250 gWater, including any liquid colouring170 ml
Fast-action / instant dry yeast1 tspUnsalted butter15 g
Granulated sugar1 tbspFine salt1 tsp
Purple gel food colouringStart ~½ tsp*Raisins, roughly 5 mm pieces30 g
Pecans, finely chopped under 5 mm20 g
*The colour dose is an experimental starting point, not a Panasonic specification. The amount needed depends on the brand and concentration. Use only suitable edible colouring; the baked crumb may be duller than the AI images.
250 gDo not increase flour
30 + 2050 g mix-ins maximum
170 mlTotal water + liquid colour
Chapter 03 / The ceremony
SEVEN
DARK
RITUALS.
The effects are theatrical. The instructions are practical. Follow the baking steps rather than the fictional ghost story when using your actual machine.
Load the pan
For the published Panasonic method: yeast → flour → butter, sugar and salt → coloured water last. Keep the 30 g raisins and 20 g pecans aside for the beep.
03.
Awaken Menu 3
Fit the pan and select Menu 3 · Basic Raisin. Choose a light crust if preferred; the programme takes about 4 h to 4 h 10 min. No cauldron, wand or incantation required.
The illustrated machine is fictional art. Use the actual controls on your SD-PN100.
Answer the signal
About 1 h 5 min to 1 h 35 min after starting, Menu 3 signals for additions. Add the chopped 30 g raisins + 20 g pecans and close the lid, following the machine's resume instructions.
Let it rise
Resist repeatedly opening the lid. The yeast builds the crumb while the small, soft additions distribute through the dough. A darker crust is normal; the violet surprise is inside.
Release the loaf
At the finish beep, stop the programme, unplug the machine, use oven gloves to remove the hot pan, then carefully turn the bread onto a cooling rack. Check for the kneading blade.
Make the first cut
Allow the loaf to cool thoroughly before slicing. Use a bread knife, watch for the blade, and reveal the coloured crumb and scattered fruit and nuts. Do not judge the colour by the crust.
The actual baking instructions · Safe, printable reference
THE REAL
RECIPE.
For everyone who came for the bread rather than the haunting: here is the complete, practical version.
Panasonic SD-PN100Menu 3 · Basic RaisinSmall loaf4 h – 4 h 10 min50 g additions
Ingredients · One small loaf
| Strong white bread flour | 250 g |
| Water, total | 170 ml |
| Instant dry yeast | 1 tsp |
| Unsalted butter | 15 g |
| Granulated sugar | 1 tbsp |
| Fine salt | 1 tsp |
| Purple gel food colouring | Start ~½ tsp* |
| Raisins | 30 g |
| Chopped pecans | 20 g |
Important: This recipe follows Panasonic's UK Menu 3 proportions, replacing its 50 g raisins with 30 g raisins + 20 g pecans. Purple colouring is a NIX experimental addition. No guarantee is made about the exact baked colour.
Print the recipe ↗The method in one minute
1. Make the 170 ml coloured water. Use water-soluble food colour and mix well.
2. Load the pan in Panasonic's recommended order: yeast, flour, butter/sugar/salt, then water. Keep fruit and nuts out for now.
3. Select Menu 3, Basic Raisin; set crust to Light if desired and press Start.
4. At the beep (around 65–95 minutes), add the combined 50 g finely prepared raisins and pecans. Close and follow the machine's instructions.
5. Bake to completion. Unplug and remove the hot pan safely. Cool fully on a rack before slicing.
NIX liquids-first note: If you normally load liquids first and yeast last, that is your personal variation. Panasonic's documented UK loading order is different; its instructions are used as the primary method here.
Always keep the combined fruit/nut amount at 50 g or less, and chop nuts into pieces smaller than 5 mm to protect the pan coating.
Reference: Panasonic SD-PN100 operating instructions and recipes, Menu 3. The original manufacturer recipe does not include purple colouring or pecans.
Chapter 04 / The impossible cross-section
SLICE
THE
DARKNESS.
Drag the reveal control. Watch an innocent-looking loaf turn into the thing that has been lurking inside it all evening.
Colour reveal · 52%
Reveal the violet crumb
Visual effect only: this is a single AI illustration shown in monochrome and colour. It does not predict the colour of your real finished bread.
Chapter 05 / The science beneath the spell
FOUR
HOURS
OF MAGIC.
04:10
Typical upper end of Menu 3 cycle. Not a live countdown or a promise of an exact completion time.
There's nothing supernatural about coloured dough: the strong flour forms a gluten network, yeast inflates that network, and the raisins and pecans interrupt it just enough to create delicious little surprises. The darkest mystery is whether the pigment retains its vibrancy after baking.
Preparation / Before start
Mix the colouring uniformly into the water; measure carefully and load the bread pan.
Rest and knead
The machine handles the dough, building the structure before the larger additions go in.
Ingredient alert · About 65–95 min
Open at the signal and add the chopped raisins and pecans: 50 g combined.
Rise and bake
The machine finishes the process. Keep the lid closed and let the dough do its work.
Finish · About 4 h to 4 h 10 min
Safely remove the loaf from the hot pan and cool thoroughly before cutting.
Chapter 06 / The first bite
IT LOOKS
EVIL.
IT TASTES
DIVINE.
Soft crumb, caramel notes from the golden crust, sweet little pockets of raisin and a buttery pecan crunch. Toast it gently the next morning, and add butter while it is still warm.
Or leave one slice on the kitchen counter and see whether it is still there at 03:03.
Concept styling only · No actual bread was photographed for this article
Final chapter / Do not open
THE
CUPBOARD
IS KNOCKING.
There is one final thing to discover. The cupboard door has been rattling ever since the loaf came out. Perhaps it's the flour. Perhaps it's the wind.
There is only one way to find out.
☠ OPEN THE CUPBOARD ☠THE LAST SLICE IS GONE.
On the empty plate lay a single pecan, a purple crumb… and a note written in flour.
“Same time next Halloween.”
Then, from behind the Panasonic, came three little knocks.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Field notes / For mortal bakers
QUESTIONS
FROM THE
CRYPT.
Will the bread actually be this purple?
Not necessarily. The images are heavily stylised AI concept art. Baking may dull or shift food colouring, and different brands have different strengths. Start with a concentrated edible gel and follow its directions, measuring any liquid colouring as part of the 170 ml water total.
Can I add more than 50 g of pecans and raisins?
Panasonic specifies 50 g for the SD-PN100 Menu 3 raisin loaf. Here, that is 30 g raisins and 20 g finely chopped pecans. Adding more is outside the stated recipe guidance and can impair the rise or damage the pan if pieces are too hard or large.
When exactly do I add the nuts and raisins?
At the audible manual-additions signal, normally around 1 hour 5 minutes to 1 hour 35 minutes after starting Menu 3. Do not add them with the initial flour and water. Close the lid and follow your machine's resume indication.
Do I need to use food colouring as part of the 170 ml?
For liquid colouring, yes: its volume should be included within the total liquid. Small amounts of gel have little effect on hydration, but mixing them into the measured water provides better colour distribution. Avoid non-food-grade powders and paints.
Why not add milk powder or lots of honey?
This edition is intentionally based on the UK Panasonic Basic Raisin formula, to isolate the colour and fruit/nut changes. Additional ingredients would introduce more variables in a first experimental bake.
How should I store the finished loaf?
Cool it completely, wrap or box it and keep it in a cool, dry place. For best texture, enjoy within about two days; freeze individual slices for longer storage. Avoid slicing while hot, which can compress the crumb.
NIX Kitchen · 31 October 2026
SWEET
NIGHTMARES.
Created for lovers of little breadmakers, enormous imagination and the kind of breakfast that stares back. The story is fictional, the recipe is a new experimental NIX variant and every fantasy image is AI-generated.
Return to the beginning ↑© NIX STORIES · A Halloween specialDesigned for accessible, responsive immersive publishingPN100 recipe source: Panasonic UK instructions
