I had some pictures taken this week…. the kind of pictures where I had to pretend to be an actress with glossy lips and curled hair.
The kind of pictures where you have to look surprised and pleased and over the shoulder and don’t do that weird thing with your lips and open your eyes wider and tuck that crazy hair under the less crazy hairs and what the heck are you doing with your chin and please stop that…
Those kind of pictures.
Dumb.
Know what I learned? ย My forehead is huge.
When I was a kid my Dad made fun of me for having a huge forehead (thanks dad… it’s your fault anyway!), and I had assumed that I had grown into my large upper face region. ย I was wrong. ย Totally disproportionate. ย I’m reconsidering bangs. ย Please don’t tell my Dad…. the last thing I need is for that whole thing to start up again.
I tell you about my large forehead because it has everything to do with this loaf of bread.
Where my forehead is disproportionate to my face… this bread, with its six simple ingredients, is totally proportionate to… itself.
Wait.
See what I did there?
Forehead and bread.
Proportions are very important in a loaf as simple as this. ย The ratio of flour to liquid and leavening lends a distinct texture… in this case, darn near perfect.
This beautiful loaf is somewhere right between sweet and savory. ย There’s no sugar beyond the dark molasses. ย But lemme tell ya… just the molasses adds a really lovely and deep flavor.
Whole wheat flour and cornmeal lend to the savory aspects of the bread and give this loaf a great nuttiness and just a bit of crunch. ย I could totally see serving this bread with a hearty vegetarian soup for dinner or a cup of tea for breakfast. ย I spread my with Nutella. ย Duh… delicious. ย Then I spread it with cream cheese and my head just about exploded. ย Perfect.
Whole Wheat Molasses Bread
makes one 8×4 or 9×5-inch loaf
recipe from the New York Times
1 2/3 cups buttermilk or plain yogurt
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup molasses
Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 325 degrees F. ย Grease and flour an 8×4 or 9×5-inch loaf pan. ย Non-stick baking spray works well too.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, cornmeal, salt and baking soda.
In a small bowl whisk together buttermilk or yogurt and molasses.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold to combine. ย The batter will be slightly thick, but not dry. ย Spoon batter into prepared pan and place in the oven. ย Bake loaf for 45 minutes to an hour. ย Depending on how evenly your oven bakes, you might want to rotate the loaf in the middle of baking. ย Be careful though. ย Don’t manhandle it too hard or it might deflate.
When a skewer inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean, remove the loaf from the oven and allow to cool for 20 minutes in the loaf pan. ย Run a butter knife along the sides of the pan and carefully invert onto a wire rack.
Loaf will keep, well wrapped at room temperature for up to 4 days.
Serve with cream cheese, jam, salted butter or nutella.
214 Responses
Joy,
Do you think millet could be incorporated into this? Maybe sub some for half the cornmeal called for in the recipe? I love the idea of all these ingredients combined but I adore the added crunch millet brings to baked goods!
Diana
definitely add millet to this recipe! that would be delicious. sub some of the cornmeal and add millet! great idea!
OH. MY. [pause to take another mouthful]. GOODNESS. I whipped this up at 10:00 last night when I realized I had no bread left in the house and almost half the loaf is gone not 24 hours later (we won’t mention the [lack of] number of people in the household ;) ). It is the perfect combo of softness/crunch and sweet/savory. I didn’t have buttermilk or plain yogurt so I subbed in the same amount of 2% milk mixed with 2 Tbsp lemon juice and left it to stand and curdle for 5-7 minutes. SO fast to make, healthy, and truly delicious–a keeper for sure!! Thanks again Joy!! I might just have to start baking my way through your blog one day at a time…I’ve never had a problem with any recipe!!
This was horrible. It tasted like what hampster food smells like. Weird.
That’s strange considering I cut down on the amount of hamster food in the recipe.
Thanks for the wholesome recipe! I used ww pastry flour instead (ran out of regular ww flour) and it worked fine. (I had to add a bit more yogurt and I threw in some peaches for some subtle sweetness.) This is a healthy, dense bread that keeps you full for hours (and I am constantly hungry, so anything that keeps me full is a winner in my book). Plus, with only 6 ingerdients, all of which are staples, it’s going to be my go-to “I need something easy as filler” recipe. Thanks Joy!
I whipped this up in about 5 minutes and OMG – so delicious_ sweet, dense and just scrumptious. Had to try it with both salted butter and Nutella – both sooo good – thanks Joy :)
I made this a few days ago and do far have paired it with sweet potato soup and chili. Oh my! It was incredible. I used a coarse cornmeal, which added just a little texture. I will be making this recipe again and again!
Heyย recipeย looksย delicious!ย Howย wouldย Iย goย aboutย constructingย thisย withoutย usingย anyย dairy?ย I’mย thinkingย ofย usingย allย waterย andย bakingย powderย instead!ย Possiblyย turningย thisย intoย aย yeast-typeย bread?ย Amย Iย goingย tooย far?ย Gotย anyย ideas?ย Thanksย ladiesย :D
The buttermilk or yogurt is an essential acid in this recipe, I don’t think it would be the same at all with all water.
I love this recipe but have family that need gluten-free. Can you tell me how to adapt the recipe for gluten free. Thanks.
I haven’t made a gluten-free version of this recipe so I really couldn’t give you advice, except for maybe replacing any flour with a gluten-free one like Cup4Cup, but I really don’t know how it will affect the taste or structure of the final bread. Sorry I couldn’t be more helpful!
Thank you so so much for this recipe. I just love this bread. I made it with Greek yogurt (don’t know if that really changes anything in comparison with normal yogurt) and sprinkled on some milk after combining all of the ingredients as it seemed a touch dry. This is incredibly easy and simple to make for such a fantastic product. It’s great warm with a slick of butter or, my favorite, as a vehicle for a peanut butter sandwich. The bread is hearty and wholesome-tasting with just the right level of moisture. I can’t rave about it enough:)
What a wonderful recipe. The taste reminds me of a spiced cake I buy at the store sometimes. Am making this for the third time right now. The first time my bf said it smelled like fish, I think he meant there was too much baking soda in it.. Not a taste we are accustomed with, in the Netherlands, we mostly use baking powder. The second time I tried it with baking powder, which gave a whole different much denser result. So now I made it again, really paying attention as to not overdo it on the baking soda. I used treacle instead of molasses (which isn’t common here), which is less acidic. So I added a teaspoon lemon juice. And it worked! It’s delicious!
Hi
if i don’t have cornmeal, what would you suggest me to replace?
thank you!
This has become one of my favorite cool weather quick breads. The flavor reminds me of the brown bread in a can that I ate as a child, so I frequently add raisins and smear it with cream cheese. Thanks for a great recipe.