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Whole Wheat Molasses Bread

January 7, 2011 by Joy the Baker 213 Comments

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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?  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.  I was wrong.  Totally disproportionate.  I’m reconsidering bangs.  Please don’t tell my Dad…. the last thing I need is for that whole thing to start up again.

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I tell you about my large forehead because it has everything to do with this loaf of bread.

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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.

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Proportions are very important in a loaf as simple as this.  The ratio of flour to liquid and leavening lends a distinct texture… in this case, darn near perfect.

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This beautiful loaf is somewhere right between sweet and savory.  There’s no sugar beyond the dark molasses.  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.  I could totally see serving this bread with a hearty vegetarian soup for dinner or a cup of tea for breakfast.  I spread my with Nutella.  Duh… delicious.  Then I spread it with cream cheese and my head just about exploded.  Perfect.

Whole Wheat Molasses Bread

makes one 8×4 or 9×5-inch loaf

recipe from the New York Times

Print this Recipe!

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.  Grease and flour an 8×4 or 9×5-inch loaf pan.  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.  The batter will be slightly thick, but not dry.  Spoon batter into prepared pan and place in the oven.  Bake loaf for 45 minutes to an hour.  Depending on how evenly your oven bakes, you might want to rotate the loaf in the middle of baking.  Be careful though.  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.  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.

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Categories: Bread, Breakfast, Buttermilk, Healthy, Recipes, Savory, Snacks

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Reader Interactions

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Questions
  1. Zoey

    January 7, 2016 at 11:10 pm

    Hi
    if i don’t have cornmeal, what would you suggest me to replace?
    thank you!

    Reply
  2. Tessa

    January 19, 2014 at 4:17 pm

    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!

    Reply
  3. Ana

    January 7, 2014 at 11:42 pm

    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:)

    Reply
  4. shirley

    June 17, 2013 at 5:37 pm

    I love this recipe but have family that need gluten-free. Can you tell me how to adapt the recipe for gluten free. Thanks.

    Reply
    • Paola Parsons

      June 24, 2013 at 12:27 pm

      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!

      Reply
  5. Preston - home cook

    December 10, 2012 at 4:19 am

    Hey recipe looks delicious! How would I go about constructing this without using any dairy? I’m thinking of using all water and baking powder instead! Possibly turning this into a yeast-type bread? Am I going too far? Got any ideas? Thanks ladies :D

    Reply
    • joythebaker

      April 3, 2013 at 3:32 pm

      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.

      Reply
  6. Lisa V

    October 24, 2012 at 3:21 pm

    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!

    Reply
  7. Caterina

    June 3, 2012 at 3:18 pm

    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 :)

    Reply
« Older Comments

Trackbacks

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    […] out on a responsibility and bake bread (we made both of these in my bread class; next week, french […]

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  5. Recipe: Whole Wheat Molasses Bread | Wherever I am, you are there also says:
    July 11, 2013 at 10:08 am

    […] a Joy the Baker recipe that has worked out pretty much perfectly for me. I’m talking about this one, for whole wheat molasses bread. I love that it requires only six ingredients and is relatively […]

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  6. Whole Wheat Molassas Bread « Erin's DC Kitchen says:
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