Whole Wheat Bread, sweetened with molasses

Sweet sassy molassey! I just really wanted to type that and luckily for me, today I made up a loaf of sandwich bread sweetened with molasses. So I have an excuse (although perhaps there is no real reason to ever say that).


I have a nice, smaller Zojirushi bread machine and it does pretty good work. My only complaint is that my go-to recipe for it, a 100% whole wheat bread, is pretty dense. I had a bit of extra time this morning and found this recipe. It turned out awesome, there's no refined sugar or flour in it, and bonus--no kneading and only one rise! I used the dough hook on my stand mixer to do the kneading for me.

I used the molasses option to sweeten, which is just sweet enough and gave the loaf a pretty hue, almost a pumpkin bread color. I'm excited to try the other sweetener options.


Thanks to King Arthur flour for this awesome recipe!

Whole Wheat Bread

Ingredients:
1 to 1 1/4 cups lukewarm water*
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup honey, molasses, or maple syrup
3 1/2 cups King Arthur Premium 100% Whole Wheat Flour
2 1/2 teaspoons yeast, or 1 packet active dry yeast, dissolved in 2 tablespoons of the water in the recipe
1/4 cup nonfat dried milk
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
*Use the greater amount in winter or in a dry climate; the lesser amount in summer or a humid climate.

In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients and stir till the dough starts to leave the sides of the bowl. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased surface, oil your hands, and knead it for 6 to 8 minutes, or until it begins to become smooth and supple. (You may also knead this dough in an electric mixer or food processor, or in a bread machine programmed for "dough" or "manual.") Note: This dough should be soft, yet still firm enough to knead. Adjust its consistency with additional water or flour, if necessary.

Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl or large measuring cup, cover it, and allow the dough to rise till puffy though not necessarily doubled in bulk, about 1 to 2 hours, depending on the warmth of your kitchen.

Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled work surface, and shape it into an 8" log. Place the log in a lightly greased 8 1/2" x 4 1/2" loaf pan, cover the pan loosely with lightly greased plastic wrap, and allow the bread to rise for about 1 to 2 hours, or till the center has crowned about 1" above the rim of the pan. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 350°F.

Bake the bread for 35 to 40 minutes, tenting it lightly with aluminum foil after 20 minutes to prevent over-browning. The finished loaf will register 190°F on an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center.

Remove the bread from the oven, and turn it out of the pan onto a rack to cool. If desired, rub the crust with a stick of butter; this will yield a soft, flavorful crust. Cool completely before slicing. Store the bread in a plastic bag at room temperature.

Yield: 1 loaf.

Hands Off Bread

If you live in the Anchorage, Alaska area, you may be familiar with Europa Bakery's amazing rustic bread offerings. You may also be (painfully) aware of the highish prices. This recipe, from the How to Cook Everything iPad app, mimics the yeasty, crusty, and chewy goodness of a high-end loaf of bread, but without any kneading. Yup, no kneading. It does take some foresight to make this bread, and it's a little messy. The original recipe in no way prepared me for how much flour needed to be added after the original mix. But it was worth it. Plus, you can make a fun heart-shaped loaf of bread like me. OK, heart-ish shaped. The recipe name in the app is Jim Lahey's No-Work Bread, but that name conjures up a different Jim Lahey, the drunken trailer park manager in Trailer Park Boys. So I retooled the name a bit.

Hands Off Bread

Ingredients
4 c. bread flour, plus
1/2 t. yeast
2 t. salt
2 c. water, about 70 degrees F

Combine the flour, yeast, and salt in a large bowl. Add the water and stir until blended (it's going to be goopy, don't worry). Cover the bowl with saran wrap and let rest for 12-18 hours (see what I mean about foresight?).

Flour a work surface. Give the dough a stir with your hands then plop it out onto the prepared surface. It's going to be pretty sloppy still. Sprinkle liberally with flour and work it in with your hands until the dough can kind of hold a round shape. I promise, this is nothing like kneading and goes really fast. Cover the dough loosely with saran wrap and let rest 15 minutes.

Using more flour to keep the dough from sticking, quickly shape it into a ball. Coat a cotton, non-terry cloth dish towel with corn meal and plunk the dough on it. Sprinkle more flour on the top to keep it from sticking and cover with another towel. Let rise another 2 hours, until it's roughly doubled in size.

At least 30 minutes before you are ready to bake, preheat your oven to 450 and place a covered baking dish (mine was heart-shaped) in the oven. When the dough has risen, pull the dish out of the oven, place the dough in it, and bake covered for 30 minutes. Remove the cover, reduce temperature to 425 and cook another 15 minutes.