This Oatmeal Molasses bread is as healthy as it is delicious. With just one tablespoon of added fat, lots of oatmeal and vitamin B rich molasses, this bread is soft, fluffy and a favorite when I make it for friends and family. Not to mention, molasses bread makes the best BLT Sandwich you’ll ever taste.
About This Recipe and Why It Works
Have you ever considered turning the Winter months into a food goal project? I suppose you could call it a New Year’s Resolution. Pick something that you’d like to master. Strengthen your kitchen skills.
January and February would be a perfect time to learn on a new culinary skill. Declare war on your nemesis food.
Decide on your task…make it once a week until you master the dish.
Me? I’m working on bread.
One of the unexpected benefits that resulted from my time in Culinary School was learning that I actually loved making bread.
I’ve been making bread as much as I can. I’ve become familiar with how the dough should feel and behave during each step of the the process.
And watching the dough come to life as it rises is truly rewarding. Homemade bread makes a mockery of the mass produced bread we buy on our supermarket bread aisle.
My favorite bread to make is this Oatmeal Molasses Bread. The aroma as it bakes is simply intoxicating. Not to mention the flavor and texture is out of this world.
Molasses bread is a wonderful dark, crusty fragrant bread, a recipe made famous from the bed and breakfast, Rabbit Hill Inn, in Lower Waterford, Vermont.
I found this Molasses bread recipe hiding inside one of my favorite bed and breakfast cookbooks, Dairy Hollow House.
This cookbook contains some of the best soup recipes you will ever slurp, and where there’ s good soup, there’s good bread. And if I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a hundred times, bed and breakfast recipes are some of the best comfort food recipes you’ll find.
Molasses bread is great for a breakfast toast served with eggs. Wonderful with an apple butter or jelly. Nice for lunch with a slice of Swiss cheese melted over it. And as a base for egg salad sandwich. And possibly the best bread to make a BLT sandwich – the best you’ll eat in your entire life.
I’ve also made this sweet molasses bread to make on of our favorite sandwiches with Ham with Manchego. You should check that one out.I’ve made this molasses bread recipe many times and it’s become on of our favorites.
Let’s take a look.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- All Purpose Flour: No need for anything special for this molasses bread recipe. You most certainly can use bread flour, but all-purpose flour works fine.
- Quick Cooking Oats: Instant oats are called for in this recipe as they are soaked prior to folding into the dough. They’ll absorb the liquid faster and better and will be a softer option than steel cut oats, which always require a longer cooking time.
- Dry Active Yeast: As opposed to quick rising yeast.
- Black Strap Molasses: You’ll find black strap molasses in the baking department. It’s processed differently than regular molasses. It’s more dense, thicker and a carries a somewhat bitter flavor.
How To Make Oatmeal Molasses Bread
- Step 1. In a Kitchen-aid Mixing bowl, pour the boiling water over the oatmeal and butter. Let stand 30 minutes.
- Step 2: In a small bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the lukewarm water and let stand to dissolve. 5 – 10 minutes.
- Step 3. Add the yeast, molasses and salt to the oatmeal mixture and stir well.
- Step 4. Using your Kitchen-aid paddle attachment, on low, stir in enough of the flour to make a kneadable dough 1 cup at a time, so that is still somewhat sticky to the touch. Switching to the dough hook, knead until smooth and elastic on power 4. About 7 minutes. Keep adding pinches of flour until the bread just starts to clean the side of the bowl. For me, I usually end up adding about 6 – 8 pinches. The dough will still be sticky.
- Step 5. Transfer dough to a large oiled bowl. Turn dough to coat and cover with a clean cloth.
- Step 6. Let rise until doubled. About 1 1/2 hours.
- Step 7. Punch the dough down and divide it in half. Note: Use a bench knife to divide the dough. It works like a charm.
- Step 8. Oil two 9 x 5 inch loaf pans. Shape the dough into loaves and place them in the prepared pans. Cover and let rise until doubled in bulk. About 40 minutes.
- Step 9. Bake the bread until crusty, about 30 minutes. Turn the loaves out of the pans onto a wire rack. Let cool.
Expert Tips and FAQ’s
The role black strap molasses plays is important here, making the bread almost as dark as pumpernickel and with a flavor all its own. Molasses is a key flavoring in many New England breads, such as Boston Brown Bread. A sweetening far more dimensional than plain old sugar or even honey. Sweetness with pleasantly subtle sour bitter under note of flavor.
The original recipe calls for Blackstrap molasses, which will give the bread a potent bittersweet flavor. I’ve used regular molasses, which will give the bread a milder flavor.
To substitute instant yeast (or rapid rise yeast) use about 25% less. This recipe calls for 1 Tablespoon of Dry Active Yeast. 1 Tablespoon weighs .5 ounces, so use 0.125 ounces of instant yeast. A kitchen scale is an excellent tool to measure this. You will also not need to prove instant yeast. Just mix it in with the water and continue with recipe.
The water should be between 100 – 110 degrees. Use a thermometer to determine if the water is the right temperature. If the water is too hot, such as 120 degrees, it will damage or kill the yeast.
Pro-Tip About Punching Down Dough: Punching down dough is a common technique in bread making. It deflates the dough and releases air so that you can form it into other shapes. Make a fist with your hand and push it firmly into the center of the puffy dough. Fold the edges into the center to make a rough ball. Then proceed with recipe instructions.
More Tips for Success
- Want more of a Steakhouse feel with the recipe? Simply divide the dough into 6-8 mini loaves and reduce baking time to about 10 minutes. Watch them close to make sure you don’t over-cook.
- Leave bread to rise in a warm spot. Cold places in your house will compromise the rising process. And could even stop it completely. You can even warm your oven to 200 degrees and then turn the oven off. Wait a few minutes and then place the dough in to rise.
Recipe for Sweet Oatmeal Bread with Molasses
I’m hoping you’ll give this luscious molasses bread recipe a try. It’s a rewarding project that your family will flip over.
And if you’re looking for more bread recipes, don’t miss my bread category. You’ll find lots of fun recipes including one of the most popular on my site for good old fashioned Banana Nut Bread.
More Homemade Bread Recipes
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Oatmeal Molasses Bread Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups boiling water
- 1 cup quick-cooking oatmeal
- 1 1/2 tablespoons butter
- 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
- 1/2 cup warm water 110 degrees
- 1/2 cup molasses blackstrap preferably
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 4 1/2 – 5 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
Instructions
- In a Kitchen-aid Mixing bowl, pour the boiling water over the oatmeal and butter. Let stand 30 minutes.
- In a small bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the lukewarm water and let stand to dissolve. 5 – 10 minutes. Add the yeast, molasses and salt to the oatmeal mixture and stir well.
- Using your Kitchen-aid paddle attachment, on low, stir in enough of the flour to make a kneadable dough 1 cup at a time, so that is still somewhat sticky to the touch.
- Switching to the dough hook, knead until smooth and elastic on power 4. About 7 minutes. Keep adding pinches of flour until the bread just starts to clean the side of the bowl. For me, I usually end up adding about 6 – 8 pinches. The dough will still be sticky.
- Transfer dough to a large oiled bowl. Turn dough to coat and cover with a clean cloth and let rise until doubled. About 1 1/2 hours.
- Oil two 9 x 5 inch loaf pans. Punch the dough down and divide it in half. Shape the dough into loaves and place them in the prepared pans. Cover and let rise until doubled in bulk. About 40 minutes.
- About 30 minutes into the final rise, preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Bake the bread until crusty, about 30 minutes or until an instant read thermometer inserted into the center of each loaf reads 190 degrees. Turn the loaves out of the pans onto a wire rack. Let cool.
Notes
Nutrition
Oatmeal Molasses Bread … It’s what’s for dinner.
Why Trust These Recipes? Lea Ann Brown has lived, worked and played in Colorado for 45 years. She has immersed herself in the Colorado Culinary space, is a Culinary School Graduate and publishes her Colorado food Blog, Cooking On The Ranch.
I’ve been making this bread for years, love it! I am going to try the trick of reducing the boiling water a bit next time I make it, as I usually have to add about a cup or more extra flour to make it clear the sides of the bowl when kneading (via Kitchen Aid). One trick for handling the dough, which is still sticky even with the extra flour, is to sprinkle just a thin skein of flour over the outside of the dough ball when freeing it from the mixing bowl to transfer it to the oiled bowl for the first rise.
Hi Joanne. Thanks so much for taking the time to send this note. This is such a great bread recipe. Please let me know how your adjustments go. Looking forward to hearing.
Woke up to snow this morning in the NEK so it was a perfect day to bake bread. I’ve used a similar recipe but this is the best! Used Crosby’s Fancy molasses, 2 cups of whole wheat King Arthur and 2 1/2 cups white King Arthur flour. Just delicious!! The Rabbit Hill Inn is 35 miles from me!
This is the best bread I ever made and ate. It’s not difficult and has simple ingredients. The instructions are easy to follow! Love love love this bread. I’ve been known to add orange rind, dates and dried cranberries to the bread but it stands along for flavor and a hearty bread!!!
Are the nutrition values for the whole loaf or just one slice?
Hi Cheryl. The nutrition values are for one slice. 12 slices per loaf. Let me know if you have any other questions.
This looks great — must have tons of flavor. Baking bread is so comforting, isn’t it? Even more comforting to eat it, though. 🙂 Good recipe — thanks.
This is a great “go to”, basic recipe. Easy to personalize. I used bread flour, one cup of which was whole wheat. And the molasses was “Fancy” – which is sweeter than “Blackstrap”. I only used 1/4 cup of it as I wanted it less sweet for sandwiches. I don’t have any machine for mixing, so it was tricky to know when to stop adding the flour, but as you said, it’s important to do so very little at a time. The dough was still a bit sticky. The end result is wonderful. Works great for sandwiches. Really love the recipe. Thank you.
You don’t know how much I appreciate your note. And to learn of the adjustments you made. This is one of our favorite bread recipes and as I think I mentioned on my website, really good for BLT Sandwiches. I need to make another loaf and soon. This week, my baking project is homemade hamburger buns.
Again thanks so much, for taking the time to write me about the bread.
Make it a delicious day.
First time I made this, I was a bit frustrated with the stickiness of the dough. The bread was great though. I used black strap molasses because that is all I ever use. I love it! I did not think it tasted bitter at all. Just made the recipe for a second time. I cut the water down to 1.5 cups of boiling water with the oatmeal and the dough was beautiful to work with! Still came out amazing. Also gave it an egg wash and sprinkled some oats on top for a shiny finish. Looks great and tastes great. Will use this recipe for the rest of my life.
Can this recipe be used with a bread machine?
Hi Monica. I wish I could answer this for you. I’ve never used a bread making machine before. I simply don’t know, or how to find out.
Made these for the first time today. What a great recipe! Thanks so much for sharing.
Thanks so much for letting me know Jenn. We love this recipe and I make it more often than any other bread recipe I have.
I must make this bread to bring back memories. We stayed at the Rabbit Hill Inn several times when the original owners John & Maureen Magee ran the inn, then again when their assistances bought it. The food at the Inn was always excellent.
Hi Karen. I’ve been to their website – it looks lovely. And lucky you to stay there. I’m sure the food was top notch – it just looks like that kind of place.
Hi Karen, Thanks so much for holding fond memories of your visits to Rabbit Hill Inn. We hope that this delicious recipe continues to rekindle your delightful times in Vermont. Hope to see you back here sometime in the future! Leslie & Brian (now in our 26th year as innkeepers at Rabbit Hill Inn). Yes, we are the folks that followed John & Maureen. 🙂
I just made this bread, Lea Ann, and it’s delicious. The molasses gives it a deep rich flavor and the texture is perfect. It will make great sandwiches and it’s wonderful toasted. I’m looking forward to making this bread often. Thanks for sharing a terrific recipe.
Hi Cathy, first of all, it’s really great t hear from you. Thanks for leaving the comment. I’m so glad you liked the bread. It’s most certainly a favorite around here. I’m curious, did you use blackstrap molasses? or regular molasses?
It’s been WAY too long since I’ve baked bread. A perfect project for this chilly Saturday! Yum!
Happy New Year Lea Ann!
I love making bread when it’s cold and boy has it been cold. Your oatmeal molasses bread looks like a great bread to bake next. Good timing. Plan to make more bread this weekend.
I heard about all that weather you received. And I’m sorry it missed us. Good to hear from you MJ. Stay warm. 🙂
I divided the recipes in half and made one loaf this weekend. Great recipe! A nice crumb and great flavor. I do use Blackstrap molasses, but then I do love Blackstrap. Loved the flavor that that much molasses added to the bread. We have used it for both chicken salad sandwiches and PB&J. Thanks for sharing this recipe Lea Ann!
Hi MJ and thanks so much for letting me know. Glad you liked the recipe, it’s been popular around this house and with my readers. I love your idea for chicken salad sandwiches. Much healthier than BLT’s. 🙂
Definitely a great looking loaf and your making me hungry with all the suggestions—Swiss cheese? Yes, please! Happy new year and I hope your holidays were merry and bright!
Happy New Year to You Debra. Always nice to see you stop in.
Love Dairy Hollow cookbooks all are great. Haven’t made this bread years but will make it again tomorrow thanks
Lea Ann, that’s a beautiful loaf! I love making bread – it’s my “thing,” you might say. Been making it since I was very young. I love kneading dough so only use my stand mixer when I’ve got other fish to fry! Even if I couldn’t, for some reason, eat it, I’d make it just for the smell!