I’ve had a few people ask for an oatmeal molasses bread recipe so I thought I’d break this good ‘ol recipe out of my vault of .txt files from about ten years ago. This recipe was one of my first forays into budget cooking. Back in the day, when I had first moved out on my own, I cooked a batch of this bread every couple of weeks. I’d eat one loaf that same week and the other would go in the freezer for the next week. I lived a very exciting life as a 21 year old, let me tell ya.
This is not a quick bread recipe by any means, it’s more of an all day event. Most of the time the dough is either resting or rising so it doesn’t take a whole lot of attention, just a lot of time. So, make it on a day when you’ll be at home doing other chores. Also, this might not be a beginners bread because the molasses makes it slightly more difficult to determine if enough flour has been kneaded in… but hey, I broke my bread making teeth on this recipe so maybe you can too!
This was literally the first time I’d made the bread in about ten years and it was slightly different than I remembered. But then, While writing an article about molasses, I realized the difference. Before, I used sorghum molasses and this time I used regular, dark molasses. Sorghum molasses is made from sorghum, while regular molasses is made from either sugarcane or sugar beets. Don’t get me wrong, they were both delicious, just slightly different. For more info about molasses, read What is Molasses?
Oatmeal Molasses Bread
Oatmeal Molasses Bread
Servings 12 (2 slices each)Ingredients
- 1 cup quick or old fashioned oats ($0.17)
- 1 1/2 Tbsp butter ($0.11)
- 2 1/4 tsp active dry or instant yeast ($0.18)
- 1/2 cup molasses ($1.10)
- 2 tsp salt ( $0.10)
- 2 cups whole wheat flour ($0.32)
- 4 cups all-purpose flour (more or less as needed) ($0.59)
Instructions
- Place the oats and butter in a large bowl and pour two cups of boiling water over top. Let rest for 1 hour to allow the oats to soften.
- In a small bowl, soak the yeast in 1/2 cup of warm water for 5 minutes. Add the molasses, salt, and dissolved yeast to the bowl of soaked oats. Stir to combine.
- Stir in two cups of whole wheat flour. Begin adding the all-purpose flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until you can no longer stir it with a spoon.
- Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and continue to knead in all-purpose flour until you have a soft, pliable, not sticky ball of dough. You want to knead for at least 5 minutes to properly develop the gluten and you should have added about 6 cups of flour total (whole wheat and all-purpose). The dough may be slightly tacky due to the sticky molasses, but it should not be super sticky.
- Place the ball of dough in an oiled bowl, loosely cover, and let rise until double (1.5 hours). Punch the dough down, divide into two, and shape into loaves. Place the loaves in oiled bread pans, loosely cover and let rise until they are about 1-2 inches above the rim of the pan (another 1.5 hours).
- Preheat the oven to 375°F. Bake the risen loaves for 35-40 minutes or until deep brown on the surface. Turn the loaves out of the bread pans and onto a wire cooling rack. Let the loaves cool completely before slicing!
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Nutrition
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Step By Step Photos
Start by placing the dry oats in a bowl with the butter. You can use either quick oats or old fashioned. I’ve used both with success!
Pour two cups of boiling water over top and let it soak for 1 hour. After one hour the oats will be very soft and pretty close to room temperature.
Soak the yeast in 1/2 cup of warm water for five minutes.
To the bowl of soaked oats, add the soaked yeast, molasses, and salt.
Stir it all up.
Stir in two cups of whole wheat flour. It will be a very sticky mess at this point.
Begin stirring in the all-purpose flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until you can no longer stir it with a spoon.
At that point, turn the dough out onto a floured surface and continue to knead in flour until you have a smooth, soft, ball of dough. Knead for at least 5 minutes.
This time, I used a total of almost 6 cups of flour whereas my notes from 10 years ago say 4 2/3 cups total… but I guess thats the difference between A) using a different kind of molasses and B) using old fashioned oats instead of quick oats. The point is that you have to use your judgement about how much flour is enough… which is why this may not be a beginners recipe. Also, due to the molasses, this dough tends to be stickier in general, which makes it even more difficult to gauge if enough flour has been added. But, anyway, somewhere around 5-6 cups total should do it!
Let the dough rise until double in size (about 1.5 hours) and then punch it down to deflate. Molasses is a slow fermenting sugar which is why it takes the yeast a little bit longer to do its job.
Cut the dough into two equal pieces…
And then shape each piece into a loaf. I did this by flattening each half into a rectangle (approximately the same length as my bread pan) and then rolling it up.
Place each shaped loaf into an oiled bread pan and let rise until it grows to about 1-2 inches above the top of the bread pan (another 1.5 hours)
When the loaves are nice and risen, preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Bake the loaves for 35-40 minutes or until they’re a deep golden brown on the surface.
Turn the loaves out of the pan and onto a wire cooling rack. Let the loaves cool completely before cutting or else they’ll look like this…
See, I didn’t wait until they cooled to cut them and so the hot, steamy bread gummed up on the knife and made a “pilled” surface. But, I was running out of daylight to photograph so I had to work quickly! Anyway, when I sliced up the rest of the loaf later, the crumb was beautiful and a perfect size. So let the loaves cool! I know it’s hard!
This bread is not super sweet as it may seem. It has a nice, deep, rich flavor with just a hint of sweetness. I love eating it for breakfast with either peanut butter or jam. It’s a very hearty, filling bread!
Love this bread!!! While it is not an easy and short bread to make, the two loaves last all most a month in my house. I seperate the loaves in two and freeze them, since I have not comverted the rest of the familly to the bread!!! Means more for me!!!!
Hey I was wondering how to convert this to a bread machine- at least up to the actual baking (letting the machine do all the work then shaping and baking it myself). This sounds like a wonderful recipe and I can’t wait to try it : )
Honestly, I’ve never used a bread machine, so I can’t advise you on that. :(
Hi, just curious about what size loaf pan I should use. Made the recipe.. Tasted great but didn’t seem to rise as much as the pictures. I’m not sure if my pan was too big or I need more patience :-)
Mine is a basic loaf pan, 8.5″x4.5″. Depending on the temperature in your house, you may just need more patience. :)
Hi! Ive been baking this recipe for the past half year and im both the envy and the hero of all my friends. We just love how this comes out!
I followed it again today at my parents home in mexico and it came out awful: thick, sour, not fun. This city is at about 7000ft over sea level, do you think that has something to do with the results? I followed the exact same steps you have here, which are the steps ive been following at my home (pretty much at sea level).
Any advice?
Thanks for such an awesome recipe!
Yes, I would guess that the elevation has something to do with it… although I’m not well versed in high altitude cooking, so I’m not sure how to fix it. :( (for reference, I live in New Orleans, which is at/below sea level)
Could one use a stand mixer for mixing instead of by hand?
Probably, with a dough hook, although I’ve never done it myself so I don’t have any suggestions. :)
Just made this bread and it turned out fantastic! It has a great, unique flavour. I made it using my Kenwood mixer and used black treacle instead of molasses as that’s we have here in the UK. Will definitely make it again. Thanks for the recipe!
Wow, this bread is amazing! Gobbling some down right now! :)
I made this today and it is so so great! Perfect for fall- french toast, breakfast or even at lunch with a soup. And easy too! I posted this recipe to my facebook and I very seldom do that so you know I’m impressed. Thanks!
Lindsay – Yes, I think that you could use oil without any major texture or flavor changes. The butter is such a small part of this recipe that I think you’ll be fine :)
Do you think I can substitute oil for the butter in this recipe?
I am just blown away by all of the awesome recipes you have! And the effort you put into costing and pictures and explanation is really great. Excellent work!
So I just made this bread today and I am looking over the recipe again and I noticed that I skipped a rising step. Right after kneading I put the dough in the pans to rise then baked it. it turned out great!
I’ve had this recipe bookmarked for ages. Today I finally made it – and it’s my first time ever making bread. I LOVE IT! I had to try a piece right out of the oven, but will let the rest cool.
Oh I just wanted to add that I had to knead this by hand because it was “climbing” my dough hooks. But trust me it is totally worth the little bit of extra work :)
I have had this recipe saved on Pinterest for a while but just got around to making it today. It is AMAZING! I followed the recipe exactly except for adding 1/2 cup flax seed meal in place of 1/2 cup of the flour. It came out perfect… taste, texture, everything is perfect. I have already had 2 slices and had to stop myself from eating more. My husband and daughter also love it. This is going to be my main bread from now on. Thank you SO much for sharing this with us.