Molasses Wheat Bread

This bread machine loaf has more going on than your average wheat bread. Molasses gives it a dark, earthy sweetness. Powdered buttermilk adds tang and tenderness. And a quarter cup of Grape-Nuts cereal folded into the dough creates crunchy little nuggets scattered throughout the crumb. It’s a 1 ½ pound loaf that bakes up tall and stays soft.

The flour blend is two-thirds bread flour and one-third whole wheat, with a few teaspoons of vital wheat gluten added in. That gluten boost is important. Whole wheat flour has bran that cuts through gluten strands and can make bread dense and heavy. The extra gluten compensates, giving you a loaf that rises properly and has a soft, chewy texture instead of a brick.

Powdered buttermilk is a smart addition for bread machine baking. It gives the bread the tangy flavor and tender crumb of buttermilk without throwing off the liquid ratio. Fresh buttermilk would require adjusting the water amount, but the powdered form just gets mixed in with the dry ingredients.

Use the light crust setting on your machine. The molasses and buttermilk both contain sugars that brown fast, and a regular or dark setting can give you a crust that’s too dark and thick.

Pro Tips

• Have all ingredients at room temperature before loading the machine. Cold ingredients slow yeast activity and can result in a squat loaf.
• Add ingredients in the order your bread machine manual specifies. Most machines want liquids first, then dry, then yeast on top.
• If the dough looks too dry after the first few minutes of kneading, add water a teaspoon at a time. If too wet, sprinkle in a little more bread flour.

Variations

• Honey wheat: Replace the molasses with honey for a lighter, milder sweetness.
• Raisin walnut: Add ¼ cup raisins and ¼ cup chopped walnuts at the mix-in beep for a heartier breakfast bread.