Whole Wheat Molasses Bread

This unique whole wheat molasses brown bread gets its color and faintly sweet flavor from molasses. It’s incredibly soft and tender with a slight crumbly texture as it cools. This recipe comes from San Benito House in Half Moon Bay which has the BEST sandwiches and is a family favorite!

Earlier this year, I conducted an entire whole wheat bread bake off in hopes of finding a bread that would come close to the whole wheat bread I grew up eating at Garden Deli Cafe in Half Moon Bay.

And right after I published my post, my friend found a copycat recipe, just under a different name. Apparently San Benito House (the hotel that Garden Deli Cafe is attached to) published their recipe in the LA Daily News back in 1991.

I immediately tried the recipe the next day and can confirm–this is the whole wheat bread recipe I’ve been dreaming of! Though I had trouble finding a similar recipe because this is technically a brown bread recipe thanks to the high proportion of molasses. The original instructions are a bit vague, so I’ve tested the recipe several times and am publishing my final version here.

How I tested this recipe

Do you really need to let bread rise twice?

This recipe is truly so straightforward and simple–after reading through it, I wondered if I could streamline the recipe even further with just a single rise instead of two rises. (Tastes Better from Scratch was the only recipe in the whole wheat bread bake off that did this, and it seemed to work well.)

So I tested this bread as written with the original two rises, and also with a single rise. Below you can see from this side-by-side comparison: on the left, you can see the loaf with two rises got more height compared to the loaf on the right, which only had a single rise.

After reading up on the science, here’s why the second rise is key for getting a taller rise. When the yeast starts working in the bread dough, it’s basically eating sugar, transforming proteins and releasing carbon dioxide into the dough. These gas bubbles actually create space between the yeast and its food supply–the sugars in the dough.

So technically, one rise is technically enough to get a decent rise on the bread after the yeast gets one round of eating through the sugar. However, if we punch down the dough to reunite the yeast with its food supply, the yeast can continue to work during the second rise, which will improve the texture, flavor and height.

To be honest, both loaves tasted the exact same. So if you’re in a rush, you can skip the second rise–the main benefit of a second rise is mainly aesthetics: you’ll get a slightly rounder, taller loaf.

Could vital wheat gluten help with rise?

The bread served at the Garden Deli Cafe is also an oblong shape–the design of the recipe just doesn’t seem to be conducive to a tall rise. But I wondered if adding vital wheat gluten (an ingredient used once again in Tastes Better from Scratch) might help with the rise. Vital wheat gluten is adds extra gluten and protein to your bake and is often used in whole-grain loaves like buckwheat, oat and rye. It’s meant to help strengthen the structure of the bread while also creating a lighter texture and taller rise.

I added 1/2 tbsp of vital wheat gluten to one batch and while it looked extremely poofy on the second rise, the resulting loaf wasn’t significantly taller than the loaves baked without it.

Overall, I’d say–if you have vital wheat gluten on hand, it can’t hurt to add 1/2-1 tbsp to the your loaf. But if you don’t have it, no need to go out of your way for it!

To get more height, bake it in a loaf tin

Adding this tip after several commenters noted that they baked the dough in a loaf tin. So obvious in retrospect–baking the dough in a loaf tin will help with a taller rise since it can’t spread as much. Brilliant!

One commenter noted she baked the dough in a 9×5 loaf pan for 25 minutes. Another made a double batch of dough–one batch baked in a loaf pan, the other divided into 4 mini loaf pans. So many options for a nice

Ingredients

This whole wheat bread calls for simple ingredients. Just yeast, sugar, flour, molasses, oil and salt! I’ve included a few tips and substitution suggestions below.

• Active dry yeast: You’ll need one standard packet of active dry yeast for this recipe (2 1/4 tsp or around 7g). You can substitute instant yeast instead–simply add the same amount. Although instant yeast technically doesn’t need to be proofed given its finer texture, I still like to proof it in warm water with sugar just to ensure it’s still active. If you use instant yeast, your rising time may be reduced by 25% or so.
• Granulated or brown sugar: Because the small amount of sugar is only used to proof the yeast, feel free to use either granulated or brown sugar.
• All-purpose flour: This recipe uses a higher ratio of all-purpose flour to give the loaf its soft texture, mild wheaty flavor, and help with gluten formation. I suspect if you used all white whole wheat flour instead (in place of both the all-purpose and whole wheat flour), that could also work well!
• Whole wheat flour: Whole wheat flour gives this loaf a light wheaty flavor and heartiness.
• Dark molasses: The molasses is mainly to add flavor and sweetness to the loaf, so you can use any molasses you like the flavor of. I used the Wholesome unsulphured molasses from Whole Foods, but I also like Grandma’s original unsulphured molasses.
• Neutral oil: As always, any kind of neutral oil (such as avocado, canola, vegetable, grapeseed, etc) will work! You can even use olive oil if you like that flavor.
• Kosher salt: I always use kosher salt when baking. If you’re using table salt, I recommend cutting the amount of salt in half.

How to make this whole wheat bread

This bread is super easy to make! It takes around two hours to rise, but only about 5-10 minutes of hands-on time. I like making bread in my stand mixer with the dough hook, but you can also knead the dough by hand if you like–it only takes a few minutes.

Storage and serving tips

Let bread cool completely before transferring to an airtight bag or container. Bread will keep at room temperature for several days and in the fridge for at least a week.

I personally like to slice the bread and keep it in the freezer. Just pull out a slice whenever you want and pop it in the toaster for what will still taste like freshly baked bread!

Important tip: This bread has a nice squishy texture when fresh, but it will get a little crumbly in texture once it cools. I highly recommend using a serrated bread knife for clean slicing–otherwise it may squish or crumble as you cut into it!

My favorite way to eat this bread is toasted with a layer of peanut butter and jam! It’s also amazing as honey butter toast or your spread of choice. I also like it in savory applications as an avocado toast with an egg on top, or with some melted cheese and arugula. At Garden Deli Cafe, I often order their hummus sandwich on this bread.