A hearty brown bread sweetened with molasses, Colonial Bread is easy to make and is great for sandwiches or toast. Make a loaf of this delicious Southern brown bread today!
Why this recipe works
- A hearty brown bread sweetened with molasses
- The soft dough comes together quickly and is easy to shape
- Perfect for sandwiches and toast
This post came about through a misunderstanding on my part. I was leafing through my old recipe files looking for inspiration, and I came across a 3 x 5 index card for something called Colonial Bread.
Since I write a column on 18th & 20th century historical baking for OutlanderCast.com called How they made it, I thought I had found a recipe for bread baked in Colonial times.
Well, I was wrong.
Jump to:
A Southern bread staple
Looking at the recipe card I had uncovered, there's little evidence to show its origins, just a list of ingredients.
Considering this recipe contains molasses and cornmeal, two staples of baking in 1700s, I can be forgiven for thinking this recipe would be a modern version of a historical recipe. It's similar to another historic bread recipe, Boston brown bread, (which also contains molasses and cornmeal but is traditionally steamed).
What you need
You might call this a brown bread recipe because of it's...uhm...color. Most of the time, brown bread refers to breads containing whole wheat flour, but here it's the molasses that gives the bread its color. Brown bread with molasses will be sweeter than most whole wheat bread recipes, and the dough will be softer to work with as well.
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Along with the molasses, cornmeal and butter are included for flavor and texture along with the standard bread ingredients of flour, water, yeast, and salt.
How to make brown bread
Step 1: Make the dough
The inclusion of cornmeal and molasses adds an extra step to what is otherwise an easy brown bread recipe. The cornmeal needs to be softened before proceeding with making the dough.
In a small bowl, whisk the flour and yeast together. In a medium bowl, place cornmeal into a bowl and carefully pour in boiling water, stirring to make sure mixture is smooth (photo 1).
Stir in the molasses, butter, and salt. Allow this mixture to cool to between 100˚F to 110°F before adding the flour and yeast. You don't want to kill off the yeast before it has done its job so a digital thermometer is a handy tool to use.
Add the flour mixture to the bowl. Stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture forms a shaggy dough (photo 2). Transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead until the dough is elastic and no longer sticky, adding more flour as needed.
Transfer the dough to a bowl lightly sprayed with canola oil spray, cover, and place in a warm place to rise, about 60 to 90 minutes, until the dough has doubled in size (photo 3).
Step 2: Shape the loaf
Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and lightly knead for a few minutes. Pat the dough into a rough oval slightly less than the length of the loaf pan. Fold the top third over (like a letter), and use the heel of your hand to seal the seam. Turn the dough around and repeat with the other side.
Fold the dough in half, and press the seam again, pressing it down onto the work surface (photo 4).
Spray a standard loaf pan with canola oil spray, then transfer the dough to the pan. With a flattened hand, press down on top of the dough. This will evenly distribute the dough in the pan so when it rises it will have a nice, smooth shape.
Cover the pan, and place back in a warm place until it rises again, about 30 to 45 minutes. You’ll know if it’s been proofed enough if the dough has mounded (photo 5).
Don’t wait to pre-heat the oven after the dough has risen because waiting for the oven to warm can cause the dough to over-proof. If the bread has risen too much in the pan, it will deflate while baking. To combat this over-proofing, take the bread out, reshape, and allow to rise again, keeping watch this time.
Because this brown bread recipe makes a small loaf, it may not fill the pan completely, nor will it rise over the top of the pan. You can double all the ingredients to make a fuller, taller bread loaf.
Step 3: Bake the bread
Bake at 350˚F for about 30 to 35 minutes or until it’s brown (photo 6). The bread will sound hollow when tapped on the bottom, and should read at least 190ºF at its center when checked with a digital thermometer.
A 350ºF oven will give this bread a softer crust. If you want a firmer crust, bake at 375ºF and check after 35 minutes to see if it’s done.
Questions asked and answered
Here are some questions you might have...
Molasses is a sweetener, giving the yeast the food it needs to do its job. It's less sweet than honey, so the sweetness is more subtle, allowing the bread to be great for both sweet and savory toppings. It also gives a lovely light brown color to the bread dough.
Strictly speaking, wheat bread refers to bread made with whole wheat flour (that is, flour that contains the bran, endosperm, and wheat germ found in the grain). Brown bread can be whole wheat, or it can be made with bread flour and colored with molasses, as it is in this Colonial Bread recipe.
Pro Tip: Different bread shaping techniques
Techniques for shaping bread dough into a loaf are many and varied. From shaping a babka to braiding challah, fancy loaves are fun to make. But what about shaping a simple loaf of bread? I found the technique I use for this Colonial Bread on King Arthur Baking's Bread 101 shaping video.
The idea is to create a tight outer shell that the yeast can push against so the bread rises. The denser the dough, the harder the yeast has to work. Ciabatta dough is nice and soft, so large air bubbles form. All you have to do is stretch the dough in the pan sprayed with olive oil.
A dense whole wheat bread puts the yeast through its paces, and the structure is tighter. Colonial Bread is made with bread flour which creates a strong gluten network. Plus, molasses provides a lot of sugar for the yeast to convert to carbon dioxide, making those important air bubbles. It's important to have the dough's outside smooth and tight when shaping so that the yeast will be able to have something to push against to form the bubbles.
Warm homemade bread anytime
Having never tasted the original Colonial Bread, I can't comment on how closely this recipe comes. However, I can tell you that this version is easy and delicious!
The molasses not only colors the bread, but also adds a level of sweetness that's pleasant, not cloying. The cornmeal adds a hint of crunch (but just a hint!) that adds some complexity to the bread's texture.
Toasted and spread with salted butter and a touch of honey, this bread makes a wonderful breakfast or afternoon snack. It's also great for sandwiches, like turkey or peanut butter and jelly.
Having a warm loaf of homemade brown bread is easy and so rewarding.
It'll become a tradition, to be sure!
Slainté! L’chaim! Cheers!
Tammy
Related Recipes
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Recipe
Colonial Bread (Easy Southern Brown Bread)
Ingredients
- 1¾ cups bread flour, plus more for kneading
- 1½ teaspoons instant yeast, or Active Dry
- 3 tablespoons cornmeal
- ¾ cup water, boiling
- 3 tablespoons molasses
- 1½ teaspoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
- Make the dough: In a small bowl, whisk the flour and yeast together.
- In a medium bowl, place cornmeal into a bowl and carefully pour in boiling water, stirring to make sure mixture is smooth. Stir in the molasses, butter, and salt. Let the mixture cool down until it's between 100 °F to 110 °F. This shouldn't take long.
- Add the flour mixture to the bowl. Stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture forms a shaggy dough. Transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead until the dough is elastic and no longer sticky, adding more flour as needed.
- Transfer the dough to a bowl lightly sprayed with canola oil spray, cover, and place in a warm place to rise, about 60 to 90 minutes, until the dough has doubled in size.
- Shape the loaf: Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and lightly knead for a few minutes.
- Pat the dough into a rough oval slightly less than the length of the loaf pan. Fold the top third over (like a letter), and use the heel of your hand to seal the seam. Turn the dough around and repeat with the other side. Fold the dough in half, and press the seam again, pressing it down onto the work surface.
- Spray a standard loaf pan with canola oil spray, then transfer the dough to the pan. With a flattened hand, press down on top of the dough. This will evenly distribute the dough in the pan so when it rises it will have a nice, smooth shape.
- Cover the pan, and place back in a warm place until it rises again, about 30 to 45 minutes. You’ll know if it’s been proofed enough if the dough has mounded.
- Bake the loaf: While the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 350 °F. Adjust the rack so the bread will bake in the center of the oven.
- Uncover the dough and bake for about 30 to 35 minutes or until it’s brown. The bread will sound hollow when tapped on the bottom, and should read at least 190 °F at its center when checked with a digital thermometer.
- Turn the bread out onto a cooling rack and allow to cool to room temperature, about 30 minutes. Slice and enjoy!
