Cast Iron
by: Marian Bull
July10,2021
3.5
16 Ratings
- Prep time 10 minutes
- Cook time 1 hour 1 minute
- Makes one loaf
Jump to Recipe
Author Notes
This recipe is adapted from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2007). It is hearty, healthy, moist, and just barely sweet. Be sure not to overmix.
A few notes:
- Use any flour you'd like; I like a mix of rye and white whole wheat, but you could also use spelt or regular whole wheat.
- Honey will work as a substitute for molasses; it will just yield a milder flavor.
- I measure flour by aerating it, scooping it with a spoon into my measuring cup, and leveling it off with the back of a knife.
- You can use a combination of milk and yogurt; just remember to add a bit of vinegar in proportion to your milk. —Marian Bull
- Test Kitchen-Approved
What You'll Need
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cupswhite whole wheat flour, measured as described above (I also like a mix of white whole wheat and rye, but use whatever you have on hand)
- 1/2 cupmedium- or coarse-grind cornmeal
- 1 teaspoonkosher salt
- 1 teaspoonbaking soda
- 1 2/3 cupswhole milk yogurt, or 1 1/2 cups whole milk + 2 tablespoons white or apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 cupmolasses
- 1 1/2 cupscranberries, chopped fruit, or nuts (optional)
- 1 pieceButter, for greasing the pan
Directions
- Preheat your oven to 325° F. If you're using milk, mix it with the vinegar and set it aside.
- Mix together your dry ingredients in a wide bowl (rather than one with straight sides; this makes it easier to mix). Whisk your yogurt (or vinegary milk) with your molasses.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients in 2 or 3 batches, stirring in round, sweeping motions. Make sure to incorporate the flour at the bottom of the bowl. Mix until just combined. The dough should fizz, subtly, like a science experiment. It will be thick! If you're adding in fruit, etc: Fold it in when there are still a few small pockets of flour.
- Slice a pat of butter into either a loaf pan or a 7-inch cast iron skillet. Put it into the oven until the butter melts. Remove, then swirl the butter around to grease the pan. Transfer batter into pan, without mixing it any further. (Be gentle!)
- Bake for one hour, or until a cake tester comes out clean when inserted. Touch the top of the bread: it should give a little bit, and feel supple, but it should still resist your touch and not feel like there's goo beneath there. Very important: Let the bread cool before you slice it. Yes, I'm serious.
Tags:
- Bread
- American
- Molasses
- Yogurt
- Cheese
- Vinegar
- Milk/Cream
- Grains
- Make Ahead
- Cast Iron
- Fall
- Christmas
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131 Reviews
indiagateflours July 10, 2021
This recipe is so hearty, light, and delicious. Loved it. For more whole wheat recipes check out this page: https://indiagateflours.com/recipe.php
Brynn March 23, 2021
I made Yogurt Molasses bread today. i used 2 cups of yogurt, 2tablespoons of apple cider vinegar and added 1/2 cup of toasted walnuts. Sprayed a 8 and 1/2 in. extra long ceramic quick loaf pan , lined with parchment paper. Also I baked loaf at 300 F. degrees for 1 hour and ten minutes.( I also added dried blueberries, sm. amount orange zest and orange oil.) Wonderful
maurerjc March 24, 2021
I like this idea of ACV and the orange zest/orange oil, thanks.
I'll have to try that next time!
Marlene August 18, 2020
Made the yogurt molasses bread yesterday. Super, super dense. Too dense! It would not incorporate all the dry ingredients so I added plain milk. Baked up ok not a pretty loaf. Any suggestions? It was good with herbed cream cheese. ##
maurerjc August 19, 2020
The 'dense' is one of the wonderful parts of this. You can always just add more yogurt. It won't throw the overall recipe off. :-)
Marlene August 18, 2020
Made the yogurt molasses bread yesterday. Super, super dense. Too dense! It would not incorporate all the dry ingredients so I added plain milk. Baked up ok not a pretty loaf. Any suggestions? It was good with herbed cream cheese.
Leticia June 19, 2020
Is this super super dense? I made it today and felt I had to knead it like a bread. I couldn’t just mix with a spoon. Am I doing something wrong?
maurerjc June 20, 2020
Yes, it's wonderfully dense! Intentionally! None of that light fluffy bread here! Enjoy, it is yummy!
JJGood May 4, 2020
Would this work/taste good made with pomegranate molasses?
maurerjc May 4, 2020
Oooo, that sounds delish! I don't know why not! Let us know if you do use that! It's a very flexible recipe.
Beth May 4, 2020
Sure. This is the kind of recipe you can play with. Hard to go wrong whatever you do.
Frances April 27, 2020
Lovely recipe. Simple to make and for this singleton a loaf lasted - deliciously! - over a week.
Ingrid M. April 12, 2020
I made this bread a couple of times. Easy and delicious.
I went to the store and purchased the organic yogurt that I always use but when I opened the container it looked different. Laugh if you must, but it turned out to be quark. Who ever heard of quark. Fingers crossed. Went ahead and made the bread. Turned out great.
jfoodie April 12, 2020
I love this bread but alas - no flour (APV, whole-wheat or anything) at any of the grocery stores for the past few weeks - can't even get online at KAF or Bob's Red Mill as they are all sold out too. Just finished our first loaf and want more.
I know the recipe says best to use at least a cup of APF but does anyone have any suggestions on alternatives? I have spelt, almond and i think a little rye flours left, and some whole wheat berries that i guess i could process into flour in my Vitamix.
Ideas?
maurerjc April 13, 2020
How about oatmeal? Or cornmeal? It's a pretty flexible recipe!
jfoodie April 5, 2020
wonderful! made in 7.5" square cake pan with 1c APF, 1c.whole-wheat, 1/2 c ground oats and polenta (instead of cornmeal) with 1 c dried cranberries and 1/2 cup chopped English walnuts and a mix of Greek yogurt thinned with buttermilk, plus molasses. This is the recipe a Dutch Dough Hook was made for!
Baked just under 1 hour until it pulled away from the sides of the pan. After about 20 minutes of cooling on wire rack i inverted the pan (came out cleanly!) and placed loaf directly on wire rack to continue cooling. Note that this recipe is totally addicting - once you make it your mind reels with the possibilities you can try the next time! I'm going to try a savory one next with herbs and see how that goes. I bet that if there are any leftovers (doubtful) getting stale i could slice thin and twice bake into crackers - they would taste similar to RainForest.
Beth April 4, 2020
I made it using white whole wheat & rye flour like recommended. Didn't realize my cornmeal was self-rising until it was in the bowl, but it didn't matter. Used mostly vinegar & milk with about 1/2 cup of sour cream, craisins, raisins and some chopped mixed nuts. It came out great, heavy but I expected that. Really good warmed up and slathered with butter.
Ellie L. April 3, 2020
Could this be used with all buckwheat flour? I am GF and Grain free and no almond or coconut flour. And, I was thinking of adding banana or pumpkin to the mix. Would that work? Thank you!
Kt4 April 6, 2020
I suggest you post your question in the "questions" area instead of comments so you'll be more likely to get suggestions :) I'll be following as I'm curious to know as well. Cheers!
Ellie L. April 6, 2020
Thank you!
Beth April 3, 2020
I only have flavored yogurt, can I use sour cream? Or part sour cream and part milk?
Emma March 23, 2019
This was a lovely, wholesome bread. Made it with honey in place of molasses and added chopped dried figs and hazelnuts. Really good toasted with butter for breakfast.
JJGood January 28, 2018
This was delightful! I made with 1 cup each all-purpose and whole wheat flours and 1/2 cup ground up oats, and subbed in whole, uncooked millet for the cornmeal. Reading everyone else's variations, it's fantastic to know this bread is so versatile. Looking forward to making it many different ways in the future!
Emily September 16, 2017
I folded in blanched slivered almonds, chopped hazelnuts, and blueberries tossed in flour. Put a mixture of oats, sesame seeds, and pepitas on top before baking.
Oaklandpat August 14, 2017
Many have posted about blackstrap molasses being bitter. Is there any consensus on what type of molasses is best in this recipe?
Mayra March 19, 2017
Made this today, 1.5 cup whole wheat flour + 1 cup rye flour, 2 tsp dill seeds.
It was so fast and easy to make! The bread came out pretty, delicious and smelling really good. Thanks for sharing this recipe :)
Kerry G. January 4, 2017
Made again, used 1 cup white, one spelt, and half cup dark rye. Added raisins and pecans, and subbed half molasses with barley malt syrup. Because the latter is lower in sugar than molasses, I also threw in a small handful of brown sugar. ALSO: had some sour cherry jam that I needed to use up, so I subbed in for portion of yogurt (just to make sure wet ingredients in proper proportion). Baked as muffins. SO DELICIOUS. This recipe is so versitile and so easy.
Pumpkiness December 17, 2016
I made this today with white wheat flour, full flavor molasses and a cupmof raisins. BIG hit! I even used a decorative loaf pan and came out like a charm.
