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Molasses Country Bread

Contributed by: Chris WebAdmin. of RecipesNow.com

The comforting American foods of our childhoods-stews, soups, roasts, garden vegetables, pies, cookies, and cakes have been revised and updated for the modern kitchen.

Christopher Kimball, the founder and editor of Cook's Illustrated magazine and author of The Cook's Bible, has spent thousands of hours testing and perfecting his recipes to guarantee that they are both foolproof and delicious. In The Yellow Farmhouse Cookbook, he brings us the best methods for making timeless American country dishes, from baked beans to macaroni and cheese, applesauce cake to strawberry ice cream. There are also contemporary versions of recipes from long ago, including Pepper Slaw, Summer Creamed Corn, Sweet Potato Casserole, Crisp and Crunchy Fried Chicken, as well as desserts such as Blueberry Boy-Bait, Chewy Pecan Bars, Black and White Cream Pie, and Pineapple Upside-Down Cake. Master recipes, complete with variations, detail how to prepare chicken and rice, bean soups, baked potatoes, fruit pies, cheesecake, American layer cakes, and other classics. In more than one hundred illustrations, Kimball demonstrates techniques for coring apples, making a pie, choosing cuts of meat, and more. Equipment has been tested just as thoroughly as the recipes: from electric mixers to baking sheets to inexpensive knives and saucepans, you will learn which brands are best.

Kimball also shares fond memories of growing up on a small farm and charming stories of life in a rural town. You will meet Junior Bentley, who still plants and harvests with a team of horses; Rob Woodcock, who was known to harvest a Christmas tree with a shotgun; and Marie Briggs, the town baker, who cooked for her neighbor Norman Rockwell. You will be invited to the town's annual ox roast, share in the pleasures of making homemade apple cider and beekeeping, and learn about tending to an orchard and milking cows.

Christopher Kimball has compiled the foods whose tastes and smells will transport you to the country kitchen where he learned to cook as a child. The Yellow Farmhouse Cookbook provides not only a rare glimpse into the charms and idiosyncrasies of a small rural town, but recipes that bring alive its unique flavors and memories.

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The choice of flour for this bread is not crucial - bread flour is best - but you do have a few alternatives. Regular supermarket bread flour has a protein content of 12 percent to 13 percent, whereas the flour I prefer to use is closer to 14 percent.

If you wish to use this high-protein flour, increase the water in the dough from 1 1/3 cups to 1 1/2 cups, and I recommend that you knead the dough by machine. Hand-kneading with such a hard flour is quite difficult.

You might also try making this recipe with King Arthur all-purpose flour by decreasing the water from 1 1/2 cups to 1 1/4 cups. The results are good, although I find the bread to be a bit tougher in texture than I like.

Ingredients:

• The Sponge
  • 1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast (not rapid-rise)
  • 1 cup cool water
  • 1 cup bread flour
  • 1 cup whole wheat flour

Serving Size: Makes 1 Large Loaf