Steakhouse Sweet Brown Molasses Bread Recipe (Just Like Outback!)

itsalwaysautumn.com

Alana Friedrich

4 tsp. Active Dry Yeast

1 cup warm water

1 egg

2 Tbsp. Butter, soft

¼ cup honey

3 Tbsp. Molasses

2 Tbsp. Baking Cocoa

1 tsp. salt

¼ cup Brown Sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour

2+ cups whole wheat flour

Start by mixing water, yeast, butter, honey, brown sugar, salt, molasses, baking cocoa, an egg, and some white flour in your stand mixer, using the paddle attachment. If you don’t have a stand mixer, mix this all up in a large bowl using beaters.

NOTE: if you haven’t used your yeast in a while, it’s a good idea to “proof” it first to make sure it’s still good. Just combine it with the warm water and let it sit for about 10 minutes to make sure it’s going to start bubbling/growing.

This second photo shows what it looks like once those ingredients are all combined - it will only take a minute or so. Then you’ll want to scrape down the sides of the bowl, switch to your bread hook, and start adding in a few cups of whole wheat flour (third photo).

The dough should mostly pull away from the sides of the bowl, and needs to knead for a good 7 to 10 minutes. If it starts sticking to the bowl too much, you can add some more flour to keep it looking like it does in the photo above. If you don’t have a stand mixer, use a wooden spoon to stir in as much of the wheat flour as you can, then add the rest in as you knead the dough for about 10 minutes, until smooth.

After kneading, turn the dough out onto a floured surface. If you kneaded in a stand mixer, knead by hand three or four times to form a tight ball. Cover it and let it rise in a warm place for 60 to 90 minutes, until doubled. If my house is cool I turn on the oven for just a few minutes to get it warm, then turn off the heat and slide the dough inside to rise.

Once the dough has doubled in size, separate it into 16 sections and form into balls. Place them in a greased 9×13 pan and let them rise, covered, for another hour until the dough balls have grown in size enough that they touch one another.

Bake at 350 for about 22 minutes until cooked through.

If you use food coloring, it can be hard to tell when the rolls are done, since they won’t get much browner than they already are. The easiest way to tell if they’re finished is to gently pull one roll away from the one next to it and check to make sure they look baked through. If in doubt, give them another minute or two. Better slightly overdone than doughy inside.

Here’s how I shape rolls. I cut the dough into 16 equal sections, then pick up one section in my right hand. I make a circle with the thumb and forefinger on my left hand, then gently push the dough piece through it, dusting it with flour if needed. Once I’ve pushed the entire piece through, I crimp it together at the bottom. That makes a nice tight ball.

After baking, I brush these rolls with melted butter and dust them with cornmeal. Delish!

Page footer