Oatmeal Molasses Bread

I made this bread earlier in the week to accompany a soup (Mushroom Barley Stew, to be exact). Unfortunately there are no pictures, as my camera seems to have finally died. It's a dark bread, very dense, with just a hint of sweet. Very good for soaking up broth. If you're making it for a savory stew, omit raisins.

Difficulty: Easy-to-medium (involves kneading)
Eat Rating: Good. Not great. But decent enough. It was good with the stew and subsequent leftovers, but I probably wouldn't make it on its own.

From Cooking Light, October 2003
Yield: 2 smallish loaves

2 cups buttermilk
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup unsulfured molasses
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 3/4 cup all-purpose flour (LN: Due to a shortage of all-purpose, I used 1 3/4 cups)
1 cup whole wheat flour (LN: I used 2 cups whole wheat flour)
2 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup raisins
1 tbsp yellow cornmeal

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Combine buttermilk, oats, molasses and oil in a bowl and mix well. In a separate large bowl, combine flours, sugar, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Add buttermilk mixture and stir until moistened. Add in raisins. Let dough sit for 2 minutes.

Divide dough in half. On a floured surface, knead one half the dough with floured hands for about 1 minute. Shape into loaf. Repeat for second half of dough.

Dust a cookie sheet with corn meal. Place loaves on cookie sheet and make 3 diagonal cuts on the top of each loaf.

Bake at 400 for 20 minutes. Without opening oven, reduce heat to 375 degrees. Bake another 15 minutes, until a spoon tapped on the bottom of each loaf makes a hollow sound. Let stand 15 minutes before slicing.