Tom, I got a dough problem

[cap2215]

I use 4.5 cups oil and 1 cup molasses in my dough. lately people have been telling me my dough is too much like wheat dough because it is very dark. so i decided to sub the 1 cup molasses with 1 cup honey and the dough is much whiter. the problem is that i dont think it tastes the same. my question is this: how many cups of honey do i need to make this dough taste good? Any suggestions? Thank you very much.

 

[Tom_Lehmann]

Cap;
Lets start with an “Oops”. Dough was too dark with molasses, so we took out the molasses and replaced it with honey. Now, the dough/crust is lighter in color, but it doesn’t taste the same. I’m betting that the crust now has a slight honey taste to it rather than the molasses flavor it previously had. I would begin by taking out the honey and just use less molasses. That stuff has a pretty stout (dominant) flavor, so I’d cut the amount used in half, then use corn syrup to bring the total sweetner level back to one cup. Make additional adjustments until you achieve the color and flavor balance you are looking for.
If you really want to replace the molasses with honey, there is good news and bad news. The good news is that there is a type of honey that will come very close to duplicating the flavor of molasses. This is the very dark, industrial grade honey (it actually looks a lot like molasses too), but that’s the bad news, because it is so dark, it will darken the dough/crust just like the molasses does, so you’d be right back to square one, with the need to cut it with corn syrup.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor