On Wed, 28 Nov 2018 22:36:28 -0800, "Julie Bove"
> wrote:

>
>"U.S. Janet B." > wrote in message
.. .
>> On Wed, 28 Nov 2018 02:28:22 -0800, "Julie Bove"
>> > wrote:
>>
>>>At least I think so! Two mistakes that I might have made were that the
>>>room
>>>was likely too cool. I have no heat on. I did set the dough on top of the
>>>stove but did not get quite the amount of rise I expected. However, the
>>>resulting loaves look exactly like the picture with the recipe. So maybe
>>>it
>>>should be that way. And I think I added a bit too much AP flour. I started
>>>with the lower amount of flour but wound up having to add a bit of water
>>>as
>>>I kneaded it because rather than it being a soft dough, it was very thick
>>>and hard to work with. Or maybe the molasses was the culprit. It was so
>>>thick it would barely pour out.
>> snip
>>
>> How did you measure the AP flour? Did you scoop? Or did you stir the
>> flour and gently spoon the flour into the measuring device? If you
>> scoop you can overload your measure by 25% due to compaction. You can
>> put the rising loaves in the oven to rise. Put a wooden spoon handle
>> between the oven door and the oven body so that a gap of about 1+ inch
>> is created. The oven light will warm the oven interior to help the
>> dough rise. Do not close the oven door as it can get too warm with
>> the light on.
>> Janet US
>
>I don't even own a wooden spoon. I didn't scoop. I poured it from a very
>small bag of flour.

So the AP flour that you think was the problem was in a very small bag
of flour?
The molasses was thick because, as you said, your kitchen was cold.
Cold molasses like cold honey is very thick. It measures the same
whether it is cold or warm.
I'm sure you could figure out a work around to having no wooden spoon
if you wanted to