I'm so glad you enjoyed it so much!

I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it! So in theory, you can adapt most breads to be made in a Dutch oven, but a couple things to note. First, with Dutch oven baking you typically pre-heat the Dutch oven and bake at high temperature. I'd still recommend pre-heating the pot but yes as you say with the molasses, I think you are better to bake this at 350F as in the recipe. Secondly, this bread is a bit smaller than the typical volume for a 4 quart Dutch oven and since it would normally use the sides of the pan to give it shape, this means it would likely turn out rather flat in a Dutch oven. One way to help make that less the case is to make a bigger loaf, maybe around 1 1/2 times the recipe. A larger loaf generally needs longer to bake, but while it's hard to say for definite, I'd say in general baking in the Dutch oven cooks the loaf faster so maybe the time for 1.5 times would end up similar to the original. But I am taking a bit of a guess here, you would have to check as it bakes, after an initial time with closed oven to help it expand properly (maybe say the first 20 mins). Be sure to use parchment under the bread to help avoid the base burning, maybe a double layer. I look forward to hearing if you give it a try!

I'm so glad to hear you enjoyed it - it's one we love as well!

It's not really that easily substituted as it has that depth of flavor you don't quite get from anything else. A dark brown sugar has some molasses in it so would give a bit of the flavor, but is definitely sweeter, so I would use a bit less to save being overly sweet. Alternatively, maple syrup has some of the flavor, though again I would use a little less as it is sweeter. The flavor won't be quite the same, though, with either, but will give a hint of it.

So as in the recipe, I made it with instant, which allows you to mix it in with the dry ingredients (or, really, at any point). With active dry yeast, you would use the same quantity, but you also need to bloom it in lukewarm liquid before adding to the dry ingredients. For this bread, that's a little trickier since you use the liquid to soften the cornmeal, and warm it more than would be good for the yeast. So I'd suggest maybe reserving the water and just warm the milk for the cornmeal, and use lukewarm water to bloom the yeast. This may mean you are a bit short on liquid to get the cornmeal to soften properly, but it's about the only way I can think to get it to work with active dry yeast.

So glad to hear it worked well for you and brought back tasty memories! It's such a great set of flavors.

So glad to hear! It's such a lovely bread.

It's such a tasty loaf!