Honey....corn syrup...or even a bit of sugar and water would work.
How about posting the recipes? Sound interesting. I wonder if they were put out by the "maple syrup council" or something similar? That might account for the seeming no reason recommend of maple syrup.
Linda C

I wouldn't sub with honey. Corn syrup would be more neutral.

Use honey....it's a natural product and will preserve the moisture a little in the bread. Bel;ieve me you won't notice any difference in taste with honey, maple syrup, corn cyrup, molasses or sugar water. You are talking about a very very tiny proportion of the "stuff" in a bread recipe.
Likely you could just omit it and would never know.
Linda C

Any of the above would work, honey, molasses, corn syrup. But if it was me, I would just add a little brown sugar. I wouldn't worry about reducing the flour or adding a little more water to this particular recipe, because that is something that needs to be done with almost every bread recipe anyway.

Ann

When the amount is that small and being used in bread, I use maple syrup, brown sugar, honey, and molasses to sub for each other - so I might use 1 TB honey and 1 TB molasses to sub for the maple syrup.

I'm following along Ann's idea..although for 2 T..you could actually omit it with out any noticable results.

I agree, I think it could be omitted without any problem because I'm always adjusting the wet/dry ratio in bread depending on the flour, the humidity, whatever.

If I were going to sub I'd never use corn syrup because I don't use it and wouldn't have any on hand. I'd go with honey probably, I get that locally and always have some, but in a pinch I wouldn't hesitate to use molasses.

Annie

And of course the obvious sub is pancake syrup..I've yet to get my boys to switch from Mrs. B to real maple syrup..so I always have that in the pantry.

Malt syrup? I use a fair amount in baking. Or agave syrup or maybe honey. I really hate corn syrup, even when called for in a recipe.

Thanks for all the great suggestions! I was just thinking you had to substitute some kind of sugar in order to "ferment" the yeast. It has to "eat off of" something in order to grow, or at least that's what my mother always told me. But it sounds like I have lots of suggestions to draw from here! I will experiment and see which one I like best. The recipes came from a booklet that came with my bread making machine, so I don't think there was any bias. Perhaps they were written when pure maple syrup was one of the cheaper alternatives! Many thanks again! MacThayer

Oh I didn't realize it was for a yeast bread. Sure then I get why it wants some sugar/food.. Brown Sugar then would be my choice.

Yeast will "feed on" the carbs in flour just fine...
There's no real need to add sugar.
That came from the time when live yeast was iffy. So you mixed it with sugar and warm to wake it up and to "proof" it...prove that it's viable.
Prove it to yourself...mix a flour water paste and add a pinch of yeast and let it sit for several hours.
Linda c

You should post those recipes. I just bought pure maple syrup from TJ's for my kids, since it doesn't have High Fructose Corn Syrup in it. Wouldn't you know, they hate it. So now I have a $17 bottle and nothing to use it on. I think I'll have to find some good Christmas cookie and bread recipes to use it in.

Nancy

My kids love the fake syrup, too. I keep a bottle of the good stuff in the frig for me, me, me. I also make a mean maple-pumpkin pie with it.

Nancy, here's a good bread recipe that uses a lot more than a couple of tablespoons of maple syrup. I love it, and the coffee does not add a discernable coffee flavor but it does add a nice "secret ingredient" flavor.

MAPLE OATMEAL BREAD

3 3 ¼ cups flour
1 pkg dry yeast
¾ cup prepared coffee
1/2 cup quick cooking rolled oats
½ (scant) cup maple syrup
2 tbls butter
1 tsp salt
1 egg

Combine a cup of flour and the yeast. Heat coffee, oats, syrup, butter and salt until just warm and butter is almost melted. Add to flour mixture along with egg. Beat with electric mixer on low for 30 seconds. Beat on high speed for 3 minutes. Using a wooden spoon, stir in as much of the remaining flour as you can.

Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface, knead in enough remaining flour to make a moderately soft dough that is smooth and elastic (3-5 minutes kneading). Shape dough into a ball, place in lightly greased bowl, and turn over once to grease surface of dough. Cover and let rise in a warm place until double in size, about an hour.

Punch down dough, cover and let rest 10 minutes. Meanwhile lightly grease a 9x5x3 inch loaf pan. Shape dough into a loaf and place into prepared pan, cover and let rise in a warm place until nearly double in size (30 to 45 minutes). Bake at 350 F about 30 minutes or until bread sounds hollow when lightly tapped. Remove from pan immediately and cool on wire rack.

Makes 1 loaf (14 slices)

Each slice contains 149 calories, 3 grams total fat, 2 grams sat. fat, 1 gr fiber, 26 gr. Carbs, 196 mg sodium, 4 gr protein. (Contains 8% of daily requirement of iron)

And here's a really nice maple scone...

Maple Cream Scone
2 cups all-purpose or unbleached flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons cold butter, cut into 1/4-inch pieces, plus 2 tablespoons butter, melted
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
1. Preheat oven to 425 F. Lightly grease a baking sheet (I used silpat on the baking sheet).
2. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Cut the butter pieces into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Make a well in the mixture.
3. Blend the cream and 1/4 cup of the maple syrup and pour the mixture into the well. Stir, just until the dough coheres.
4. Lightly flour a work surface; turn the dough onto the surface and knead four or five times, gently. Pat or roll to a thickness of about 3/4 inch. Cut into 2-1/2-inch to 3-inch rounds with a biscuit cutter and place on the prepared baking sheet.
5. Stir together the melted butter and remaining 2 tablespoons maple syrup, then brush a little on each scone. Keep the remaining syrup mixture warm. Bake the scones for about 15 minutes, until golden. Serve hot. Spoon the remaining warm syrup mixture over the scones.
Yield: About 12 scones.

Source: Maple Syrup Cookbook, copyright 1989, 2001

Mmmmm, love maple syrup. Like other kids, Ashley'd rather have Mrs. Butterworth. Have I mentioned that she's a heathen when it comes to food, LOL?

Annie

Eileen, please post your pumpkin pie recipe.(on the new thread)

Nancy, the jar will last a very long time in the fridge..You'll find uses for it. I have a BBQ sauce that I make that uses some.
I'm going to start a new thread. I'll bring Annie's recipes with it. :o)

Thanks so much, Annie and Terri! Great idea about a Maple Syrup thread. I almost freecycled it, but couldn't bear to. Thought about returning it to TJs since they have unconditional guarantees on their food, but that just didn't feel right, knowing they'd probably just ditch it. So I will try these delicious recipes and enjoy them all by my lonesome self (kind of like The Little Red Hen) ;-P

Nancy

Maple oatmeal sounds wonderful!....and I'll bet it will work in the cuisinart...
Put the flour, oat meal, yeast and salt and butter in the bowl, zap until the butter is well mixed, add the syrup egg and mix and with the motor running slowly add the cold coffee and run for about 30 seconds. Remove to oiled bowl, cover, let rise...
Wwell you know the rest.
Copying and pasting that recipe....and thinking I might add some dried apples and pecans.
Linda C

Proud Mam, when I was a kid my Mom used to make a symple syrup with sugar and water and then flavour it with some maple syrup. Taste was, I guess, not unlike the pancake syrups with HFCS, which weren't available here then. You might try a small batch, your kids might like it.

Er... that should be "Proud M_o_m"...sorry!

We normally use black strap molasses in the household. Sometimes we sprinkle some brown sugar and smile extra big. Cookies are on the to do list every Friday night!!