Bread-Bakers v106.n004.6

Speaking of Beatrice Ojakangas, one of her books contains a recipe 
for (I think) Lucia bread which is a favourite of mine, except that I 
have never been able to get the glaze right.  Can anyone tell me how 
I should be doing this?

On the face of it, the glaze is simple:

2 Tbsp molasses
2 Tbsp water

"To make the glaze, mix the molasses with water.  Brush the loaf 
about halfway through baking with half of the glaze.  Remove the 
bread from the oven and cool on a wire rack.  Brush with the 
remaining glaze."  The loaf, a large free-form circle, is two thirds 
rye and is sweetened with 3/4 cup dark molasses to 6 cups flour, 
along with candied peel and zest and stout and spices.  It bakes at 350 F.

When I did exactly this, the glaze was VERY sticky and remained 
so.  It definitely adds a delicious small something to the bread 
(along with a beautiful shine to the very dark bread), so I wouldn't 
want to leave it out -- but slicing and eating it is messy, the glaze 
(though inconspicuously thin) remains very tacky and gets all over 
your hands (and the bag, if you are freezing or storing any) in the 
process.  I was using "100% pure fancy molasses, no preservatives" -- 
just regular grocery-store cooking molasses, not blackstrap molasses.

I tried heating the molasses-water mixture; I tried only glazing 
while the bread was hot; but to no avail.

Does anyone have any experience with this kind of glaze?

Pat