oatmeal bread

I posted about my first try making home made bread a while ago.

And while the loaf sure looked pretty, it wasn't quite the taste I was going for.  So, in search for something better, I whipped open one of my favorite cookbooks and found the recipe for Oatmeal Bread.

Holy moly divine.

Not only is it one of the tastiest breads I've ever engulfed, it's also the easiest I've ever tried to make.  100% perfect loaf on the first try.  Quadruple favorite points.  And it makes the best toast you've ever sunk your teeth into. Top it with some home made raspberry jam and you can cancel that trip to Hawaii.

The original recipe calls for all white flour, but I usually substitute half of it with wheat flour for the whole 'making it healthy' idea.  And while it's fine with the wheat, made the original way with all white flour, this stuff is sustenance for Zeus himself.

The recipe:

Oatmeal Bread

1 cups oats

2 cups water

2/3 cups brown sugar, heaping firmly packed

3 tablespoons oil

2 packages yeast (or about 2 tablespoons)

1/3 cup warm water

pinch of sugar

2 teaspoon salt

5 cups flour

Boil water and pour over oats.  Let cool.  Add brown sugar and oil.  Dissolve yeast in 1/3 C water.  Sprinkle with a pinch of sugar.  Let raise and add to rest of mixture.  Stir in salt, add flour, and knead by hand til dough is smooth.  Leave dough in same bowl, cover with a towel, and let raise for 1 hour.  Divide dough and form into two loaves.  Grease bread pans and sprinkle with oats.  Place loaves into pans.  Let raise again for 1 hour and then bake at 350F for 35 minutes.  Butter tops when cooked*


One of my favorite things about this bread is that you don't need any fancy equipment or to do any fancy shmancy oiling of the bowl, etc...  It specifically calls to knead by hand and then you just throw a tea towel over the same bowl you mixed it in and it's good to go. Easy peasy.

Also, you don't need to knead it that much - mine is usually ready to go with less than 5 minutes of kneading by hand.  Just knead til flour is completely mixed in and the dough is smooth. This creates a fluffy and moist finished product. And yes, I just said moist, one of the most cringe inducing pieces of vocabulary to ever exist.



*The eating of this bread may elicit abnormal behavior in the husband slash significant other. Repeated complimenting, giving of foot rubs, and lavishing with luxurious gifts may ensue. You've been warned.