Honey Oatmeal Bread

I never make fresh bread, not that I don’t want to eat fresh bread.  I love the smell of fresh bread and the wonderful taste of fresh bread but I just find it to be very time consuming.  I think the last time I made fresh bread was when I was on a baking kick in 2001.  Yeah, that long ago.  I have made fresh breads and dough, but usually in a bread machine.  Last fall I did attempt pizza dough several times with my Kitchen aid Mixer doing most of the work and that went well so the other day, when I had a free afternoon (OK, not really), I decided to make some fresh Oatmeal bread.

Thing is, I have been on an oatmeal kick here lately, adding it to pancakes and streusel toppings whenever I can.  I have also switched to Nutty Oatmeal bread for sandwiches which I guess is what gave me the idea to make an oatmeal bread.  I don’t know if making it made any difference but I got such fulfillment out of making this bread from scratch.  I even decided to make fresh soup to accompany it.  When the bread came out of the oven my husband was still not home from work so the kids and I, we ate half of an entire loaf waiting for him to get home so we could eat ‘dinner’.  Of course the kids and I didn’t eat much soup.

I got this recipe from allrecipes.com and followed it with two exceptions.  One, I didn’t have steel oats or rolled oats but only quick cooking Quaker Oats.  Also, I didn’t have active dry yeast, I had rapidrise yeast.  The bread still turned out delicious.

Honey Oatmeal Bread

via allrecipes.com

Ingredients

• 2 cups boiling water
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup honey
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 4 cups bread flour

Directions

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine boiling water, oats, 1/2 cup honey, butter and salt. Let stand for 1 hour.
2. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
3. Pour the yeast mixture into the oat mixture. Add 2 cups of flour; mix well. Stir in the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, beating well after each addition. When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 20 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
4. Deflate the dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough into two equal pieces and form into loaves. Place the loaves into two lightly greased 9x5 inch loaf pans. Cover the loaves with a damp cloth and let rise until doubled in volume, about 40 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
5. Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for about 30 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the bottom of the loaf sounds hollow when tapped.

The bread wasn’t perhaps the most attractive bread ever made but it definitely was one of the best tasting bread I’ve ever had, definitely worth the trouble.