Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Honey Oatmeal Bread

I just had to share this recipe I found on Kate's blog, Modern Alternative Mama!  For the past year, I have been searching for a simple, easy and delicious sandwich bread made with 100% whole wheat flour.  There are lots of great bread recipes out there and I have several that make on a regular basis, but this one is hands down the best whole wheat bread I've tasted.  Most other recipes require some funny ingredients that I usually don't have on hand,  like orange juice, mashed potatoes or vital wheat gluten, in order to make the whole wheat bread more palatable (whole wheat can be slightly bitter). This recipe is soaked overnight, which I believe creates the superb flavor and light texture (and some people will say that soaking makes the grains easier to digest).   I will admit this recipe contains more sweetener than I would like, but it's so amazing I don't care.  Also, the directions for this recipe look long, but there is really less than 15 minutes of hands-on time.  You will want to make sure you bake this bread on a day that you will be home for a good chunk of the morning or afternoon, as you do need to monitor the rising.

Honey Oatmeal Bread  - Makes 2 loaves

-4 cups whole wheat flour (I used King Arthur)
-1 cup oat flour (just whiz some old fashioned oatmeal in the food processor until it looks like flour)
-1/2 cup honey
-3/4 coconut oil, melted
-1 3/4 cups water
-2 eggs
-2 tsp sea salt
-1 tbsp yeast


1.  Melt the coconut oil.  In a large bowl, combine flours, honey, coconut oil and water.  I used my Kitchen Aid mixer but you don't need one.  Stir until all ingredients are well incorporated.  You may need to add a bit more water.

2.  Set bowl aside to soak overnight or at least 8 hours.  I left the dough right in the mixing bowl and covered it loosely with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel.

3.   In the morning (or 8 hours later), add the additional ingredients.

4.  Turn dough out onto a floured board or counter top (I used King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour to flour the counter).  Knead for about 10 minutes.  The dough will be wet and sticky.  Add a little more flour as need to keep it from sticking.  I also tried kneading the dough in the mixing bowl with the dough hook attachment for the Kitchen Aid, but felt that hand kneading actually worked better in this case.

5.  Return dough to the bowl and allow to rise for 2-3 hours.  Mine hardly had any rise after 2 hours.  I also realized my house was at 61 degrees.  Duh.  So I boiled water, set it in a pan in the unheated oven and stuck the bowl of dough in there for an hour.  Voila.  Should have done that the first time.

6.  Punch down dough and divide into 2 greased loaf pans. Don't worry about bumps -they will even out as the dough rises.  Allow the dough to rise a second time in the loaf pans (use the same trick as above - pan of boiling water in the oven) for about an hour.

7.  Near the end of the rising time, carefully remove the bread (be careful you don't cause the bread to collapse - if so, let it rise again)  and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Bake for 40-50 or until bread reaches over 180 degrees (use a thermometer to check).  Allow to cool in pans for about 5 minutes, then turn the loaves out onto a cooling rack.  Resist the urge to slice into warm bread, or the bread may tear.  On second thought, screw it.  Just slice it and slather a steaming piece with butter.  *Bliss*   There are few things in this world that are better than warm, fresh baked bread.  Enjoy.

Do you have a favorite recipe to share???

7 comments:

  1. How funny! This is on my to try list too! Good to know that you had success with it. I don't have a "go to" bread recipe--I usually just make do with KS's Happy Rolls recipe :)

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  2. Hey...do you know what kind of pans are best for baking bread? I need to get rid of my coated ones especially since it's starting to chip off--YUCK! I suppose I could google it, but I wanted someone's personal opinion. Okay. Children hitting each other. Time to go!

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  3. Not sure what the best pans are... I currently have 2 coated loaf pans (that I'd like to get rid of too) and one Pampered Chef stoneware loaf pan, which I LOVE. But they are pricey! I'd really like to get another one when I can save up the money. They're nice b/c once they are seasoned, they don't need to be greased. Mine is not quite there yet, so I just rub a little butter on it before baking with it.

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  4. Good to know. I'm glad you like your stoneware. I just bought a bar pan and loaf pan from Pampered Chef (gulp!!)--I justified the money b/c all the profits were going to a family from our small group at church who was in a bad car accident. Otherwise it's just so much money to spend. It was on my Christmas list this past year, but alas Santa didn't deliver :)

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  5. Hey Lori, I'm getting caught up on your blog and now I'm wishing I had all of the ingredients in the house! Sounds amazing.

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  6. Do you ever make this recipe in a bread machine? I have one, but rising and all that makes me nervous!

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  7. Allie, no I have not tried it in the bread machine. You could try it out and let me know how it works out :) If you do try it, make sure to cut the ingredients in half - this recipes makes 2 loaves.

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