“Oat-standing” Bread (Triple Oatmeal Bread)
I always have enjoyed oatmeal bread, but have never found one that had quite enough oat flavor to satisfy me. This winter my bread making goal was to come up with an oatmeal bread that did just that. It took a few experiments to get the balance right, and now that spring has arrived I am ready to publish. I settled on a combination of three types of oats; old-fashioned oatmeal, oat flour and steel cut oats. The cooked steel cut oats added a nice texture and all three gave enough oat flavor to the bread. The applesauce and brown sugar add the sweetness needed to make the oats shine. Since the recipe turned out to make three loaves, I made one loaf in to a cinnamon swirl bread. I am ready to make up another batch, because this bread has become another hit with my family, or as my son put it “Oat-standing”.
Triple Oatmeal Bread
1 cup old-fashioned oats
1 cup oat flour
6 cups bread flour (plus extra for kneading)
1/4 cup buttermilk powder
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup cooked steel cut oats*
1 1/3 cups warm water
1/2 cup applesauce
1/3 cup melted butter
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 Tablespoon yeast
In large bowl, sprinkle yeast on top of warm water. Let sit for five minutes to start activation. Stir in applesauce, brown sugar and cooked oatmeal. In separate bowl, mix bread flour with oat flour, old-fashioned oats, buttermilk powder and salt. Add one cup of flour mix at a time to wet ingredients until incorporated into a nicely shaped dough ball, Take dough ball out of bowl and knead on a lightly floured board for eight minutes. Place in large greased bowl and let rise in warm, draft free area until doubled. Punch down and shape into three loaves. Place each loaf into a 4 1/2 x 8 1/2 greased bread pan. Cover pans with towel and again let rise until doubled in a warm draft-free place. Bake for 30-35 minutes at 350º.
*I made up a batch of steel cut oats and froze them in one cup containers for my experimental loaves. A thaw in the microwave and they were ready to use.
For Cinnamon Swirl Loaf:
Roll one loaf out into rectangle that is 8″x 20″. Beat egg yolk mixed with one tablespoon of water and brush a thin layer onto the dough. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and raisins. Roll tightly and seal edges. Place in loaf pan and let rise until doubled. Bake the same as the regular loaves.
Sunny Diversions 