Sunday, April 24, 2011

OATMEAL AND HONEY BREAD

I bought a bread machine couple of years ago.  Never had a chance to use until today simply because I could not find the time to take it out of the box to clean and read the instructions.  Isn't it really sad that we can't find time to do the things we enjoy!  I finally used it today for this recipe.  Fluffy and mildly sweet.  Simply delicous.

I wrote the recipe both for the machine and manual versions.  Of course, this is when I realize how much time I lost making it manually all these years while the bread machine waited in a box.


Ingredients for the bread machine:
1 cup water
1 tablespoon vegetable oil (you can use butter instead or both)
1/4 cup honey
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup rolled oats
2 1/3 cup flour
1.5 teaspoon dry yeast
  • Put all liquid ingredients in the bread machine first.
  • Add rolled oats and flour last
  • Make a small "pool" with your fingers for the yeast and put yeast in (making sure it does not touch the liquid)
  • Select light setting on the machine
  • Takes 3 hours
Without a machine:
2 cups boiling water
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup honey
2 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons salt
1.5 teaspoon dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water
4 cups flour

  • In a large mixing bowl, combine boiling water, oats, 1/2 cup honey, butter and salt. Let stand for 1 hour.
  • In a small cup, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
  • Mix yeast and oat mixture together.  Add 2 cups of flour; mix well. Stir in the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, beating well after each addition. You may need all 4 cups or less.  Just keep an eye to make a soft dough that is not too sticky. 
  • When the dough is ready, put it on a lightly floured board 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.
  • Punch down the dough.  
  • Spray or grease a 2 lt pan (or use a non stick pan).  Place the dough in the pan.  If you like you can brush 1 tablespoon honey and sprinkle additional oats on top.  Cover and let it sit another 40 minutes to rise.
  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (175 degrees C).
  • Bake until top is golden brown (about 30 minutes).  
  • Remove loaves from pan and serve

No comments:

Post a Comment