Thanksgiving Week - 2 (Oatmeal Bread Recipe)

As Julia Child says, "If you're not ready to fail, you're not ready to cook... cooking is often one failure after another." Today was one of those days that the baking did not turn out exactly right. Usually there is a small blemish or mistake in most of my finished products, but today I added too much water to my bread dough and the result was a completely uncooked center! We'll broil those parts of the loaves with lots of butter for breakfast tomorrow...

I do not have pictures from today's experiments, but if you go to one of the earlier posts, you can see what Oatmeal Bread is supposed to look like when the recipe is followed correctly.

Here's the Scoop:

1 1/2 cups rolled oats (not the quick kind)
2 cups boiling water
2 tsp. salt
1/4 white sugar
1 package or tsp. dry active yeast
1/4 cup lukewarm water
4 1/2 to 5 cups all-purpose flour

Directions:

Pour the yeast into the 1/4 cup of lukewarm water. Be careful not to have hot water, because that will kill the yeast. Water that is too cool will not activate the yeast, and then the dough will not rise at all.

Put the oats in a large bowl.

Pour the boiling water over them, add the salt and sugar. Let stand until lukewarm.

Add the yeast that was dissolved in the lukewarm water.

Gradually add in the flour, stirring with a wooden spoon constantly.

After adding the flour, turn out onto a floured counter top and knead for six to eight minutes. Dough should be smooth and only slightly tacky (or sticky).

Place in a lightly greased bowl and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk.

Divide into two. Place each dough portion into a greased loaf pan. Let rise again until doubled in bulk.

Bake in a 350F oven for about 45 minutes, or until brown on the top and bottom.

I like to rub the top crust with butter as soon as it comes out of the oven to add extra flavor and a little shine.

Enjoy!