Bread Day

What an crazy fall it has been! Between work, family time and everything else going on, it's been difficult to dedicate much time to anything in the house. However, as the weather gets colder as much as I don't look forward to driving with those little white flakes, I'm looking forward that seasonal excuse to get back into the home and enjoy those simple pleasures. Knitting, baking and housework...here I come!

This week our local grocery store had a great sale on flour (including wheat!) and sugar and provided a great opportunity to stock up. This inspired me to dedicate a batter part of my Sunday to baking fresh bread. It's amazing once you get started how easy it is to just keep going. I ended up with 7 loaves of bread and 4 dozen cinnamon rolls ... plenty to enjoy and still have leftovers in the refrigerator. Boy was I tired by the time I got done!

The stand out what this amazing whole wheat oatmeal bread. I love the texture of a good oatmeal bread and wanted to bring in the whole wheat flour. I ended up with this fabulous, hearty bread ...which makes an excellent toast spread with homemade jam!



Oatmeal Wheat Bread

3 cups wheat flour
1 cup oatmeal
2 TB butter
1 1/2 tsp salt
3 TB Molasses
2 teaspoons yeast (1 packet)
1 1/4 cup lukewarm milk

Warm your butter in the microwave for about 15 seconds, add milk and heat another 30 seconds to 1 minute until lukewarm. You DO NOT want your milk to be hot, or you will kill your yeasts. Pour the milk and butter mixture into the bowl of your mixer (or a large bowl if you will be mixing by hand) and add your yeast and salt. Using a whisk, gently mix together until your yeast is dissolved.

Add your remaining ingredients to the bowl, and using your dough hook, mix on your mixers lowest setting until the ingredients are combined. If you have a flour shield, you'll want to use it! Continuing on that lowest setting, kneading with your dough hook for an additional 5 minutes. You may need to sprinkle in some additional flour if your dough is too sticky to come together. Your dough is sufficiently kneaded when you press a finger into it gently and it springs back. Note - if kneading by hand, you will need to knead for about 8-10 minutes.

Prepare a large, clean bowl with cooking spray. Place your dough ball in the bowl, cover with a kitchen towel and allow to rise in a warm spot for about 1 hour.

After risen, punch down the dough, form into a log and place in a greased loaf pan. Cover again with your towel and allow it to rise for an additional hour.

Bake your bread at 350 for about 35 minutes.

Good luck keeping this one around long enough for it to cool!