Sunday, June 3, 2012

King Arthur Flour Project: Honey-Oatmeal Sandwich Bread


The third installment in my King Arthur Baking Project features this Honey-Oatmeal Sandwich Bread. I loved the idea of adding even more whole grains by choosing a recipe that included rolled oats. Oh, and the honey made this bread even more appealing.

The Results: I got lucky again with this recipe and found a bread that eveyone in my family loved. We didn't use it as sandwich bread. We just ate it served with some softened, spreadable butter. And, maybe it's because I'm a beginner with my bread-making skills, but I think this bread was a little too dense for a sandwich. But, it was perfect to be served with breakfast, dinner, or an afternoon snack. But, it could be that I'm just a little too generous with my slicing.



Honey-Oatmeal Sandwich Bread
from Whole Grain Baking

1-1/4 cups (10 oz.) boiling water
1 cup (3-1/2 oz.) old-fashioned rolled oats
2 tbsp. (1 oz.) unsalted butter, cut into 3 pieces
1-1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup (3 oz.) honey
1 cup (4 oz.) traditional whole wheat flour
1-2/3 cups (7 oz.) unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (1 oz.) nonfat dry milk
1/2 cup (1-7/8 oz.) finely chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)
2 tsp. instant yeast

Place the boiling water, oats, butter, salt and honey into a medium bowl, stir, and let the mixture cool to lukewarm.

Mix the remaining dough ingredients with the oat mixture, and knead - by hand, mixer or bread machine - until you've made a soft, smooth dough. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover it, and let it rise for 1 hour; the dough should be doubled in bulk.

Lightly grease a 9x5-inch loaf pan. Gently deflate the dough - it'll be sticky, so oil your hands - and shape it into a 9-inch log. Place it in the prepared pan. Cover it gently with lightly greased plastic wrap or a proof cover, and allow it to rise till it's crowned 1-1/2 inches over the rim of the pan, about 1 to 1-1/2 hours. Near the end of the bread's rising time, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Uncover and bake the bread for about 45 minutes, tenting it with foil after 20 minutes to prevent over-browning. The bread is done when it's golden brown and an instant-read thermometer inserted in the center registers 190 degrees. Remove it from the oven, and after a minute or so turn it out onto a rack. Brush with melted butter, if desired; this will keep the crust soft. Cool the bread completely before cutting it.

This bread was never destined to be sandwich bread. We ate it with softened, spreadable butter and enjoyed it as a snack.

For those of you who want to take the baking journey with me, there is help for us all. King Arthur Flour has a Baking Hotline with wonderful experts who can help us if we have recipe questions or get stuck with something. Call (800.827.6836), email (bakers@kingarthurflour.com) or even chat live online (http://www.kingarthurflour.com/)! Let's enjoy the bread journey together!

Disclaimer: King Arthur Flour provided me with a copy of the cookbook and the flour, but the opinion expressed here is my own.

2 comments:

  1. Must be bread baking day...I'm doing a Sunflower bread to go along with my give-away apron. This bread looks amazing and another on my list to try! XOXO

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think I'd love this bread. I'll give it a go!

    ReplyDelete

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