March 10, 2020

Colin’s Oatmeal Bread

Name: Colin's Oatmeal Bread
Prep time: 2 h
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 2 h 30 min
Ingredients: 5 ½ cups hot milk; 4 cups quick oats; ½ cup vegetable oil; 2 eggs beaten + 1 egg beaten, optional; 4 teaspoons salt; 4 teaspoons sugar; 3 tablespoons yeast; 9-10 cups all-purpose flour*

Guest Blog Author: Colin Martin

Trish and I like a dense, moist bread. So far we’ve found one bakery in Waterloo Region that makes the cut. But, since we’re in Windsor, its location is not exactly practical. I’m trying to learn how to make bread. I’m by no means an expert, but can produce something edible so I think many of you can too! If you’re an expert with some advice, please share it! One of the easiest ways to get a dense bread is using oatmeal, so that’s why I’ve chosen this route. This recipe makes four loaves, but simply divide the recipe to make a batch of two loaves.

First of all, heat the milk to near boiling temperature. It has to be hot enough to activate the yeast after we add a bunch of ingredients, but not too hot or it will kill the yeast. Baking bread can turn into science, but I’ll steer clear of most of that…because I don’t know much of it! I usually microwave the milk (or egg cheese whey) until it’s hot and almost boiling. Next add the oatmeal and mix. You should have a runny porridge mixture.

To the oatmeal mixture, add oil, 2 beaten eggs, salt, and sugar and mix to combine. Next add the instant yeast. The ideal temperature is from 120-130°F. Hotter than 130°F will damage the yeast. Above 138°F will kill all yeasts. I used an instant read thermometer to check the temperature. You can buy it at Amazon here. It has been one of the most useful gifts I’ve given my wife. She loves it to make sure meat is cooked to a safe temperature but not overcooked. I like it to get the perfect steak or pork tenderloin. It’s also good for liquids and candy making.

As you can see, my mixture was just under the perfect temperature range, but I went ahead with it anyway. It may have had something to do with the fact that I had just run to the grocery store for more yeast. Plan ahead, right? Add the yeast and stir. Then add and mix the flour in increments. I added two cups at a time.

As the dough got heavier, I added only a cup at a time.

When the dough clumps nicely and is pulling off of the side of the bowl, it’s time to start kneading. This might be when you have about one more cup of flour to add. This gets added through the kneading process.

It’s important to note that when working with yeast doughs, learning the right texture for the dough is more important than following the flour measurement a recipe notes. You may need more or less flour to get it to the right texture. This is also why some people prefer to shun the dough hooks on the mixers and exercise their arms instead. Flour a smooth surface liberally.

Ok, that was excessive. Turn out the dough onto the floured surface. Sprinkle a little flour on top to keep the dough from sticking to your hand when you start.

When kneading on doughnut day, my mother-in-law’s instructions were to use the heel of your hand and push down the centre of the dough. Put your hand underneath and fold the one half over the other. This brings the floured part to the top. In the same motion, push down the dough again. As the dough gets sticky, brush flour from the edges back into the centre or sprinkle a little more on the surface. If you add too much flour, your bread will be dry. Continue this process until you have a nice silky dough ball that maintains shape and is elastic. Kneading works with the gluten in flour to give the dough the correct elasticity. Both over-kneading and under-kneading result in dough that’s not elastic. Over-kneading will yield a dryer, crumbly bread. If the dough is getting dense and tough, you are in this stage. Stop! Under-kneading will result in a flat, dense bread that might not rise properly.

Grease a large bowl. Cooking spray works well for this. Drop the dough into the bowl, then turn it over. This greases all sides of the dough. Cover and let rise in a warm place until it’s about double in volume. This can take anywhere from 45 minutes to over an hour, but usually its ready in an hour. There are various opinions on ideal temperature for dough to rise, but generally it’s in the 80-90°F range. I sometimes run the oven for a minute or so to get some heat in it, then turn it off again and put the dough in there to rise. This works well if you keep a cold house or are running air conditioning. One of the resources I found extremely helpful for some guidance on bread baking was Esther Shank’s Mennonite Country-Style Recipes and Kitchen Secrets. Amazon sells it here. It was gifted to us at our wedding. We’ve found its detailed instructions on how to do Mennonite things like baking bread and canning very helpful. Her test to check if the dough has risen long enough is to poke two fingers into it. If the indentations stay, the dough is ready to be punched down.

Punch down the dough in the bowl. Split it into four parts. You can tell mine weren’t quite even quarters. Then you want to eliminate all air and shape the loaves. I like Shank’s suggestion of rolling out the dough. Lightly grease the surface and your rolling pin. We have a marble rolling pin, so I immersed it in warm water first. I find if I use it at room temperature, it makes the dough cold and takes a bit to get the loaves rising. As you roll, you can hear the air bubbles squeak as they get squished out. Be gentle. Try to avoid stretching the dough. Roll it out from the centre in stages. After you have rolled out the air pockets, fold in the sides, and carefully roll up the dough, being sure not to incorporate new air pockets. Put the roll into a greased bread pan.

I like to pierce the bread with a fork. This might let out a few more air bubbles. I don’t know if it’s necessary, but this is the step that Grandma let us help with so I keep doing it just for fun.

Cover and let the loaves rise until almost double. They will rise a little more when they bake, so don’t wait until they are the full size. Allowing bread to rise too long will result in an excessively yeasty flavour. You can let them rise in a slightly warm oven again if you wish.

After the loaves have risen, remove them from the oven if that’s where they were rising. Turn on the oven to bake at 375°F. While the oven is heating, you can whisk an egg and brush the loaves with the egg wash if you like. This will add a shiny golden top to the bread. I did it with three loaves, but not the fourth so that you can see the difference. Some oatmeal breads finish with a deathly grey top, which is not so appealing, so this is especially helpful for a recipe of that nature.

Bake for 30 minutes or until done. You can check this by tipping a loaf partway out of the pan. If the sides are golden, its done. As you can see, the loaves with the wash are very golden, but the other one is pretty good too, so this recipe has less need for an egg wash. You may brush the tops of the bread with butter at this point. I didn’t. I need to avoid calories somewhere!

After slightly cooled, tip the loaves out onto a wire rack so that they don’t get soggy.

And when cool enough to cut, but still warm, slice and enjoy!

We like to freeze our bread. We mostly use it for toast at breakfast, so rarely have need for an entire loaf before it’s stale. Slicing the bread before we freeze it allows us to remove the bread slice by slice as we need it – a nice supply of fresh-tasting bread!

I’m still a novice with yeast baking, but so far I’ve found this method to work well for me!

Side note: Oil in bread is important for the moistness of the loaf. If you find a bread to dry, you can easily improve it by adding a tablespoon or two of oil per loaf to the dough. This will also extend the shelf life of your fresh bread. That being said, I think this recipe has a nice amount of oil already.