The Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book_ A Guide to Whole-Grain Breadmaking - Laurel Robertson [79]
Let rise once more in a warm place, and bake about 45 minutes at 350°F.
OATMEAL BREAD VARIATIONS
These are special; they take the basic mellow-creamy oatmeal bread flavor and complement it perfectly, achieving a happy wedding of flavors that is dressy enough for a special occasion or for gifting, but not so flashy that the bread is useless for everyday purposes.
WALNUT-OATMEAL BREAD
Add about ⅓ cup chopped walnuts—lightly toasted, if you will—to each loaf. For best results, add them at the time of shaping, because the walnuts give the dough a lavender tint otherwise. (Not to hint that there is anything wrong with lavender bread, of course.) After dividing the dough, roll one loaf’s worth at a time into a good-sized rectangle on a lightly floured board. Spread the nuts out on top, and press them down into the surface of the dough. Fold or roll the dough up, aiming to have an even distribution of nuts and a smooth surface on the top when you are through. Let this dough rest, covered, until it relaxes; this will take longer than it would have if the dough had not been exercised by the incorporation of the nuts. Shape into hearth or pan loaves, taking care to press out all the gas and trying to avoid tearing the gluten film. If you like, include finely chopped nuts along with the oats on the crust, a nice touch.
SUNFLOWER-OATMEAL BREAD
Add 2 to 4 tablespoons toasted sunflower seeds to each loaf just as you would walnuts in the above instructions—or, for a completely different effect, also very good, add the same amount of raw seeds to the oatmeal when you put it on to cook. Their flavor is sweet, subtle, and pervasive when the seeds are cooked this way.
Barley Bread
Substitute a generous ⅓ cup of cracked barley for the oat measure. Cook the barley for at least half an hour. Let it stand overnight if possible; if you don’t, the bread will be less fine-textured, more like a cracked-grain bread than otherwise, but plenty good, too.
SESAME-BARLEY BREAD
Substitute barley malt extract for half the honey measure, and use sesame oil. Roll the loaf in seeds before baking. A dramatically flavorful loaf.
Honeybutter Oat Bread
Soft and sweet, with the richness of butter and honey and the mellowness of oats, this is probably a bread for company, though if there are any leftovers, they’ll keep for days. You can make pretty, dark-crusted hearth loaves or very fine-textured pan bread.
If you are looking for a very light oat bread, try Oatmeal Bread. This recipe can make light loaves if your kneading is really good, but that is demanding because the dough is sticky and has to start out extra soft because the oats take in water as the bread rises. We recommend the one-hand-and-a-scraper method of kneading for this bread. It is definitely worth the trouble, however.
Dissolve the yeast in the ½ cup warm water.
2 teaspoons active dry yeast (¼ oz or 7 g)
½ cup warm water (120 ml)
5 cups finely ground whole wheat bread flour (750 g)
⅔ cup rolled oats (raw) (53 g)
2 ½ teaspoons salt (14 g)
1 ½ cups scalded whole fresh milk, cooled to lukewarm (350 ml)
½ cup yogurt (120 ml)
5 tablespoons honey (75 ml)
3 tablespoons cool butter (42 g)
Combine the dry ingredients in one bowl, and mix the milk, yogurt, and honey in another. Make a well in the dry ingredients, and pour the yeast and the milk mixture into the well. Mix into dough and knead very well, until it is smooth and elastic. Toward the end of the kneading time, incorporate the butter, and knead until all the dough is exceptionally silky. At the beginning of the kneading period this dough will be extremely soft and sticky. Don’t succumb to the temptation to add flour or it will become hard