I attempted to take full advantage of my parents’ kitchen whilst in Philadelphia (it is probably 8x the size of mine,) and opted to try my hand at bread. My sister suggested a Honey Oatmeal Bread from the (hilarious) cookbook Breaking Bread with Father Dominic. Excellent suggestion, Katie.
Yields 2 loaves
- 1 cup instant oats, uncooked
- 2 cups hot water
- 1 package active dry yeast
- ¼ cup warm water
- 1/3 cup honey
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 egg, beaten (optional)
- About 5 cups whole wheat flour
- Additional instant oats, for coating
2. Sprinkle yeast over ¼ cup warm water in a small bowl, stir to mix. Let stand 5 minutes to dissolve.
3. Feel the oats at the bottom of the bowl to be sure they’re lukewarm. Add honey, butter, salt and yeast mixture. For an extra-rich dough, add egg (I did, and the dough was excellent.) Mix well. Work in enough of the flour so the dough can be handled, but the dough should remain pretty sticky because of the honey.
4. Turn out the dough on a lightly floured surface and knead for 1 to 2 minutes. Cover and let rest 10 minutes. Knead until dough is elastic but still rather sticky, adding flour as needed; don’t add too much flour at a time.
5. Place dough in a greased bowl and turn to coat. Cover and let rise in a warm, draft-free place about 1 hour, or until doubled in bulk.
6. Punch down dough and divide into two equal pieces. Knead out any air bubbles, but don’t use flour on the kneading surface; you want the dough to remain sticky.
7. Form each piece into a loaf. Roll each loaf in additional oats until completely covered. Place loaves on lightly greased baking sheets. Cover and let rise about 30 minutes, or until doubled.
8. While dough is rising, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake loaves about 45 minutes, or until they sound hollow when tapped on the bottom. Remove from baking sheets and let cool on wire racks.
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