Homey, comforting oatmeal bread is excellent lightly toasted, adorned simply with a just touch of butter, or as an excellent base for sandwiches, French toast, and bread pudding.
When Bacon Slayer and I were first married, I had long before bought into the old adage that the way to a man’s heart was through his stomach, so it was only natural that I began life as a newlywed cooking up a storm for my man. I was determined to keep that belly of his full of good home cooking. I had such fun trying new recipes to discover what Our Favorites were going to be.
Honey Oatmeal Bread was the first yeast bread that I ever baked all by myself. Bacon Slayer loved it so much that he nearly ate an entire loaf before it had barely cooled from the oven. I knew that I had an instant favorite on my hands, so I made it often. The hint of sweetness from the honey, coupled with the subtle nuttiness imparted by the oatmeal makes for a wonderfully moist sandwich bread.
It also makes an excellent breakfast bread when toasted and slathered with a light layer of cinnamon honey butter. Honey Oatmeal Bread is equally at home as a base for bread pudding–the possibilities are endless! If ever there was a bread that I wanted you to try, it’s this one. I just know that you will love it! Are you in? Great!
But before we get started–a little housekeeping. Based on feedback from several of you that have tried many of my recipes, I am going to show you how to make the bread, then put the recipe in its entirety at the end of the post. That way you can click that handy Print Friendly button at the end of the post, weeding out any extraneous pages for easier printing.
Now that the house is nice and tidy, let’s make Honey Oatmeal Bread! The original recipe came from the instruction manual included with my very first Kitchen Aid mixer. I’ve made several changes over the years, the biggest alteration of which was making this a whole grain bread. Whole grains are where it’s at, man!
In a small saucepan, heat the water, honey, and butter over low heat until the butter is melted and the mixture is very warm.
While the honey mixture is heating, measure all of the white whole wheat flour, 2 cups of the all-purpose flour, salt, and yeast into the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix for 15 seconds with the dough hook to combine.
Once the honey mixture reaches 120 degrees F, turn off the heat. As you can see, I got distracted and the honey mixture reached 140 degrees F. That temperature is hot enough to kill the yeast, which would be bad. If your honey mixture gets to hot, it’s not a big deal–just let it cool to 120 degrees before proceeding.
And hey! If you don’t have a candy thermometer to check the exact temperature, do what I usually do and check it using a clean index finger. The mixture should feel very warm to the touch, but not so warm that you burn your finger or can’t keep your finger in there for more than a second or two. Just promise me that you won’t plop a finger in boiling liquid, okay? Thanks.
With the mixer running on low speed, gradually add the warm liquids over about a minute or so.
Add the eggs, and stir for an additional minute until they are well incorporated.
Add the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, and continue on low speed until the dough cleans the side of the mixing bowl. The total amount of all-purpose flour needed will depend on altitude, humidity, etc. I usually add an additional cup of flour at this stage before the dough starts to clean the side of the bowl.
Once this happens, turn the mixer up to medium speed, and knead the dough for 2 minutes. The dough will be dense, smooth, elastic, and slightly sticky.
**PLEASE NOTE: the bread dough may be mixed by hand with a stiff wooden spoon or dough whisk until the point of adding the remaining all-purpose flour. At that point, simply knead in the remaining flour by hand and continue kneading until achieving smooth, elastic dough—about 10-12 minutes by hand.**
Drizzle a few teaspoons of canola oil into the bottom of a large bowl. Form the dough into a smooth ball, and place it into bowl, turning to coat the surface of the ball with oil. The oil keeps the dough from forming a dry “skin” during the rising process. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and a clean towel. Allow dough to rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk–about 1 hour.
Yeast Bread Tips: I always cover the bowl with plastic wrap and drape a clean towel over it to help keep the heat of the dough from escaping the bowl. This helps the dough stay nice and cozy so that the yeast can do its job and help dough rise well. In the winter months, I put the covered bowl into the microwave to rise and keep it away from drafts. Of course, I never turn the microwave on during this process.
Once the dough has doubled in bulk, turn it onto a lightly floured surface.
Divide dough in half with a bench scraper or sharp knife.
Roll one half of the dough into a rectangle. I like to put my loaf pan on top to make sure that my loaf will be the right size. I typically use 8 x 8 x 2 1/2 inch loaf pans. A larger loaf pan will do, but the finished loaf will not be as tall. Oh! Be sure to spray the pans with cooking spray.
Tightly roll the long side of the rectangle toward you, pinching the ends to seal. For detailed instructions on how to form a loaf, click here and scroll through the instructions.
Once both loaves are formed and in their respective pans, spray a sheet of plastic wrap with cooking spray, and drape it over the top of the pans. Cover the plastic wrap with a clean towel, and allow the bread to rise in a warm place until they’ve doubled in bulk again–about an hour. Now would be an excellent time to preheat the oven to 375° F.
Combine the egg white and water to make an egg wash. Brush the top of the risen loaves with the egg wash before sprinkling with a few more oats. Bake at 375° F for 35-40 minutes, or until crust is a deep brown, and loaf sounds hallow when tapped.
Immediately remove loaves from the pans and allow to cool completely on a wire rack before slicing.
This is the part where I came back to see if my bread has cooled so that I can slice it for a photograph, and this is what I found. I live in a house with 5 bread-hounds, truly, I do. I had to hide the second loaf so that I could slice it for sandwiches later on.
But since the bread was still warm and sliced, I thought it only proper to toast it and have a little snack. When life hands you lemons make lemonade, right? So when your house full of bread-hounds eats a loaf of fresh bread in 10 seconds flat, why not have a little toast?
Feel free to use that one. It’s going to be a classic.
So long as you’re making toast, you might as well whip up a quick and tasty cinnamon honey butter by stirring together 1/2 cup of softened butter with 1/2 cup of honey and 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon until well blended. Then spread that sweet nectar on every slice of bread in your house and Hoover it in ’til your heart’s delight!
♥♥♥
Honey Oatmeal Bread
http://comfortablydomestic.com
Makes 2 loaves
Homey, comforting oatmeal bread is excellent lightly toasted, adorned simply with a just touch of butter, or as an excellent base for sandwiches, French toast, and bread pudding.
Prep Time: 2 hours 20 minutes, Cook Time: 40 minutes, Total Time: 3 hours
For the Bread:
1 ½ C. water
½ C. honey
5 Tbs. unsalted butter
3 C. 100 % white whole wheat flour
2 ½-3 ½ C. all-purpose flour, divided
1 C. rolled oats, plus extra for sprinkling
2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 ¼ tsp. instant yeast
2 eggs, lightly beaten
Canola oil for oiling the bowl.
For Topping:
1 egg white
Additional rolled oats for sprinkling
Combine water, honey, and butter in a small saucepan. Heat over low heat until liquids are very warm (120-130 degrees F. or around 63 degrees C.).
Place 3 C. white whole wheat flour, 2 C. all-purpose flour, oats, salt, cinnamon and yeast in a large bowl of a stand mixer. Using the dough hook attachment, mix on low speed for 15 seconds. With mixer running, gradually add warm liquids to flour mixture, about 1 minute. Add the lightly beaten eggs and mix for an additional minute.
Continuing on low speed, add remaining all-purpose flour, ½ C. at a time, until dough clings to hook and cleans the sides of the bowl. (I typically use 3 C. of all-purpose flour total, in addition to the 3 C. white whole wheat that was previously added.) Knead the dough on Speed 2 with dough hook for 2 minutes longer.
**PLEASE NOTE: the bread dough may be mixed by hand with a stiff wooden spoon or dough whisk until the point of adding the remaining all-purpose flour. At that point, simply knead in the remaining flour by hand and continue kneading until achieving smooth, elastic dough—about 10-12 minutes by hand.**
Form dough into a ball, and place dough in an oiled bowl, turning to grease the top. Cover first with plastic wrap, then a clean towel. Let rise in a warm, draft free place, until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and divide in half. Shape each half into a loaf and place into lightly greased 8 x 8 x 2 1/2-inch loaf pans. (9 x 5 x 2 inch pans work, but loaves will not be as tall.) Cover and let rise in a warm place, until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
While the dough is rising, preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Whisk the egg white with a little water to make an egg wash. Once the second rise in complete, brush tops of loaves with the egg wash and then sprinkle them with more oats.
Bake at 375 for 40 minutes, or until the loaves are golden brown and sound hollow when tapped. Immediately remove the bread from pans to cool on wire racks.
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