Easy Oatmeal Sandwich Bread

For the Crowdpleasers inaugural post: Easy Oatmeal Sandwich Bread.

I've been cooking and for a while, but I've always been scared of the yeasty breads.  Kind of the same way I was scared of cooking fish in 1998.  You get over it.  Took about 12 years, but I'm safely over it.  In the way you buy 50 lb. bags of bread flour at Costco over it.

The germ, if you will, of my baking kick was reading the ingredients of the supposedly healthy whole-wheat bread I was feeding my boys.  Right up there: high-fructose corn syrup.  And about 20 other ingredients.  When I started experimenting, I found I could pare that number to seven, including water.

The beauty part of this recipe is that it makes three (approximately 1.5 lb.) loaves.  Loaves and Fishes!  Share amongst your people! (Or completely cool and freeze in a zip-loc.)

Easy Oatmeal Sandwich Bread

4 Cups warm water
3/4 Tbsp. Yeast
2 Tsp. Sugar
8 Cups All-Purpose Flour (+more for kneading)
2 Cups Oat Flour
1 Tbsp. Salt (I use Kosher)
3 Tbsp. Honey

I start out in my Kitchen-aid mixer, but it comes to capacity after about the 8th cup of flour so I switch to kneading on the counter.

1. Add water to mixing bowl
2. Sprinkle yeast and sugar on top
3. let sit until mixture appears foamy, 5-10 minutes

4. Add flour, start mixing on low

5. Grind oat flour - whir whole oats in food processor

Whole Oats

Et voila, oat flour

6. Add oat flour, 1 tbsp. salt and the honey to the whole mess.  At this point your mixer will be heading for capacity.  Let it go as long as you can.  

7. If the dough still looks too wet, add more flour 1/4 cup at a time.  When it starts to come together, turn out on a floured surface and give it a little knead.  You know you knead it.  Ayeee.

Prior to knead

Post knead.  Not the cleanest effort, but worth it.

8. Throw that dough back into the dirty mixing bowl (some say to put it into a clean and oiled bowl, I say "Good Day" to that.  Cover with a damp tea towel and let that hot mess rise about 1-2 hours.

9. When you get these cute little eyes that stay indented when you poke them, you're good to go.  Punch that dough down, girl.  Get those aggressions out.  Seriously, try to break up all the air to get the dough ready for the second rise.

10.  Turn dough out on a floured counter and divide into thirds.

11. Form into loaves and place seam side down into greased (I'm lazy and use cooking spray) loaf pans.

12. Cover with the same damp tea towel you used for the first rise and let rise another hour.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

13.  Place loaves on center rack and bake for 35-40 minutes at 375 degrees.  

14. Turn out loaves immediately and let cool.

Oatmeal loaves plus gratuitous Forsythia

Yesssss sir.

I wrap these lovelies in waxed paper if planning to use quickly, or cool and freeze in a zip-loc.  Sandwiches?  Yum.  Thinly sliced for grilled cheese and tomato?  I know that's also technically a sandwich, but hot Yum.  French toast?  What could go wrong?