I obviously bake a lot. I have been making our daily bread for years. I found the Tassajara Bread Book by Edward Espe Brown a great learning tool. I get teased by how many copies I have of it. But there are reasons for that many copies: it is falling apart, I give it away, I take it every where with us traveling, I take notes in it....
Lately, I have wanted to make oatmeal bread because a bowl of oatmeal has not really settled. I experimented a bit and this is what I came up with.
Sourdough Oatmeal Bread
sourdough starter
3/4 cup water
1 cup flour
1/2 cup steel cut oats
1 1/2 cup water
1 cup water
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup olive oil
2 teaspoons salt
4 - 6 cups flour
The night before, you are going to replenish your starter by mixing the starter, 3/4 cup water, and 1 cup flour together in a large bowl. The bowl needs to be big enough for all the bread dough.
Also, put the oatmeal in a thermos and cover with the 1 1/2 cup water (you can also do this in a bowl wrapped with a towel).
The next morning, take out a couple of tablespoons of the sourdough starter for next time. Put 1 cup of water in with the starter and the oatmeal. Mix well. Add the brown sugar, olive oil, and 3 cups flour. It should be the consistency of pancake batter. Let sit about one and half hours.
Add the salt and another two cups of flour. You should be at the point where it is hard to stir. Get your hands in there and start kneading. I then turn the bread out on to the counter and knead some more. The bread should be fairly smooth when you are done. Sometimes I knead for ten minutes to release stress but you do not have to.
Cover and let rise for a couple of hours.
Punch down and let rise for one more hour or until double (my house is cold so sometimes that takes many hours)
Grease two loaf pans with butter.
Divide the dough in half. Shape each half into a loaf and place in a pan. Cover and let rise one last time for a bout 45 minutes (or in my cold house, until double)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Bake the bread for 1 hour and 15 minutes. The oatmeal makes it very moist and without this length of baking it will not bake all the way through.
This bead really tastes of oats. I like it toasted with butter and jam. I have not tried it as a grilled cheese sandwich because there is no cheese or cheese like substances currently in the house. I bet it would be fabulous!
Bread really is that easy. Some patience but easy. ASK questions and I will help.