Oatmeal Bread

I think I'm in love...with this bread. Bread is one of my favorite foods and I'm always looking for a good recipe and this one delivers. Of course, coming from the King Arthur blog the odds of it being nasty are slim to none but, you know, operator error and that kind of thing can certainly have an effect on the finished product.

Honestly, this is just about the easiest bread I've ever made. There was no agonizing over whether or not it had enough time to rise, did I add enough dough enhancer or gluten, or anything like that. It went together quickly in my mixer and was easy to shape and work with. There was no crashing in the oven. The finished loaves were just slightly crusty on the outside and the crumb is dense and soft. The perfect bread I tell you. The only thing I did that was out of the ordinary was tent the loaves with tin foil the last 10 minutes of baking and that's more because my oven is acting weird than anything else.

I doubled the recipe and made 2 loaves. Worked like a charm and I don't have to inundate the neighbors with what we can't eat before it goes stale. The recipe would work well in either a Kitchen Aid or Bosch, sometimes my KA can't handle the bigger recipes but this would be just fine.

OK, I'm just rambling and raving now. Here's the destructions.

Oatmeal Bread
King Arthur Flour-1 loaf

3 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 cup rolled oats, old fashioned style
2 Tbs butter
1 1/2 tsp salt
3 Tbs brown sugar or honey
2 tsp yeast
1 1/4 c lukewarm milk
3/4 c raisins or currants (opt)

In a large mixing bowl, or in the bowl of an electric mixer, combine all of the ingredients, mixing to form a shaggy dough. Knead dough, by hand (10 minutes) or by machine (5 minutes) till it's smooth.

Place dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover and allow it to rest for 1 hour; it'll become quite puffy, though it may not double in bulk. Shape as directed below. 

Bread machine method: Place all of the ingredients (except the fruit) into the pan of your machine, program machine for manual or dough, and press Start. About 10 minutes before the end of the second kneading cycle, check dough and adjust its consistency as necessary with additional flour or water; finished dough should be soft and supple. Add the raisins or currants about 3 minutes before the end of the final kneading cycle. Shape as directed below.

Shaping: Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled surface, and shape it into a log. Place the log in a lightly greased 9 x 5-inch loaf pan, cover the pan (with an acrylic proof cover, or with lightly greased plastic wrap), and allow the dough to rise for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, till it's crested 1" to 2" over the rim of the pan

Baking: Bake the bread in a preheated 350°F oven for 35 to 40 minutes, until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center registers 190°F. If the bread appears to be browning too quickly, tent it with aluminum foil for the final 10 minutes of baking.

Yield: 1 loaf.