I checked out a number of recipes for Honey Oat Bread and I did try one that didn’t need much time to prove the dough, as it used easy bake/instant yeast. That loaf was very tasty indeed, but it didn’t rise as much as I would have liked. So I decided I needed to have another go, with a different recipe. I found just what I was looking for on Laurainthekitchen, so I decided I must give it a try. Laura Vitale also has a video on her site on how to make the loaf.
Now this is a bread that doesn’t have many ingredients, flour, oats, hoeny, and yeast being the main ones. I made an error in my recipe, leaving out the salt but for me that was just fine. It was unintentional, but I cant say I found the omission to be too bad.
I converted the ingredients to the metric measurements that I am more used to.
It takes a while to make the bread, just because of the time the dough has to prove, but it is most rewarding when you take the baked loaf out of the oven, to that amazing baked bread aroma. Mine, which I baked using the fan in the oven, flattened out a little during baking. Maybe if I hadn’t used the fan and used 180C it would have retained the slight curve on the top. But when I buy bread in the supermarket I often find a slight dip in the top so I am not overly concerned.
After letting it cool I cut into the bread and found a beautifully baked loaf that tastes just wonderful.
Ingredients:
- 7g dried active yeast
- 2 tsp of salt
- 60ml of honey
- 45ml of unsalted butter, melted
- 320ml of warm water
- 400g strong white bread flour
- 1 cup of rolled oats
- 35g skimmed milk powder
- 2 tbps honey, warmed up a bit so it’s runny
- 2 or 3 tbsp oats
- In a small bowl, add the water, honey and yeast. Let it sit for a few minutes until the yeast is activated.
- In the bowl of a standing mixer, fitted with a dough hook attachment, add flour, milk powder, oats, salt and the yeast milk mixture.
- Knead the dough for just a few minutes or until it comes together.
- Turn the dough onto a floured surface and continue to knead until the dough is nice and smooth.
- Lightly grease a large bowl, place the dough in the greased bowl, brush the top with a little oil and cover with plastic wrap.
- Place in a warm draft free spot and let it rise for about an hour and a half to two hours or until doubled in size.
- Grease a 9×5” loaf pan with some vegetable oil and set aside.
- Dump the dough onto a lightly floured surface, knead it for a minute just to pull it together. Form it into a loaf, place it in the greased loaf pan (seam side down) cover it with a kitchen towel and let it rise for another hour or so or until doubled once more.
- Preheat your oven to 180C/160F Fan/350F degrees, brush the top of the bread with the warmed honey and sprinkle the oats all over the top. Bake your bread for about 40 minutes or so or until lightly golden brown. If you see the bread turning brown too quickly, tent it with a little foil to stop it from getting too dark. Allow it to cool completely on a wire rack.