Oatmeal Graham Bread from Hensperger

I was out of town over the weekend and didn't get home until late Monday so I baked my October oatmeal weekend bread on Tuesday. I picked Beth Hensperger's Oatmeal Graham bread from her wonderful book: Bread for All Seasons.

I love this cookbook and this bread appears in the February section. Personally I think it's perfect for fall as well.

Here is the ingredient list:

2 cups boiling water
1 cup rolled oats (I always use McCann's)
1/2 cup honey (my own from my bees)
4 T butter - she calls for unsalted - I didn't have any and used salted
1 1/2 T active dry yeast
pinch of sugar (I used a dip of honey on a tiny whisk)
1/4 cup warm water
2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups graham or whole wheat flour
2 2/1 - 3 cups unbleached all purpose flour
extra rolled oats for sprinkling
1 egg yolk
2 T sesame seeds

As in many oatmeal breads, first you boil the water and pour it over the oatmeal, honey and butter. This has to cool in order not to kill the yeast in the third step.


Meanwhile you soften the yeast in the water. I stir the yeast with a whisk dipped in honey and then leave the whisk in the mix as the yeast begins to work.


Now that the oatmeal mix is cool and the yeast is up and running, you pour the yeast into the oatmeal in the mixing bowl. Add salt, whole wheat flour (I always use King Arthur's) and a cup of the unbleached flour. You beat this together well - about a minute.

Then you add the rest of the unbleached flour, 1/2 cup at a time. I switch to the bread hook after the mixture gets pretty stiff. Knead first by machine and then some on the counter before leaving it to rise for 1 1/2 - 2 hours.


When the bread has risen, divide the dough in half and shape it into two loaves. Grease the baking pans and sprinkle oatmeal all over the bottom and sides.



Before baking in a 375 oven, brush the tops of the loaves gently with the beaten egg yolk and sprinkle with 1 T sesame seed per loaf.

Bake for 35 - 40 minutes and then cool on racks.

This is a beautiful and absolutely delicious bread. It is soft and honey-nutty tasting.

The crumb is pretty and the bread crust is tender. So far this is my favorite of the oatmeal breads. It would do well for sandwiches (tried it at lunch today) or as breakfast toast.

Steel Cut Oatmeal Bread

My book club is meeting at my house on Tuesday. We read Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Stout. I really liked the book, but the woman it was about is a sort of tall, raw-boned woman and when she serves food, it's pretty simple - applesauce, baked beans.

We usually try to have food that fits the book. I have baked beans in the oven now. I also thought I'd serve pimento cheese sandwiches. Oatmeal bread is great for pimento cheese. I have a loaf from yesterday, but that isn't enough for the book club, so I made a different oatmeal bread today.

Today I made the oatmeal bread from King Arthur Flour's 200th Anniversary Cookbook. The recipe called for either steel cut oats or oatmeal and since I used oatmeal yesterday, I used steel cut oats today.

Here are the ingredients:

1 1/2 cups boiling water
1 cup rolled or steel-cut oats
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup butter (4 T)
1 T salt

1 T active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1 tsp honey
2 cups WW flour
3 1/2 - 4 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour.

First you mix the oatmeal mix (the first five ingredients) and let them cool to room temperature.

Then you soften the yeast in the warm water with the teaspoon of honey. When it is bubbling, you add all the rest of the ingredients. I didn't have any whole wheat flour so I used all unbleached flour. Of course, you add the flour gradually and end up kneading the mix with the dough hook.

Here are the steel cut oats, the butter and the salt, waiting for the honey and the boiling water!



After the first rise, you shape the dough into two loaves (8 1/2" X 4 1/2 " pan) and let the loaves rise about 45 minutes. Then you put the loaves into a cold oven and turn the oven on to 400 degrees for 15 minutes. By the end of the 15 minutes, my oven read 375 and wasn't up to 400, but you are then supposed to turn the oven down to 350 for 25 more minutes. So I did.



Here are the two beautiful loaves - and I wish you could smell them - they smell like the honey from my beehives. The little knobby steel cut oats add a nice texture to this bread. Can't wait for the pimento cheese sandwiches!



I LOVE this bread. The slices feel substantial - good for sandwich making - and the crunch of the steel cut oats is such an interesting addition.

Note: This bread makes good toast, but gets a little gummy when used for sandwiches. I used it for pimento cheese for my book club and it absorbed the pimento cheese in such a way that I found it unappealing.

Another September White Bread - Part I

Today I tried a recipe from King Arthur Flour. I use their flour all the time, and I have a their 200th anniversary cookbook , so I was sure they'd have a good white bread.

The recipe I used was Walter Sands Famous White Bread which is both in their cookbook and on their webpage. The bread calls for powdered milk rather than liquid milk and is thus different from the previous three breads.

When the yeast was bubbly, I added the powdered milk. I followed the directions, using my Kitchen Aid, rather than doing it by hand. I always knead with the dough hook and then pour the dough onto the counter and knead a few minutes by hand as well. I did this with this white bread.



It rose quicker than the recipe said it would and looked energetic and delicious.



Here it is poured onto the counter before I made it into two loaves which I baked in


4 1/2 X 8 1/2 inch pans.


The process continues in the next part.

Christmas Scones

Making Christmas Scones seemed like a great idea this year. These are from King Arthur Flour and have craisins and pecans in them.

Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup quick cooking oatmeal
1 T baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 cup Craisins
1 cup diced pecans
1 cup buttermilk
Sparkling sugar

I didn't exactly follow the recipe. I mixed the dry ingredients in the food processor. I put all of the dry ingredients into the bowl of the processor and pulsed about 12 times. Then I put the butter into the food processor and pulsed about 10 times. After the butter was mixed in, I poured the mix into a pottery mixing bowl and added the pecans and craisins.



I made a well of sorts in the center of the mix and then poured in the buttermilk. Like biscuits, scones don't like to be handled much. I barely mixed the liquid in, stirring with the rubber spatula above only about a couple of minutes.



I patted the dough into two 6 inch circles and sprinkled the top with sparkling sugar that I had bought to use to decorate a gingerbread house with my grandson. Like the recipe suggests, I cut the 8 segments with my bench knife. The sparkles made the scones look so festive. Below you can see them cooling on the rack before being packaged to give away.