Bread!

Yesterday in a family letter I mentioned that I was making soup and bread for supper, and my niece Kristen replied, saying that I had to make her Honey Oatmeal bread. So I printed out the recipe and - it was absolutely delicious! It is a very forgiving recipe, you can make substitutions and additions, such as oil instead of butter, a little gluten or half molasses with the honey. I was going to take a picture to show you how pretty it is, but I served it to the family last night and there isn't enough left for the camera.

Kristen’s Honey Oatmeal Bread

2-2/3 C boiling water
1 C rolled oats, uncooked
Pour boiling water over oats. Let stand until thoroughly softened.
1 Tbs salt
1/2 C honey
2 Tbs butter, melted and cooled
Add the salt, honey, and melted butter to the oats when the oats are lukewarm.
1-1/2 C whole wheat flour (I used a half cup of 12-grain cereal and 1 cup of flour)
Add flour to the oat mixture and beat well.
1 Tbs instant yeast
3 C unbleached flour (Kristen uses bread flour for bigger loaves – I used regular flour and it was quite dense and will try bread flour next time)
Add yeast and flour, mix well, then add additional flour until the dough starts to pull away from the side of the bowl. Knead for 5 minutes.
Put dough into lightly oiled bowl, turning it to coat dough on all sides. Cover with a cloth and let it rise for an hour or until doubled. Punch down the risen bread dough, knead lightly then shape into 3 or 4 loaves. Brush the top of each loaf with warm honey and then roll in oats to dress up the loaf. (Kristen omits this step if she plans to use it for kids’ sandwiches, but it is very pretty) Place in greased bread pans. Cover and let rise until doubled (approximately 30 minutes). Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Turn the loaves onto a rack and let cool. I sprayed the tops with spray butter, but you don't need to.