Oats & Molasses Bread

I like bread... well I like all carbs, but bread especially!

I've been going a bit over board in search of the perfect homemade loaf of bread (I made 8 loaves in 1 day...) and I think I may have found a contender. 

The flavor is great, it's easy to make and it cuts into thin slices easily to make sandwiches with.

It even freezes well!!

Oats & Molasses Bread

1 1/4 cup boiling water

3/4 cups rolled oats

1/3 cup molasses

2 tbsp butter (softened)

1 egg

1 tsp sugar

1/2 cup warm water

1 package instant yeast

3 cups all purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 3/4 tsp salt

In a bowl (that wont melt) stir boiling water with the oats and let stand until all the water has been absorbed, 10-15 minutes. Add in Molasses, butter and eggs and set aside.

Dissolve sugar in warm water and sprinkle the yeast on top. Let the yeast sit for about 5-10 minutes until it's all frothy like. Stir into oat mixture. Add 2 1/2 cups of the all purpose flour, all the whole wheat flour and salt to form a sticky dough. 

Dump the dough onto a floured surface and knead until the dough is smooth and slightly elastic, using only as much of the remaining flour needed to avoid sticking.

Place in an oiled bowl, turning to grease the entire dough, cover with a tea towel and let it rise in a warm/draft free area until doubled in size... roughly 1 hour.

Grease two loaf pans and set aside.

Punch the dough down & cut in half. On a lightly floured surface pat each half into rectangles the same length as your pan. Roll into a log... or "cylinder" if you're fancy, and pinch the ends to seal them. Plop the dough into your pans and once again, cover with your tea towel and let rise another hour or so, until doubled in size.

Brush the loaves with 1 beaten egg and sprinkle with a few oats before baking in the centre of a 375 oven for roughly 40 minutes. You'll know they are done when they are a lovely golden color and they sound hollow when tapped.

This recipe can be found in this book. It's an awesome book and a great resource. I really recommend it to everyone!!