Honey Oat Bread

I don’t think there are many smells in this world better than freshly baked bread! There also isn’t much better than a slice of fresh from the oven bread with a little butter smeared all over it! It truly is a slice of heaven. I try to make all of our loaf bread, I don’t always succeed though and often end up buying it at the store, which I hate to do! This recipe is so great because there is no waiting for your yeast to proof! You just throw everything into the mixer! I know those of you with a bread machine are thinking “that’s what we do” I don’t happen to have a bread machine though… it is on my list of kitchen gadgetry that I would like to own one day! So this recipe works the best for me! I’ve also recently discovered bread flour, honestly I’ve just never thought about it before, but I am now in LOVE with it! My bread rises higher and has a lighter texture!

 

Here’s what you’ll need:

(Recipe adapted from Kitchen Aid)

1 ½ cups water

½ cup honey

1/3 cup butter

2 packets of Yeast

5-6 cups Bread Flour

1 cup Old Fashioned Oats

1tsp Salt

2 eggs

1 egg white + 1TBSP Water (egg wash)

Oatmeal to sprinkle on the top

                                                Dry Ingrediants ready for a little mix

Honey, Butter and Water

                                         Be Careful poring the hot honey/butter!

                              See how the sides of the bowl are dough free this is a good thing!

A warm oven is a great place to let dough rise!

                                          I love all the pieces of oatmeal poking through!

                                                              Divide in half

                                Covered with egg wash and oatmeal and ready for the oven!

Directions

Combine Water, Honey, and Butter in a small pan. Heat until butter melts.

In a mixer bowl place oats in the bottom and then add the flour, yeast and salt. Give it a slight mix. If you are using a Mixer you are going to want to use the dough hook.  Add the melted honey & butter to the flour mixture slowly. Continue to stir then add in the eggs and mix for another minute or until the eggs are incorporated.

Add in remaining flour a little at a time continuing to mix. Keep adding flour until the dough starts to pull away from the bowl. Then let it mix for a few more minutes, this is kneading the dough (love this)

Place dough into a greased bowl and cover and let rise for an hour or until the dough has doubled in size. I warm my oven @ 200 for 10-15 min then turn it off and place the covered dough in. I find it helps it to rise a little faster, and I just have better results.

Punch dough down and divide in half. Place each half into a greased loaf pan. Cover again and let rise for another hour or until dough doubles in size again.

Make egg wash and spread over loaves and sprinkle oatmeal on top. Bake @ 375 for 30-40 minutes or until a nice golden brown!  Take the loaves out of the pans and place them on a rack to cool… (wait to slice into them as long as you can I know it’s hard)

Slather with butter and honey, or jam or whatever you like the most and ENJOY!