Recipe: Oatmeal bread (1 medium loaf)
Ingredients:
- 1 cup uncooked whole multigrain cereal
- 1 cup 1% milk
- 3 tp active dry yeast
- 1 TB butter at room temperature
- 1+1/2 tp salt
- 1 cup KAF whole wheat flour
- 1+1/2 cup bread flour
- 1 egg
Procedure:
1. Soak the uncooked cereal in 1 cup of milk for 1-2 hours.
2. After the cereal has been soaked, add the active dry yeast into the liquid. Stir a little. Give the yeast about 10 minutes to dissolve.
3. Mix the whole wheat flour, bread flour and salt thoroughly in a large bowl.
4. Add to the flour mixture the milk, the soaked cereal and the egg.
5. Stir to form a dough. Note that the dough may take a while to be fully hydrated because the cereal has absorbed plenty of water. Do not be too hasty to add water.
6. When a dough is fully in shape, it may be on the moisture side. That's ok as long as the dough holds together. Add softened butter. Once the butter is added, the dough may become more cohesive.
7. Allow dough to rest for 1-2 hours until volume doubles.
8. Gently shape the dough into a log. Place it in a 8.5"x4.5" loaf pan rubbed with vegetable oil.
9. Allow the dough to proof in pan until its volume doubles.
10. Bake at 350F until internal temperature reaches 190F.
Results:
12:37pm, all dry ingredients mixed, cereal being soaked, butter being warmed:
2:09pm, adding yeast to soaked cereal:
2:15pm, adding the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients:
2:17pm, egg added:
2:21pm, initial dough forming:
2:26pm, dough formed without butter:
2:30pm, dough with butter, ready to rest:
3:53pm, dough rested 90 minutes on counter top (today's a very hot day, room temperature around 80F):
3:54pm, dough non-sticky:
3:55pm, texture of dough:
3:57pm, gently shaping dough into a log:
3:58pm, dough to proof in a pan rubbed with vegetable oil:
5:35pm, dough over-proofed in 1 hour and 35 minutes because of the high room temperature:
5:37pm, dough reshaped and twisted to minimize de-gasing:
6:06pm, dough proofed in warm oven for 30 minutes:
6:06pm, dough's height just before baking:
6:18pm, loaf baked 12 minutes:
6:18pm, loaf's height after baking 12 minutes:
6:51pm, loaf baked 46 minutes in total, covered with foil during second part of baking; internal temperature exceeded 190F:
6:51pm, loaf's strength to hold the thermometer:
6:52pm, thermometer coming out completely clean:
6:56pm, loaf's height:
6:56pm, loaf's top:
6:57pm, loaf's bottom:
6:57pm, loaf's side:
6:57pm, loaf's heel:
8:26pm, loaf yielding 15 slices:
8:26pm, crust and crumb:
8:26pm, sizes of center (left) and heel (right):
8:26pm, center slice:
8:26pm, heel slice:
8:27pm, crumb:
8:29pm, a bite:
8:32pm, observe the bubbles trapped in the center of the crumb because of the twist that has created a swirl:
Breakfast:
This bread has sufficient gluten that it can be folded reasonably. Serves very well as a sandwich of roasted beef, cheese and lettuce, with a splash of butter.
Observations:
1. Today is such a hot day that the dough rises really fast.
2. Despite the softness of this dough, it has pretty strong surface tension. In fact, the dough holds well together even after over-proofing. So it's rather easy to re-knead the dough back into shape.
3. The loaf comes off really nice. The current ratio of 1.5 cup bread flour to 1 cup whole wheat flour to 1 cup cereal yields a loaf that is light and yet strong enough to hold the tilted thermometer.
4. I must have covered the loaf too early, before the crown is properly browned. As a result, the crown is lighter than the side and the bottom of the loaf.
I almost instinctively want to compare this loaf with my memory of the first oat-based loaf I've baked. This loaf is salty, not sweet at all. It does not have any seeds or nuts, so it offers no crunchiness of the nuts. The crust is thin and slightly chewy. With just 1-2 TB oil, this loaf tastes rather lean. But the milk and the egg probably helps making it more tender.
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