My 67th experiment: Oatmeal loaf

Success breeds more adventure. After the very positive experience with oat bread, I'm trying another one.

Recipe: Cereal bread (1 large loaf)

Ingredients:
- 1 cup uncooked whole multigrain cereal
- 1+1/2 cup 1% milk
- 2 cups KAF bread flour
- 3 tp active dry yeast
- 1+1/2 tp salt
- 2 TB olive oil
- 3 TB honey
- 1/4 cup flaxseeds
- 1/2 cup whole wheat flour for adjustment
- 1/4 cup water for adjustment

Procedure:
1. Cook cereal in milk until soft. Cover and allow to sit until cereal mixture thickens.
2. Add yeast and honey to cereal.
3. Mix flour and salt in a large bowl.
4. Add wet ingredients to the dry ones and mix until hydration level is right.
5. Allow dough to rise until double in volume. Then shape and place in pan to rest.
6. Bake at 350F (or for shorter baking time, bake at 375F) until temperature reaches 190F inside.

Results:
8:49am, cooked cereal, a little too dry:

9:07am, cereal, yeast and honey mixture added to flour and salt:

9:16am, mixing:

9:30am, initial dough:

9:32am, dough being oiled:

9:38am, dough after oiling, becoming too soft and sticky:

9:54am, dough added with 1/2 cup bread flour, reworked and allowed to rest:

9:54am, dough's height when resting starts:

10:06am, dough rested 12 minutes, really flat, a sign of weak gluten formation:

10:19am, dough rested 25 minutes:

10:19am, dough tearing when lightly pulled, weak gluten:

10:28am, dough reworked with 1/2 cup whole wheat flour:

10:52am, dough rested 30 minutes:

10:53am, dough's height after rested 30 minutes:

10:53am, dough's surface tension:

10:57am, dough's improved texture:

10:57am, dough's wrinkles when pulled:

11:21am, dough with flaxseeds and shaped to proof:

11:21am, dough's height when beginning to proof:

12:11pm, dough proofed 50 minutes:

12:11pm, dough's height after proofing 50 minutes:

12:17pm, dough to bake at 375F:

12:35pm, loaf baked 20 minutes, observe the collapse, which may be due to the bursted gas bubbles:

12:37pm, loaf generously buttered:

1:05pm, loaf baked 50 minutes, internal temperature already exceeded 190F:

1:06pm, thermometer coming out clean:

1:07pm, loaf's shape in pan; observe that the edges are already detached from pan:

1:07pm, loaf's height; observe the significant collapse:

1:07pm, loaf's top:

1:07pm, loaf's side:

1:08pm, loaf's bottom:

1:08pm, loaf's heel:

1:09pm, loaf's corner:

3:48pm, loaf cooled 2.5 hours in closed oven:

3:58pm, loaf yielding 18 slices:

3:58pm, a center-of-loaf slice:

3:58pm, a heel-of-loaf slice:

3:59pm, the crumb and the crust of the loaf:

Observations:
1. When the oatmeal is cooked, it releases water very slowly. So the dough very gradually gets moist during resting and proofing.
2. This time, I struggle a lot with the gluten development. I start off using 1 cup of uncooked cereal and 1.5 cup of bread flour. The cereal is a little dry when cooked. As a result, I add extra water to the dough to help the hydration. However, as the cereal releases water very slowly.  It causes the dough to become more moist over 1-2 hours. So I have to add extra flour (whole wheat flour). It seems to me that the flour subsequently added to the dough cannot develop sufficient gluten. So the loaf actually shrinks after baking.
3. The taste of the crumb is very good. I can tell it right from trying the dough. In fact, the bread tastes so good that it can be eaten just as it is!

Conclusion:
My primary struggle with this loaf is the hydration level of the dough and how to prevent it from collapsing in the oven. Next time, I need to start with the right ratio. This can allow the bread flour to have more time to develop the gluten. It also does not seem like a great idea for the cooked cereal to sit too long.