It is bread making season! Saturday morning, the cold October winds are blowing and it is raining…..time to put a pot of chicken and barley soup on. That is the definition of a dreary autumn day here in Northern Ontario. But the upside is that the house is going to smell wonderful. Now we need some fresh bread to go with that simmering pot of soup. Today’s bread is going to be hearty, stick to your ribs sort of bread. This bread is an old-fashioned bread made with oatmeal, molasses and some whole wheat flour. If you have only all-purpose flour you can use that as well.
As we were having it for dinner I decided to make half of the dough into buns and the other half into a loaf for toasting for breakfast. That was a good decision as the buns were wonderful and fluffy smothered in butter and dipped in the hot soup.
The molasses adds some sweetness but also a nice caramel colour to the bread. Once the dough is baked you can’t even see the oatmeal, but it does make it hearty.
The loaf sliced thinly made for great toast topped with my favourite peanut butter. I am thinking it would make a wonderful grilled cheese sandwich as well, maybe with some thin slices of apple and some old cheddar.
So if you have a pot of soup or stew simmering away for dinner this evening I strongly recommend you try this dough recipe and enjoy a hearty bun or slice of bread to dip with!
- 1 cup rolled oats-large flake
- 3 tbsp canola oil
- ¼ cup molasses
- 2 cups boiling water
- 2½ tsp instant yeast
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 2 tsp salt
- 4-5 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 egg white
- 1 tbsp water
- In the bowl of stand mixer add the rolled oats,canola oil, molasses and boiling water. Mix well by hand and let stand for about 15 minutes until mixture has cooled to just warm.
- With wooden spoon add in yeast and whole wheat flour. Let stand about 10 minutes until yeast has started to bloom.
- Add 4 cups of all-purpose flour and salt.
- With dough hook, mix until soft sticky dough has formed.
- Add up to a cup more flour until a dough ball forms. This dough will not completely come away from the sides of the bowl, the bottom will still remain soft.
- Transfer dough to a greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap until it has doubled in size - about 2 hours.
- Using a spatula remove dough from bowl onto a well-floured surface. Divide dough in half. Shape either into 2 loaves or 1 loaf and 9 buns.
- Put shaped dough into well greased pans, cover loosely with plastic wrap and again let rise until it has reached the top of the pans which will take about 45 min to an hour.
- Meanwhile preheat oven to 375℉. Whisk together the egg white and water and carefully brush the tops of the dough.
- Bake 25-30 minutes for loaf and about 20-25 minutes for buns or until golden brown and bottoms sound hollow when tapped.
- Turn out onto rack to cool.