Test Kitchen Tuesday

I made this recipe several years ago.  When I went on my retreat 2 weeks ago I brought home some Amish peanut butter and I think the two of these would be great paired together.

Oatmeal Bread

1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

1 3/4 cup old-fashioned rolled oats

2 1/2 cups HOT water

2 1/4 ounce packages or 5 teaspoons active dry yeast

5-6 cups unbleached all purpose flour (I like to use bread flour)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg, lightly beaten for brushing the dough

In a large bowl combine butter, sugar, and 1 1/2 cups of oats.

Stir in hot water and let mixture stand until lukewarm. 

Sprinkle yeast over mixture and let stand until foamy, about 5 min.

Stir in salt and 5 cups of flour, stirring until mixture forms a dough.

Turn dough out onto a floured surface. 

Knead dough for 10 minutes, adding as much of the remaining 1 cup flour as necessary to form a smooth and elastic dough ball.

Let rest covered with an inverted bowl for 15 min.

Lightly oil (or spray with cooking spray) 2 loaf pans, 9"x5"x3".  Form dough into 2 loaves and transfer to pans. Brush surface of dough with egg and sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup oats.  Let dough rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 375 F.  

 Bake bread in the middle of the oven for 40-50 min, or until browned and bottoms sound hollow when tapped.  

Turn bread out onto racks to cool completely. If you do not remove your bread from the pans it can 'sweat' and will become soggy. 

Once cool store in an airtight container.

Makes 2 loaves.