Sourdough Oatmeal Bread

It is not my intention to turn this into a Sourdough Blog; however, we have two favorite recipes at our home and I just can't bear to move on from Sourdough until I share my other favorite bread recipe, Sourdough Oatmeal Bread.

It's easy to make and you can make substitutions and variations to suit your own taste; that's what I did. I converted a basic Oatmeal Bread recipe to a Sourdough version and there is a great deal of flexibility in this recipe. You can reduce the sweetener and turn it into a savory bread with onions & herbs, or increase the sweetener and use it for yummy cinnamon rolls. You can reduce the fat and make it a crustier bread or increase the fat and make it softer and richer. It all depends on what you enjoy.

Sourdough Oatmeal Bread

1 c. sourdough starter
1 t. baking soda (if you prefer more sourdough taste, leave out the baking soda)   

1/2 c. warm water
1 1/2 T. yeast
2-4 T honey, sugar or brown sugar   

1 1/2 c. boiling water
2 c. rolled oats
2 - 4 T. oil or butter    

2 1/2 t. salt    

5-7 c. bread flour (you can also substitute 1-2 c. whole wheat flour)

Pour boiling water over oats, salt and oil in a large bowl; stir vigorously to begin breaking up the oats.  Meanwhile, dissolve yeast and sugar in the 1/2 c. of warm water.  Let stand til bubbly.  Mix the baking soda with the starter; it will begin to foam up, then mix it together with the yeast mixture.  After the oats have cooled down a bit, mix in the yeast/starter mixture and beat well to continue breaking down the oats.  

Add 2 cups of bread flour, beating well.  Add more flour, cup by cup, until you can no longer stir it with a wooden spoon.  Turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Knead in enough of the remaining flour to make a slightly stiff, but somewhat sticky dough.  Knead about 6-8 minutes until the dough is elastic - it will not be smooth because of the oats.  Place dough in a greased bowl. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in size in a warm place.  (I've gotten very practical about this part and discovered that if I scrape my mixing bowl fairly well I can just toss my kneaded bread back in and cover it with a lid, skipping the greased clean bowl part and it works just fine.)

Once the dough has doubled in size, punch it down. I skip the resting period and divide  the dough in half.  Then shape 2 loaves - it works best if you roll it out with a rolling pin to remove all large air pockets before shaping the loaves. I like to make long skinny loaves on a large cookie sheet since the smaller diameter is easier to slice. Place formed loaves either in greased loaf pans for regularly shaped loaves or on greased cookie sheets for free form loaves. Score with a sharp knife and cover loosely with plastic wrap, a clean damp towel or spray the loaves down with a mister.  

Begin preheating the oven to 375 degrees.  Allow the bread to rise for about 5 minutes or so - don't let it dry out if you are using the mister method - the bread will not rise properly if the surface gets dried out. Once you see the bread is rising again - the knife slashes begin to open up - spray the loaves with water again and place in the warming oven. 

For loaf pans, bake for about 60 minutes if you are not using a completely preheated oven (or about 45-50 minutes if the oven is already hot and you've let the bread rise completely before baking.) For the longer skinnier loaves, 45 minutes in a non-preheated oven works for me (or about 30-35 minutes in a fully pre-heated oven for loaves that are already risen). Oven temperatures and loaf sizes vary all affect baking times. The original recipe called for 350 degrees, but that wasn't working for me so I hiked it up to 375 degrees. 

The crust should be lightly browned when done. You can check for doneness by tapping on the loaves; they should have a slightly hollow sound. Remove the bread from the oven; to maintain a crispier crust, let the loaves cool on wire racks. If you like a softer crust you can cool them on the baking sheet or in the pans. 

I like to make a sponge (the first steps in the recipe up through adding the 1st two cups of flour) in the morning and finish adding the flour, knead & then bake my bread in time for dinner. During this season of life, it works for us. Find what works for you.

There is a science to bread making - not Rocket Science - so don't freak out about it, but a science nonetheless. As long as you don't kill the yeast or forget to add salt, it's pretty hard to completely ruin bread.

Fats, the type of liquid and the amount and type of sweetener (if any), all affect the final product. You can make bread out of only flour, water, yeast and salt and end up with a awesome product. That's what good French Bread is. But more goes into a good French Bread than just popping the loaves into the oven; I have not had the time, equipment, nor patience to produce a fabulous French Bread - which is just another reason I have turned to Sourdough recipes. 

To wrap it all up - I like to let this bread rise in the oven before the oven reaches full temperature because this Sourdough Oatmeal Bread can easily over-rise and the loaves split during baking. It's still good to eat, of course, but it doesn't look as nice and it makes it harder to slice. I also like to spray my bread with water before putting it into the oven and during the initial 5 or so minutes of baking, but it's not absolutely necessary; we like a crispier crust and this aids in achieving that effect. If you like a softer crust, skip the misting.

The amount of fat in the recipe also affects the crust. Less fat makes for a crispier crust which is why French Breads that have no fat in them are crunchier than other kinds of white bread - and also why it leaves crumbs everywhere.  

Grettel, Oh Grettel, where are you?