Since I bake all of our bread, I'm always on the hunt for great sandwich loaf recipes to try. I get bored making the same ones week after week.

I tried this one today and I'll definitely be adding it to the rotation: Oatmeal & Brown Sugar Toasting Bread from King Arthur Flour.

It has rolled oats, steel-cut oats and a nice dose of brown sugar for a sweet, toasty, nutty loaf. I bumped up the nutrition a bit by adding some whole-wheat flour to the mix.

You can see photos and get the recipe on my blog, Flour Girl, or on the King Arthur Flour site.

Happy baking!

Flour Girl

I made Dan Lepard’s Golspie Loaf from his Handmade Loaf book this weekend. It is 100% whole wheat except for the starter which the recipe says to do with either barley or rye flour. I actually did a whole wheat starter. A layer of coarse oatmeal (pinhead or steel cut) is on the crust and then it is baked in a round cake pan. The recipe instructs to score the loaf all the way through the dough to the bottom of the pan so that it can be pulled apart into sections after baking, but I did not score at all for fear of completely deflating what appeared to be a very wet and volatile dough. The recipe includes 3/4 teaspoon of fresh yeast, which I included because my starter didn’t seem very active at the time. However, Next time I will omit this and just use starter to see if it is really necessary or not.

I think I may have over-proofed after shaping because when I uncovered it and put it in the oven, the dough sank slightly. Despite this, my loaf turned out nicely and had a much more open crumb that I thought it would have and than what the picture in the book suggests. It also seemed to have a more open crumb than any other 100% whole wheat loaf I have ever made which was unexpected and reassuring.

Will post pictures.

This was the Hamelman Oatmeal Bread using KA Bread Flour and Gold Medal Whole Wheat.  I was suprised how much spring I got on the scalloping.

This is one of the recipes that I sought to make because of available ingredients. My in-laws just made another batch of maple syrup for this year (they do around March) and gave us some. I still had some from last year's, so I thought I'd look for a recipe to use up the opened jar sitting int he fridge. I found one at KAF, but I modified the recipe. Reading their blog about the recipe, I learned that they originally made use of 1/2 cup maple syrup. and while they made use of water, maple syrup and maple flavoring to brush the top to save on the expensive ingredient, I did not have to do that.

I had about 1/2 cup from a pint jar of maple syrup, and after pouring that off into a measuring cup, I had maple sugar sediment at the bottom, which I crushed with fork. This was what I used to brush the top of the loaf prior to baking. The blog author was right, the maple flavor was like creeping on you slowly...and toasting it (I do for 5 minutes) brings out the full flavor. Perfect for breakfast with my coffee, even plain or with jam.

And since I was using my bread machine, I changed the flours to bread flour and traditional whole wheat, both KAF brands, and the yeast to BM yeast. Of course, once these ingredients are changed, the method changes as well.

Ingredients:
* 3/4 cup warm water (80-100 deg F)
* 1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
* 1/2 cup real maple syrup
* 1/4 cup butter
* 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
* 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
* 3/4 cup King Arthur 100% Traditional Whole Wheat Flour
* 2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
* 2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast

Combine all wet ingredients and warm up to 80 to 100 deg F. Place in BM pan. (Don't forget the paddle!)

Combine all dry ingredients and place on top of dry. Start the dough cycle. Run a timer for 30 minutes (this will be the total time of kneading by the machine before it rests to rise for one hour), after which, transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and flatten with your floured palm to a disk. Generously grease your loaf pan.

Roll the dough to a log and place seam side down in an 8.5 x 4.5 x 2.5 loaf pan (if you use a bigger one, your loaf will not have an overhang and will seem too small for the pan). Cover with cling wrap smeared with shortening on the side that will eventually touch the dough so that dough will not stick when you remove the plastic later. Let rise for 1-1/2 to 2 hours in a warm, draft-free, moist place or until the dough has doubled in size and has about 1 inch overhang.

Heat the oven to 350 deg F. Place rack at the middle.

Remove plastic and brush the top with maple sugar-syrup all over. (I placed the loaf pan on another shallow pan to catch syrup drippings.). Bake for 35-40 minutes or until it sounds hollow when top is tapped with finger.

Let cool down for about 5 minutes before turning onto a cooling wire rack. KAF advises to let it cool fully before slicing. I don't. I think the reason they advise that is that it is easy to compress and deform the loaf with the pressure of slicer. I have, in the past, even as a child, learned to angle the loaf in such a way that my slicer hits the bottom corner first. When done this way, versus hitting the loaf from the top or flat sides, the bread maintains its shape, especially if you are not hastening the slicing.

I just baked Mamie's Oat Meal Bread from Wild Yeast (with a few small adaptations) and wanted to report that it's great. If you're looking for a perfect sandwich loaf, with a beautiful texture and flavor, I urge you to give it a try.

Photos and recipe are at Flour Girl and, of course, at Wild Yeast.

Happy baking!

Flour Girl

So my sourdough starter isn't ready yet. I've decided I'm going to baby it a little longer with three stirrings a day and lots of love. That being the case, I still needed to bake. This came about because I had oatmeal for lunch today. Strange lunch, I know, but sometimes you just have those cravings that must be heeded. I envisioned this as a soft-crusted bread with a dense but moist crumb and a decently caramelized crust. I wanted a little maple flavor, as well as the flavor of the brown sugar. I almost got it, but I think that this is still a work in progress. Not using instant oatmeal may be a start. It also needs a tad more salt than the teaspoon I put in. The only thing I'm lacking to make it completely from scratch is the maple syrup, which I'll get on friday, and I'll bake it again this weekend from old fashioned oats, brown sugar, and maple syrup. For anyone who still wants the recipe, it is below. I think I'm starting to get the scoring thing. These didn't blow out on the bottom. They were also better proofed than my last loaf. I let them sit for about an hour before baking. The real test of any bread making, for me anyway, is the appearance of the crumb. This is, by far, my best for a more dense loaf. I'm really loving what I'm learning here. I'm having a lot of fun baking (sometimes more than my boyfriend, our daughter, and I can eat, but it's proving to be very educational. Recipe: Maple Brown Sugar Oatmeal Bread - Take One Prepare the oatmeal: 1 packet instant maple & brown sugar oatmeal 1/2 cup water Mix and heat for 1 minute. It will be almost done, but not quite. Allow to cool to just warm. Assemble the rest of your ingredients: 3 1/3 cups flour 2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast 2 tablespoons of butter 1/4 cup lightly packed brown sugar (very lightly) 1 egg, lightly beaten 2/3 cup milk (lukewarm) 1 1/2 tsp salt Disolve the yeast in the milk. In your large bowl you use for mixing the final dough, mix together the oatmeal, sugar, and egg. Once incorporated, mix in the milk. Once all this is well mixed, add 2 cups of flour and the salt and mix until you get a thick paste. Add the rest of the flour in 1/3 cup increments until it's almost all in. If your cups are the same as my cups, it should take all but the littlest bit of the flour. If not, you want the dough to feel very sticky and barely hand-kneadable. Once mixed together so that there's barely any flour left in the bowl, rest for 10 minutes. After the resting period, turn the dough out onto your kneading surface and "knead", as well as you can, for a few minutes. 5 or so. Bulk ferment should be about 60-80 minutes. Mine was on the longer side because of the temperature of my kitchen. I stretched and folded the dough three times during this time. Got very good gluten development. Preshape and allow to sit for 5 or so minutes. Shape loaves, then proof for about 45 minutes to an hour, depending on the warmth of your kitchen. Score and bake in a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes, then turn down to 350 and bake until a thermometer reads 200 degrees or so.

In seeking a tasty and healthy bread for my 6 year old son's lunch box I've been looking to create a sandwich loaf that is in large part whole wheat flour and other grains, yet has a somewhat soft crust (you know children: they don't appreciate the best part of good bread), and fine and soft texture. It should hold up well for PB&J as well as cheese, turkey etc.

Multigrain Oatmeal Sandwich Bread 

And so it begins and I am hooked! Several months ago I was taking a course in Microbiology (don't ask, it'd take too long to explain), and we were studying yeasts. As I have gout, I can't drink, so making beer was out. That left bread. I bought a sack of King Arthur Bread Flour, and on the back was a recipe for their Oatmeal Toasting Bread. I made it. And made it again. And again. And again.

In response to my digestive biscuit blog I have attempted to photograph the "fine oatmeal" I specified in the recipe. I only know the following versions of oats but hope fellow subscribers can help if this doesn't compute ...

On the left porridge oat (rolled oats) - flattish flakes

On the right fine oatmeal - coarser than ground almonds, with irregular nubbly lumps slightly larger than overall sandy effect.