Oat porridge bread - an update

Since I posted to asks some good porridge bread recipes, I've collected a lot of them. As per suggestions by advanced bakers, I decided to bake some oat porridge breads.

Unfortunately I did not have any flour other than whole wheat and bread flour, almond oil, or honey, so I had to make a simple one using the Maurizio's Oat Porridge Sourdough recipe (https://www.theperfectloaf.com/oat-porridge-sourdough/).

Until the end of the first fermentation process, I did not realize I was not supposed to use extra thick rolled oats for this recipe (which I did use). I was really anxious knowing that I made a mistake in the very beginning and that the dough was super stiff. It was partly because I cut back at least 15% water to avoid any disastrous outcome that I had last time (it stuck to a newly bought tea towel). The dough was too stiff that I did not expect to see any open crumb at all.

And voila!

Thin crust and custardy crumb! It was probably the most squishy sourdough bread I've ever baked.

With some leftover soaker, I mixed in Trader Joe's Super Seed & Ancient Grain Blend and baked another loaf. 

It got better oven spring and turned out even more squishy. 

Please ignore the rice flour -- it only shows how anxious I was that I almost dumped the dough in a rice flour bath to prevent from sticking.

Overall, I liked this bread, particularly the crumb a lot. I learned that high hydration is not the only way to get open crumbs.

But my loaves did not have a strong flavor as I wanted. 

I will definitely try other recipes (using different flour, toasted oats, honey, and/or almond oil) this weekend. I might mix in some of my cracked wheat hot cereal or rye flour to boost the flavor :)

Happy baking!