Honey Oatmeal Bread for #BreadBakers

There is nothing in this world better or more comforting than fresh baked bread.  The smell of bread baking is pure comfort and biting into a warm piece smeared with butter is pure bliss.  This is one of the reasons that I love my Bread Bakers group.  The other reason is because it consists of such a wonderful group of people all gathered together by our fearless leader, Stacy of Food, Lust, People, Love.

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme.  Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page.

We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send Stacy an email with your blog URL to foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com.

Our host this month is Rocio of Kids and Chic and she chose the theme Oats.  She made it easy on us. We could use oats of any kind and we could chose whether we wanted to go sweet or savory. Thanks, Rocio, for doing all the hard work and allowing us to take it easy.

I have been doing a lot of sweet lately, using up the wonderful bounty of strawberries and rhubarb that I have been given, so for today's challenge I chose to go savory.

Then I found this recipe for Honey Oatmeal Bread, submitted by Leslie Vaughn to Allrecipes.com, and thought....well I guess a little sweet would be okay.  I made some adaptations to the recipe.  I used 3 c. of bread flour and 2 c. of all purpose flour to save me a trip to the store for more bread flour. The original recipe called for only 4 c. of flour.  I found I needed 5 cups plus more during the kneading process.  I also used my kitchen aid mixer with the dough hook instead of kneading by hand.  This recipe is supposed to be damp so only add enough flour for it to hold together and not stick to your hands when forming into a ball for rising.  I also omitted the last step of brushing the bread with honey and sprinkling with oats, though it probably would have been very pretty should you choose to finish yours off as such.

This bread requires an hour soaking time, an hour for the first raise and another 40 minutes for the second raise.  It had a nice rise during cooking.  A little lopsided but that is merely chef error and has nothing to do with the recipe.

It is tender and slightly sweet, reminiscent of the Hawaiian Dinner Rolls that you buy at the grocers, but better.  I think this is going to be a regular in this household.  I served it to dear friends who  were over for dinner and it was a huge hit.  They even asked me to make it again just for them.  Delicious!!

Honey Oatmeal Bread

adapted from Allrecipes.com submitted by Leslie Vaughn

2 c. boiling water

1 c. Old Fashioned Rolled Oats

1/2 c. honey

2 T. unsalted butter

2 t. kosher salt

2 1/4 t. active dry yeast

1/2 c. warm water (110-115*)

3 c. bread flour

2 + c. all purpose flour

Combine boiling water, oats, honey, butter and salt in large bowl of stand mixer and let stand for 1 hr.

Dissolve yeast in 1/4 c. warm water.  Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.

Add yeast and bread flour to oat mixture.  With paddle attachment, on low speed mix until combined. Add the all purpose flour, 1/2 c. at a time until the dough comes together. Switch to the dough hook and knead for 15-20 minutes adding flour as needed to maintain the cohesiveness of the dough.  The dough will be moist but should hold it's shape and not stick to your fingers.  

Turn the dough out and form into a ball, spray the bowl with cooking spray and return the dough to the bowl.  Cover with a warm, damp towel and place in a warm, draft free area until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

Deflate the dough and turn out onto a lightly floured surface.  Divide the dough into two equal pieces and form into loaves.  Place in 9x5" loaf pans that have been treated with cooking spray.  Cover with a warm, damp towel and allow to rise until doubled, about 40 minutes.

Bake in a preheated 350* oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown and hollow sounding when tapped.  Print Recipe

Look at what other great oatmeal themed breads were made!

• Agave Oatmeal Sour Dough Bread from My Catholic Kitchen
• Applesauce Oatmeal Bread from Hostess at Heart
• Banana Oatmeal Loaf from Basic N Delicious
• Blueberry Currant Oatmeal Bread from Cindy's Recipes and Writings
• Cinnamon Raisin Oatmeal Bread from Karen's Kitchen Stories 
• Honey Oatmeal Bread from Recipes, Food and Cooking
• Honey Oatmeal Bread from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Honey-Oatmeal Muffins from A Baker's House
• Honey Oats Bread Loaf from Gayathri's Cook Spot
• Honey Nut Oatmeal Waffles from Magnolia Days
• Honey Wheat Oat Bread from Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks
• Irish Oat and Whole Wheat Bread from Cali's Cuisine
• Lemon Blueberry Oat Bread from Kids & Chic
• Multigrain Twist Bread from What Smells So Good?
• Oat Breadsticks from Passion Kneaded
• Oatmeal and Whole Wheat Rolls from Sneha's Recipe
• Oatmeal Buttermilk Bread from Ruchik Randhap
• Oatmeal Porridge Sandwich Loaf from Bakers and Best
• Oatmeal Stout Loaf from Food Lust People Love
• Oat & Honey Bread from La Cocina de Aisha
• Oats and Millet Idli from Spice Roots
• Oats Garlic Kulcha from SimplyVeggies
• Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chips Oatmeal Scones from G'Gina's Kitchenette
• Rolled Oat Sourdough Boule from A Shaggy Dough Story
• Savory Oats Scones from Sara's Tasty Buds
• Triple Seeded Oat Bread from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Whole Wheat Honey Oatmeal Bread from Spill the Spices