New Bread Recipe

Nothing better to do on a 'home day' than try out a new bread recipe, is there? I have been making an effort to bake my own bread whenever I can, mostly using this recipe, which has never done me wrong. Still, today I wanted to try something new.....I found this recipe submitted by J. Crury on Allrecipe.com and it turned out wonderfully. It is light and soft, and the oats give it a nice mild flavour. Next time I may try to 'healthy' it up a bit by increasing the amount of whole wheat and maybe replacing the brown sugar with honey - I will let you know how it goes. Be warned: this is a big recipe, and makes 6 average sized loaves. I baked up three today (some for us and some to share) and froze the other 3 loaves after shaping them, but before the final rising. In theory, I should be able to take them out of the freezer and let them thaw and rise at room temperature before baking the next time that I want a fresh loaf.

Homemade Bread Recipe

1/2 cup warm water
7.5 tsp active dry yeast
1/4 cup bread flour
1 tbsp sugar
2 cups quick cooking oats
2 cups whole wheat flour
4 1/2 cups warm water
1 1/2 tbsp salt
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
10 cups bread flour

Stir together 1/2 cup warm water, 1 tbsp sugar, 1/4 cup bread flour, and yeast. Let grow for approx. 5 minutes.

Add in the rest of the ingredients, except for the bread flour. Stir to combine, then add bread flour 1 cup at a time. When it is too thick to stir, turn out onto a floured surface and knead in the rest of the bread flour.

Place dough into a large greased bowl, and turn to coat the surface. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise until double in size (about 1 hour).

Punch down and divide the dough into 6 loaves. Place each loaf into a greased 8 x 4 loaf pan (or wrap individually and freeze). Let rise until double in size (about 1 hour).

Bake at 350 for 35 minutes. Remove from oven and brush top with melted butter.

YUM!