A Rainy Day For Baking Bread....(Great Recipe Ahead)

Brown Oatmeal Bread from last week...

The rain is pouring down outside,

candles are lit inside,

soft piano music playing,

and now I'm getting ready to head into the kitchen

and do my weekly bread baking.

I've spent many an hour,

many a recipe,

many ingredients,

to come up with my favorite bread recipe.

Today I thought I'd share it with you all!

John'aLee's Brown Oatmeal Whole Wheat Bread

Mix together and cool until warm: 

2 cups Old Fashioned Oatmeal uncooked

 2 cups Boiling Water

2 Cups Scalded Milk or Warmed Buttermilk

Dissolve 1 Packet of Yeast in 1 Cup of Warm Water

Let Sit for 5 minutes or until bubbly.

Add to above cooled mixture.

Also Add:

1 Cup of Honey (Molasses or Brown Sugar will do too. Each will vary the taste.)

1/4 Olive Oil

1/4 Cup Wheat Gluten (From King Arthur's Website)

1/4 Cup Artisan Flour (From King Arthur's Website) 

 2 Tbsps of Salt

4 1/2 Cups Unbleached White Flour

Slowly add the following flour until a dough forms that you can

handle with your hands.

(Too much flour and you will end up with a dry and crackly loaf)

Approximately 4 1/2 Cups Wheat Flour

Knead for 10 minutes by hand or in a mixer.

I put about a tablespoon of olive oil in a bowl,

slosh it around,

put the dough in it,

turn it over so there is oil all over it.

 This keeps it from becoming dried out as it rises.

Let Rise until it doubles in bulk (About an hour)

Punch Down and form loaves. 

(At this point I also pour more olive oil over the top of loaves. It keeps them from cracking during baking.)

Put in 4 Bread Pans. Let Rise for 25-30 minutes.

Bake in a 375 Degree Oven 40-45 minutes. 

I have learned that my end product is only as good as my ingredients!

Duh!! Right??

Thus, I've been ordering from 

King Arthur's Baking Catalogue

They have a fantastic website and make sure to go in and request their free catalogue.

It's always inspiring when it shows up in the mailbox.

I had to show you the new Baking Table we found at a flea market 

for my bread baking....

 I took a better picture but I can't get it to come up for some reason.

Anyway....
company tonight...
cleaning,
baking,
cooking...

Toodles!