A warm loaf of a maple flavored oatmeal bread for National Oatmeal Month and a box of oats in Quaker blue for Blue Monday.
January is National Oatmeal Month and I wanted to post this before it was lost in a rash of recipes for the Super Bowl. It's adapted from one created by Bernard Clayton. I made it years ago and used it to make toast for my picky breakfast eaters. This is a moist bread, not sweet enough to be a cake, but sweet enough to ward off proposals from pastrami or other luncheon meat. It's unusual in that it's made with cooked oatmeal and a starter that is like a biga, save for the fact it contains salt and takes less time to ferment. The bread is easy to make but the dough is very sticky and, in its initial stages, is hard to handle. If you choose to make this, you might want to use a stand mixer to keep handling to a minimum. I've found that stale versions of this bread make wonderful French toast and bread pudding. It also freezes well. It helps to slice the bread and freeze it in individual portions rather than try to slice through a frozen block. What makes this bread truly appealing is the maple flavor imparted by the syrup used to make it. Use real maple syrup, the imitation just won't do. Here's the recipe.
Maple Oatmeal Bread
Ingredients:
- 2 1/2 cups boiling water
- 1 cup rolled oats
- 2-1/2 teaspoons dry yeast
- 3/4 cup maple syrup
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 5 to 6 cups all-purpose flour + flour for kneading
- Place oats in a large bowl. Pour in boiling water. Stir and set aside for 1 hour.
- Add yeast, syrup, salt and oil to the oats. Add 3 cups of flour and mix well. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit in a warm place until small bubbles form on surface of dough, about 1 hour.
- Add more flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until dough comes together. Turn it onto a floured surface and knead, using flour as required, for ten minutes. Dough will still be sticky, but it will form a cohesive mass. Cut dough into two pieces, shape into loaves and place in 2 greased loaf pans. Cover and let rise another 45 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until bread is brown and sounds hollow when thumped with a finger. Transfer pans to a cooling rack. Brush tops lightly with butter. Remove from pans and cool to room temperature before slicing. Yield: 2 loaves.
