Oatmeal Honey Bread

* Exported from MasterCook *

Oatmeal Honey Bread

Recipe By : Jean Hersey-Woman's Day Encyclopedia of Cookery
Serving Size : 1 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : Bread-yeast

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
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6 cups Enriched white flour
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 Tablespoons soft butter
1/2 cup molasses (Black strap makes a dark bread,
regular makes a lighter-colored bread,
Honey may be sub. and is equally as good
1 cup rolled oats
2 cups boiling water
2 packages active dry yeast

First of all you need two bread pans. The measurements should be
9"x5"x3".'

Each morning before breakfast I put the rolled oats in a large bread
bowl, and pour the boiling water over it. It stands there while I get
breakfast. About one-half hour later it will be still warm, and this is
important. It will have softened up and all the little separate oats
will have blended together. Now you are ready to begin.

Step one is to soak the yeast. Pour it out of the packageds on the top
of the luke warm water. Let stand five minutes or so. Meanwhile you've
other things to do . Add to the soaked oats the salt, molasses, butter,
and special ingredients of the day, (see notes) if any.

By now the yeast has grown and is ready. Stir , and add it to the above
mixture. Next add and stir in the first 2 cups of flour, then 2 more
cups. The second 2 may be a little difficult to blend but they will
gradually merge. The last 2 you knead in.

One of the most fun things I know is kneading bread. You can feel the
bounce of the dough; the yeast turns it elastic, and it purely lives in
your hands and grows as you work it. Here is how you do this kneading,
and it is not one bit difficult. Leave the dough in the large bowl.
Roll up your sleeves. Scatter half a cup of flour on top of the dough.
With the heel of you hand, press into the dough-one quick firm press,
Then with your fingers get hold of and shift it around in the bow.,
sometimes turning it over. As the flour you are working with gradually
merges into the bread, add more, and continue kneading until the las 2
cups of flour are in. This might take ten minutes or five. If the
dough is still very sticky, add a little more flour.

When the flour is all worked in, shape the dough into a mound in the
center of the bowl, cover with a clean dish towel and leave for several
hours. The convenient part of this bread is that one hour more or less
of rising doesn't matter, so you can go about your business. As it
begins to rise a lovely smell spreads over the house, a sent more subtle
than that of bread baking but equally nice. I'd suggest you let the
dough rise about 2 hours in average-warm room. No added heat from the
stove is necessary. I can't say why but ours always rises faster on
clear, sunny days.

When the dough has risen to about two times the size it was when you
finished kneading and is gently lifting the covering cloth. you are
ready for the next step.

Cut it down with a knife, which seem unfair after all its work of
rising! But willy-nilly, cut back and forth a half dozen times through
the cough while, like a punctured balloon, it subsides into never quite
its original size but near it.

Now divide and place into the two well greased read pans, shaping the
dough out at the ends, to cover entirely the bottom of the pans. Let
the dough be fairly level and smooth on top. Cover and let it rise
again. This time it comes up more quickly. In perhaps an hour or so it
will rise into the lovely shape of the loaf you wish it to have in the
end, the top delicately rounded.

Put it in the oven at 325 degrees, on a rack about four inches from the
bottom. Bake for 50 minutes. If you have forgotten to turn the oven
on, no matter; set in a cold oven, turning the gauge to 325 degrees and
bake 60 minutes. Either way is successful. This baking time is when
the fragrance reaches it's peak of delight. Ask a friend for tea just
to sit there beside your glowing fire, with the bread baking.



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NOTES : The basic recipe can be made up as is, or any of five variations
can be made by adding one of the following
(1) 1 cup seedless raisins
(2) herbs: 1/2t dried parsley, 1t dried basil, 1/2 t anise seed,
2t dried summer savory, 1/4t powdered thyme
(3) herbs: 2t leaf sage, crumbled; 1t leaf marjoram, crumbled;
1/2t caraway seed
(4) 3/4 cup citron, dried fruits and peels
(5) 1/2 cup orange marmalade and only 1/4 cup molasses

I, Nancy, use honey most often because it is a staple in our house. I
have used (cooked) wheatberry, have substituted up to 1/2 of the flour
with whole wheat flour, and really like to use unbleached flour the
best. I have found one of the most remembered gifts is bread straight
from the oven and over the fence.