Around here, our favorite bread is this whole wheat buttermilk bread. It’s soft, delicious and it has caused us to stop making all other kinds of bread. But, the only thing that is missing from the bread (in my opinion) is oats.
When I came across a delicious-looking buttermilk bread made with oats, I decided to break from our tradition and give it a try. It’s a large batch of dough, makes two loaves (8-inch pans) and it was a winner in my mind.
Whole Wheat Oatmeal Buttermilk Bread – Adapted from Tracy’s Culinary Adventures
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 C old fashioned oats
- 1 C water, boiling
- 1/4 C water, room temperature
- 1 1/2 C buttermilk, room temperature
- 2 T honey (just slightly overflowing)
- 2 tsp. yeast
- 1 1/2 tsp. salt
- 3 T olive oil
- 2 C bread flour
- 3 C whole wheat (or white whole wheat) flour
- Additional oats and warm honey for garnish
Directions
Combine 1 C boiling water with 1 1/2 C old fashioned oats and stir well. Let the oats soak for 10 minutes, stirring every 2-3 minutes.
Meanwhile, in the bowl of your stand mixer, add 1/4 C room temperature water, 2 heaping T honey, 2 tsp. of yeast, 3 T olive oil and 1 1/2 tsp. salt. Add in the oats, 1 1/2 C buttermilk and 2 C of bread flour along with 3 C whole wheat (either red or white will work) flour.
Using your stand mixer, knead the dough for 10 minutes. You may need to add in some additional flour (I added about 1/8 C) during the kneading process if the dough is sticky.
Place the dough in a large lightly greased bowl to rise, covered, until doubled. This took my dough about 1 hour.
Remove the dough from the bowl and place onto a lightly floured surface. Punch down and knead the dough 6-7 times. Then, divide it into two.
Shape each half of the dough into a rectangle, with the length of the dough matching the length of your bread/loaf pan.
Roll the dough up lengthwise and tuck the ends under the loaf. Pat and shape and set into a lightly greased (and/or parchment papered) 8-inch loaf pan. Repeat for the other loaf.
Mix together 1 tsp. honey and a 1/2 tsp. of hot water and brush the top of the loaves with the honey mixture. Sprinkle 1/8 C of old fashioned oats over the top of each loaf, if desired.
Cover and allow the dough to rise until it just pops up over the top of the pan. Then, preheat your oven to 375. When preheated, place the bread loaves on the bottom rack, and bake for 50-60 minutes. You’ll know the bread is done when they sound hallow when gently tapped or the internal temperature has reached 200 degrees F.
Remove the bread from the pan and place onto a cooling rack; cool completely.
I recommend freezing any extra bread so that it stays just as delicious as it is right now. Here’s our kitchen tip on keeping bread fresh.
Thanks for the recipe! After a few issues with store-bought bread, I was re-inspired to make my own. This looks delicious; is it light enough to use for sandwich bread? Also, thanks for linking to the bread storage tips; it was exactly what I had been searching for this week. Finally, (and this might seem a little silly, but) any tips on how to make bread slices of consistent thickness?
ReplyDeleteWe did use this for sandwich bread. It is more dense than the whole wheat buttermilk bread I linked in the first paragraph, though. But, we really enjoyed it.
DeleteAs for cutting, invest in a good bread knife - we love the eversharp one, but also have a nice bread knife that came with out block set. I cut the bread when it's at room temperature, and cut the whole loaf at one time. You can score the top of the loaf first to help you learn the right thickness. Hope that helps!
Hi, I just wanted to let you know that (unless I'm missing it), you never mentioned when to add the buttermilk. I clicked over to the original recipe to clarify. You might want to add that to the directions. Thanks for the recipe!
ReplyDeleteHi: My bread did not rise much. I don't have a mixer, so I kneaded by hand for about 12 minutes. The dough seemed very dense and was not tacky. Then set it in a warm spot but the rise was not very noticeable. The yeast and all ingredients were fresh. Maybe the kitchen was too cold? I let it rest on the stove top with the oven on for over 2 hours. Where did I go wrong? I've never made bread with oatmeal before. Thanks for the advise! Looking forward to tasting the bread.
ReplyDeleteThis bread is really dense. You could add the ingredients at room temperature, rather than cold, and that helps. You could also add vital wheat gluten to the dry ingredients; that helps with heavier doughs. If the dough doesn't rise, it's likely due to the ingredients being either too hot when added (kills yeast) or too cold (doesn't activate).
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