Oatmeal Bread

After the challah I decided I was feeling brave enough to try for real bread, and surfing the interwebs I found this. Valour might as well be out and out, and since I miss Fairway so much, I decided to try. The result is this luscious, dense almost cake-like bread, that is DIVINE toasted. I never managed to wait the required 40 min, and put butter on it out of the oven so it melts, and then there's strawberry jam too... *drool*

However, it's a little sweet for other uses, so next time I might omit the sugar and add more salt. I also use wholewheat flour and desi yeast so my results might not be what she intended. It is scrumptious though. The first time I made it, I didn't activate the yeast, and so the dough didn't rise, and I had to leave it overnight. The second time, I activated it too early, so the yeast rose on it's own, and then the dough didn't rise too much.

The next time I think I will activate it a bit and let it rise overnight in the fridge or something like that, to see if it puffs up much.

• 31/2 cups very hot water
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1 tsp sugar
• 3 cups old fashioned oats (I think we only get that kind)
• 1/4 cup butter
• 11/2 tbs active dry yeast
• 6 cups wholewheat flour, plus what you need to knead
• 1 tbs salt

Mix the oats and water in a big bowl, and then pour the hot water over it and set aside for about 30 min. 5 min before the oats are done, mix the yeast with the warm water and sugar and wait for bubbles to form. This should take about 5-10 min. Stir it into oat mixture. Star to stir the flour in, cup by cup. If it's hard to handle just turn it out on your surface and knead the flour into the mixture. Keep adding flour till it is all over, and then as necessary to knead into smooth, barely-sticky ball. Oil a non-metal bowl, and toss the ball in, making sure it gets coated too. Cover with a clean cloth and set aside to rise for about an hour and a half. Frankly, I've had a lot of trouble with this rise, since the first time I needed to let it sit overnight and the second time I just wasn't sure if it had risen at all. None of the poke with a finger tests worked, so just see if you can tell it's doubled.

Take it out, divide into two and shape two oblongs. Brush with water and roll in oats to get the coating. Place on an oiled baking tray with room for expansion, cover with the clean cloth and set aside to proof (second rise) for an hour. Bake at 180C for 35-40 minutes. Try and resist 40 min before slicing. Alternatively, slather with butter than melts into the hot bread...your call.