Honey Oatmeal Sandwich Bread
Are you looking for the perfect, whole wheat sandwich loaf recipe? You just found it.
Servings: 12 servings
Equipment
- stand mixer, baking pan
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cup milk
- 1 cup regular oats
- 4 tablespoons butter
- ¼ cup honey
- 1 ¼ cup whole wheat flour I used a spelt flour, but you can use any whole wheat flour you prefer- red winter wheat, white winter wheat, einkorn, etc.
- 1 ½-1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons Active dry yeast
- 2 eggs
- 1 egg for egg wash
- 2 tablespoons milk for egg wash
Instructions
- Heat milk to just under a boiling point, this is called scalding. Pour over your oats into a small bowl. Let this cool until it is just warm to the touch.
- Once it is warm, add the butter, honey, and yeast. Mix and let the yeast activate for about 5 minutes.
- Add mixture to your stand mixer. Then add in the remaining ingredients. Mix on medium speed for about 6 minutes.
- Cover and allow it to rise until doubled.
- Shape your bread as desired. I did the braided loaf. To do this, divide your dough into 3 sections. Roll each section into a 14-16 inch snake. Braid the 3 strands together and place them in a buttered bread pan.
- Cover and allow the bread to rise again.
- At the end of the rise, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Combine your egg and milk for the egg wash. Brush across the top, making sure to brush gently and not collapse the bread. Place the loaf in the oven.
- Bake for about 40 minutes. To know when it is done, we will check for a few things. Color- you will want it to be a beautiful golden brown. Then, temp, t should be about 185-190 degrees.
- Remove the loaf from the oven.
- Allow it to cool in the pan for about 5 minutes. Then, carefully turn it out onto your cooling rack. You can slice into this right away, or give it about 10 minutes to fully set. You cannot go wrong either way!
Video
Notes
- Yeast is important. When activated, it is a live organism. It needs to be handled with a certain amount of care, but don't let that intimidate you.
- Check your date on the yeast to make sure it is still good. I always store unused yeast in the fridge or freezer. This keeps it dormant and extends the shelf life.
- When you are making your dough, remember that yeast loves a warm, moist environment. Too cold and it takes a really long time to activate, too hot and you will kill it. The perfect temp for ingredients is about 100 degrees, or warm to the touch.
- Another important part of the bread-making process is properly developing the gluten. I like to knead my bread dough in the stand mixer for at least 6 minutes. That gluten you develop in the process is what gives the bread its structure and texture.
- If you aren't sure what your dough should look like when the gluten is developed, just know it should be a fairly smooth dough. Not perfectly smooth, but pretty smooth. Whole wheat flour is a little more coarse than refined, so it makes it less smooth.
- Make sure and proof your dough. You will do this twice in this recipe. Once is the first rise (bulk rise), then the second is after your loaf is formed. I like to let mine double both times.
- This bread rises best in a warm moist environment. I like to choose a warm spot in my kitchen. I also like to cover my bowl and loaf with saran wrap. This traps all the moisture inside and allows it to rise. Keep an eye on it, you don't want it over-proofed.
- Baking is critical. When you bake bread and remove it from the oven, it will actually continue to bake in a process called carry-over baking. That means the residual heat from the bread and the pan will continue to bake it.
- With whole-wheat bread, as the whole wheat flour absorbs more moisture, if you pull it out when the bread is perfectly baked, it will continue to bake and be slightly dry when you pull it out.
- So, I never bake mine at more than 190 degrees temp. Another trick is to remove the loaf from the pan within 5 minutes. If it is slightly underbaked, just a touch, it will be perfect within 5 minutes of removing it from the oven.