Wanting to try a new bread recipe on Saturday, I pulled out a 1963 bread cookbook that I bought at an antique store, and found a recipe for oatmeal bread with molasses. Not having made oatmeal bread before, I gave it a try, and was not disappointed. This is one of my favorites now. It has such a rich flavor, and wonderful aroma.
INGREDIENTS:
- 2 packages dry yeast
- 1 cup quick cooking rolled oats
- 1/2 cup molasses
- 1/3 cup shortening
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 6 cups all purpose flour
- 2 eggs
Yield: 2 Loaves
Add yeast to 1/2 cup warm water in a small bowl. Stir and then set aside.
In a medium size mixing bowl, add the oats,
molasses,
shortening
and salt.
Add 1 1/4 cups boiling water.
Stir well and then allow to cool until lukewarm. I sped this process along by placing the bowl in the fridge.
While waiting for it to cool, grease two 9 X 5 inch bread pans with butter, and then fill each with a couple tablespoons oats. Turn pans until inside is coated with oats, and then dump excess.
Remove bowl from fridge when lukewarm and transfer mixture to large mixing bowl.
To this, add 2 cups of flour and mix well.
Beat the eggs well with a fork and add to mixture.
Add yeast and water mixture,
and blend well with a large spoon. Add remaining flour 2 cups at a time and mix until well blended.
Dough will be really stiff and somewhat crumbly. Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface,
and knead for 10 minutes.
Here’s a short video showing how to knead bread by hand:
.
Place dough into greased medium bowl, turn dough over,
and cover lightly with plastic wrap and then cover bowl with towel. Allow dough to rise until double, about 1 1/2 hours. Then punch down dough,
and remove from bowl. Cut dough in half, and using your hands, form each half into a 12 X 8 inch rectangle.
Starting at one end, roll dough up,
and then pinch seam together.
Turn ends toward seam, and place in pan seam side down. Repeat with other loaf. Sprinkle loaves with oats.
Cover loosely with plastic wrap, and then a towel. Let rise until double, about 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 375 and bake for 40 minutes. Cover with foil after baking for 15 minutes to prevent tops from getting too dark. When done, remove from oven, and melt butter over tops.
Slice when cool. Or if you can’t wait, slice when warm and serve with butter. Of course, it’s also great toasted.
