Toasted Oat Bread with the Babes

The Kitchen of the Month for January, 2021 - oh, how I love saying 2021! - is Elizabeth of Blogging from OUR Kitchen. She gave us a fascinating recipe for a bread that uses both whole wheat flour and toasted oats, plus all-purpose flour and a few other things. Not being content with leaving things alone, I used some Irish whole-meal wheat flour instead of the wheat germ and malted wheat chops, plus I added some Harvest Grain Blend from King Arthur Flour and kneaded in some unroasted, unsalted sunflower seeds at the end...plus I made dinner rolls instead of a loaf. I know, it really might be better to start with the recipe given, but I so rarely do that it would be hard to do that now. 

The resulting rolls were hearty, seedy, and quite delicious! There was a nutty flavor from the toasted oats and a slightly chewy texture which I like. Sweetie liked them, too.

I did try the preheated cast iron bottom, topped with an overturned large, tall cake pan and that gave the crust some heft and a nice color. The rest of the rolls, which I baked on a sheet pan without being covered are just as nice inside, but paler and without the singing crust that the covered ones have.

If you are going to be a Buddy, and I hope you will, go to Elizabeth's blog HERE and send her an email with a photo of the finished bread and the URL by Jan. 29th to be included in the round-up. This is a great bread to go with soups and stews, plus it's lovely toasted and would probably make great sandwich bread, too. I gave the original recipe below.

Do visit the other Babes blogs, too, to see what this bread should have looked like. Check out Elizabeth's first because she has lots of information and tips. 

Toasted Oat Bread

Leavener

• 60 grams whole wheat flour
• 60 grams water
• dessert spoon of starter from the fridge (about 30 grams) 

Oats

• 100 grams rolled oats, toasted
• 100 grams boiling water 

Actual Dough

• 100 grams 100% whole wheat 'no additives' flour
• 400 grams unbleached 'no additives' all-purpose flour
• 5 grams wheat germ
• 5 grams malted wheat chops
• 325 grams water
• all of the leavener from above, when a small forkful floats in a glass of cool water
• 10 grams salt + 25 grams water
• all of the rolled oats mixture from above 

Topping (optional)

• quick oats 

1. Leavener: In the evening of the day before making the bread: Put the starter, flour and water into a smallish bowl. Mix with a wooden spoon until the flour is stirred in well. Cover the bowl with a plate and set aside overnight in the oven with only the light turned on. Unless it is ridiculously hot in the kitchen. In that case, leave the oven light turned off. 

2. Prepare the Oats: Poured rolled oats into a dry cast iron frying pan and place it over medium high heat, stirring with a wooden spoon from time to time. It takes about about 7 minutes to toast the oats. (They smell wonderful!) Transfer the toasted oats into a medium-sized bowl and pour boiling water over top. Cover with a plate and leave overnight in the oven with the leavener.

3. Mix the dough In the morning of the day you will be making the bread: When a small forkful of the leavener floats in a small bowl of room temperature water, you can go ahead and mix the dough: Sift the whole wheat flour into a large mixing bowl, reserving the bran for after shaping. Add all-purpose flour, wheat germ, malted wheat chops, and 325 water to the sifted whole wheat flour. Stir with a wooden spoon. Set aside for a moment.

4. Weigh the salt and 25 grams water, whisking it together in a small bowl. Set this bowl aside in the oven with only the light turned on.

5. Add the leavener to the large bowl. Use a dough whisk or wooden spoon to mix these ingredients together to make a rough dough. Cover the bowl with a plate and leave on the counter for about 30 minutes.

6. Adding the salt: Pour the salt mixture over the dough.

7. Kneading: Use one of your hands to squoosh the salt and water into the dough; use the other hand to steady the bowl - this way you always have a clean hand. At first the dough might be a bit messy and seem like it's coming apart. Persevere. Suddenly, it will seem more like dough than a horrible separated glop. Keep folding it over onto itself until it is relatively smooth. Cover with a plate and leave to rest for about 30 minutes.

8. Adding the oats and first stretching and folding: Add the oats overtop. Turn the bowl as you fold and re-fold the dough into the center, to distribute the oats. Cover the bowl with a plate and leave on the counter (or if the kitchen is cool like ours in winter and spring, into the oven with only the light turned on).

9. Continuing to stretch and fold: Repeat the folding step about 3 times in all at 30 minute intervals. After the final time of folding, leave the covered bowl in a draft free area until the dough has almost doubled 

10. Pre-shaping: Scatter a dusting of all-purpose flour on the board and gently place the dough on the flour. Fold the dough over in half, gently patting off any extra flour that might be there. Turn the dough a quarter turn and fold in half again. Continue turning and folding in half until the dough is shaped in a ball. Leave it seam side down on the board and cover with a large overturned mixing bowl (or a tea towel) and let rest for about 30 minutes. 

11. Prepare the brotform: Liberally coat the insides of a brot-form with rice flour. 

12. Shaping and adding optional topping: Scatter a very light dusting of flour on top of the round. Gently press down with the palms of your hands to create a disc that is about 4 centimeters deep. Carefully turn the disc over. Without breaking the skin on the bottom, use the dough scraper to fold the dough in half. Turn the dough a quarter turn and continue folding until a ball is created. Leave it seam side down and use the sides of the dough scraper to tighten the dough ball further. Once it has been tightened, wet your hands and rub them gently over the top. Scatter quick oats overtop. Now carefully put the shaped loaf seam-side UP into the brotform. Scatter the reserved bran evenly onto the seam area. Cover with the tea towel or an overturned mixing bowl and let sit for an hour or so to allow the loaf to almost double. "Almost" is the key here.... 

13. Preheating the oven: To know when it's time to bake, run your index finger under water and gently but firmly press it on the side of the bread. If the dough springs back immediately, recover the bread and leave it on the counter for another 15 minutes of so. If the dough gradually returns back after being pressed, leave the bread on the counter. Put a baking stone on a lower shelf of the oven. Place a cast-iron combo cooker (or lidded casserole dish) on the middle shelf and preheat the oven to hot (we set ours to 450F). 

14. Scoring: When the oven is thoroughly preheated about fifteen minutes later, transfer the round into the hot shallow pan of the combo-cooker. Using a lame, sharp knife, or scissors, score the bread in the pattern you like. (Ludd and Fjeld score their toasted oats bread in a box-like pattern on top.) 

15. Baking: Bake for 30 minutes with the lid on. After 30 minutes, remove the lid and, without stopping to stare in amazement at the amazing oven spring, close the oven door to continue baking for another 30 minutes, until the crust is a lovely dark golden brown and the bread sounds hollow when knuckle-rapped on the bottom. 

16. Cooling: When the bread has finished baking, remove it from the oven and allow it to cool on a footed rack before slicing and eating.