It was bread baking time today.  My younger daughter usually does most of it, but she wasn’t feeling well, so I got to do it this time.

I ended up doing three different 2 loaf recipes. A white sourdough, in loaves, sourdough rye, as 4 smaller rounds, and a new one; two loaves of oatmeal flax bread.

I think it’s the first non-sourdough bread we’ve made since the move!  The only real reason it wasn’t also a sourdough was because the large plastic bowl I have was being used for the plain sourdough to rise, and the only other bowl I had that was large enough was stainless steel.  Not something to use with sourdough!

The recipe I used was modified from Two-Way Oatmeal Bread in Whole Foods for the Whole Family, from La Leche League International.

I am quite pleased with how it turned out!

Here is my modified recipe.

2 cups boiling water
2 cups rolled oats (thick or steel cut, not quick oats)
1 cup ground flaxseed (sold as Flaxseed Meal)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup oil
2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp yeast
5-7 cups flour

 

• Pour boiled water over oats, flaxseed, brown sugar, oil and salt in a large bowl.  Mix and allow to cool to lukewarm.
• Dissolve yeast in warm water.  Add to cooled oat mixture.
• Beat in flour to make a soft dough.  Knead 5-15 minutes, adding more flour if necessary.  (I added only 5 cups of flour total; amount will change based on humidity and temperature.)
• Let rise until doubles; at least 1 hour.
• Punch down dough and divide into 2 loaves.  Shape and place in greased loaf pans and let rise until slightly over the edge of the pans.  (Or let rise in the refrigerator overnight.)
• Bake at 350-375C for about 45 minutes (with my glass loaf pans, I used 350C), or until golden brown.
• Cool in racks.
• Recipe can be halved or doubled, but do not double amount of yeast.

As an aside, ground or crushed flax seed soaked in warm water can be used as an egg substitute in some recipes.

I just really like it in bread.

The Re-Farmer