Recipe: Oatmeal Honey Bread (Woman's Day Encyclopedia of Cookery)

I have made this bread "forever", but have not looked at the recipe itself for years. I had forgotten just how informative it was for a beginning bread maker. I have tried to type the instructions exactly as they appear in the book. (Published in 1966) For those of you wanting to, but have been intimidated by yeast breads, give this one a try. The old fashioned way has its rewards. As I put in my personal notes at the bottom....

"I have found one of the most remembered gifts is bread straight from the oven and over the fence." I hope this encourages someone new to "BAKE BREAD".

OATMEAL HONEY BREAD
Recipe By : Jean Hersey - Woman's Day Encyclopedia of Cookery

1 cup rolled oats, uncooked (old-fashioned, not quick oats)
2 cups boiling water
2 packages active dry yeast
1/2 cup lukewarm water
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup molasses (Black strap makes a dark bread, regular makes a lighter-colored bread, Honey may be sub. and is equally as good)
2 Tablespoons soft butter
Optional ingredients*
5-6 cups enriched white flour, divided use

First of all you need two bread pans. The measurements should be 9x5x3-inches.'

Each morning before breakfast I put the rolled oats in a large bread bowl, and pour the boiling water over it. It stands there while I get breakfast. About one-half hour later it will be still warm, and this is important. It will have softened up and all the little separate oats will have blended together. Now you are ready to begin.

Step one is to soak the yeast. Pour it out of the packages on the top of the lukewarm water. Let stand five minutes or so.

Meanwhile you've other things to do. Add to the soaked oats the salt, molasses, butter, and special ingredients of the day, (see notes*) if any.

By now the yeast has grown and is ready. Stir, and add it to the above mixture. Next add and stir in the first 2 cups of flour, then 2 more cups. The second 2 may be a little difficult to blend but they will gradually merge. The last 2 you knead in.

One of the most fun things I know is kneading bread. You can feel the bounce of the dough; the yeast turns it elastic, and it purely lives in your hands and grows as you work it. Here is how you do this kneading, and it is not one bit difficult. Leave the dough in the large bowl. Roll up your sleeves. Scatter half a cup of flour on top of the dough. With the heel of you hand, press into the dough-one quick firm press, Then with your fingers get hold of and shift it around in the bow., sometimes turning it over. As the flour you are working with gradually merges into the bread, add more, and continue kneading in flour until the dough is smooth and elastic. This might take ten minutes or five. If the dough is still very sticky, add a little more flour.

When the flour is all worked in, shape the dough into a mound in the center of the bowl, cover with a clean dish towel and leave for several hours. The convenient part of this bread is that one hour more or less of rising doesn't matter, so you can go about your business. As it begins to rise a lovely smell spreads over the house, a sent more subtle than that of bread baking but equally nice. I'd suggest you let the dough rise about 2 hours in average-warm room. No added heat from the stove is necessary. I can't say why but ours always rises faster on clear, sunny days.

When the dough has risen to about two times the size it was when you finished kneading and is gently lifting the covering cloth. you are ready for the next step.

Cut it down with a knife, which seem unfair after all its work of rising! But willy-nilly, cut back and forth a half dozen times through the cough while, like a punctured balloon, it subsides into never quite its original size but near it.

Now divide and place into the two well greased read pans, shaping the dough out at the ends, to cover entirely the bottom of the pans. Let the dough be fairly level and smooth on top. Cover and let it rise again. This time it comes up more quickly. In perhaps an hour or so it will rise into the lovely shape of the loaf you wish it to have in the end, the top delicately rounded.

Put it in the oven at 325 degrees F, on a rack about four inches from the bottom. Bake for 50 minutes. If you have forgotten to turn the oven on, no matter; set in a cold oven, turning the gauge to 325 degrees and bake 60 minutes. Either way is successful. This baking time is when the fragrance reaches it's peak of delight. Ask a friend for tea just to sit there beside your glowing fire, with the bread baking.

*VARIATION:
The basic recipe can be made up as is, or any of five variations can be made by adding one of the following
(1) 1 cup seedless raisins
(2) herbs: 1/2 tsp dried parsley, 1 tsp dried basil, 1/2 tsp anise seed, 2 tsp dried summer savory, 1/4 tsp powdered thyme
(3) herbs: 2 tsp leaf sage, crumbled; 1 tsp leaf marjoram, crumbled; 1/2 tsp caraway seed
(4) 3/4 cup citron, dried fruits and peels
(5) 1/2 cup orange marmalade and only 1/4 cup molasses

I use honey most often because it is a staple in our house. I have used (cooked) wheatberry, have substituted up to 1/2 of the flour with whole wheat flour, and really like to use unbleached flour the best. I often take out a little frustration by "punching down" the first rising instead of cutting it. You can also delay the first rising by refrigerating the prepared dough. You can also freeze the prepared dough AFTER the first rising...best to do it in the pan that you plan to use to cook the bread...or make sure that the size you freeze will fit in the pan that you plan to use, because the dough will rise somewhat and get bigger before it freezes.

I have found one of the most remembered gifts is bread straight from the oven and over the fence.