Whole Wheat Oatmeal Sandwich Bread

Whole Wheat Oatmeal Sandwich Bread.

June 18, 2012

I call this sandwich bread, but I’m really completely full of it.

Because… I can’t make a sandwich to save my life.

I mean, I WANT a sandwich. Often. But every time I go to make a sandwich? I spy an avocado or something. And it takes me all of about 3.3 seconds to mash that thing up and slather it on serious toast and then… no sandwich for me.

OR. I end up doing this wild and crazy thing… like um, poaching an egg? A little obsessed with that right now. And then it ends up on the toast and it’s all runny and perfect and staring me in the face like HA WHAT ABOUT THAT SANDWICH and ingredients placed between bread just don’t happen even though I’m intensely craving a BLT.

BUT.

If I WERE to make a sandwich… and I’m talking a non-grilled cheese sandwich, because it’s fairly clear I have no issue throwing those together… this bread would last mere moments. Here we have my actual first attempt at making a real loaf – like, not a quick bread! – and I think I’m pretty sold. Seriously sold. I love that I know EXACTLY what is in this bread, that it has some severe chew from those oats, and that I can pile on avocado galore and eat ’til my heart’s content… just because it’s homemade.

These rules make my life.

Whole Wheat Oatmeal Sandwich Bread

[loosely adapted from king arthur flour]

makes one 9×5 loaf

1 packet active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)

1 1/4 cups warm milk

2 teaspoons honey

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup old fashioned oats

1 1/2 cups bread flour

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

3 tablespoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon salt

In a small bowl, combine milk, yeast and honey, stirring to mix. Let sit until foamy, about 10 minutes.

In the bowl of an electric mixer (fitted with a dough hook), add flour, oats, salt, brown sugar and butter. Add in milk mixture, then mix on medium speed until a shaggy dough forms. Increase speed a bit and knead the dough for 5-6 minutes, until smooth. Remove from mixer and add to a well-oiled bowl, then cover and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour.

Remove dough and form it into a log, then place it in a greased 9×5 loaf pan. Cover the dough with oiled plastic wrap and let rise for another 90 minutes, until it’s 1-2 inches above the rim of the pan.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Once hot, bake dough for 35-40 minutes until golden on top. Remove and let cool completely. Eat! Note: I used a slightly larger loaf pan because it was all I had – if you use the called-for 9×5 pan, the loaf will be typically taller.