Oatmeal –Molasses Bread

Mom and Dad invited us to dinner the other night while Marcia was there visiting. Although the entire meal was delicious, my favorite part was the incredible 9-grain bread Mom served. Hopefully, Mom will post that recipe! In the meantime, however, she inspired me to try a new, flavorful whole-grain bread recipe. I doubled this recipe to make 4 loaves--and I'm glad I did! We've enjoyed it with soup, for breakfast as egg-in-a-hole, with jam, and just by itself. It's delicious!

4 tsp active dry yeast
Pinch of sugar
½ cup (4 fl oz) warm water (105°F - 115°F)
2 cups (16 fl oz) tepid buttermilk (90°F)
4 Tbsp (2 oz) unsalted butter, melted
½ cup (5 ½ oz) light or dark molasses
1 cup (5 oz) whole-wheat flour or graham flour
¾ cup (2 oz) old-fashioned or quick-cooking rolled oats
½ cup (2 ½ oz) fine yellow cornmeal
¼ cup (1/2 oz) instant mashed potato flakes
¼ cup (3/4 oz) toasted wheat germ
2 ½ tsp salt
3 – 3 ¼ cups (15 – 16 ½ oz) bread flour, plus extra as needed

In a bowl, sprinkle yeast and sugar over the water and stir to dissolve. Let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes.

In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the buttermilk, butter, molasses, and whole-wheat flour. Beat on medium speed until creamy, about 1 minute. Add the yeast mixture, oats, cornmeal, potato flakes, wheat germ and salt, and beat for 1 minute. Beat in the bread flour, ½ cup at a time, until the dough pulls away from the bowl sides. Switch to the dough hook. Knead on low speed, adding bread flour 1 Tbsp at a time if the dough sticks, until smooth, about 5 minutes. Let the dough rest for 10 minutes, then knead for 1 minute longer. The dough should be smooth but slightly tacky and nubby when pressed.

Transfer the dough to an oiled deep bowl and turn the dough once to coat it with oil. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until doubled in bulk, about 1 ½ to 2 hours.

Lightly grease two 8 ½ x 4 ½-inch loaf pans. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and divide in half. Pat each half into an 8 x 12-inch rectangle. Beginning at a narrow end, roll up each rectangle to make a loaf the length of the pan. Pinch the ends and long seam to seal. Place the loaves, seam side down, in the prepared pans. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise until about 1 inch above the rim of each pan, 1 to 1 ½ hours.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Bake until the loaves are golden brown and pull away from the pan sides, 30 - 40 minutes. Turn out onto racks and let cool completely.

Recipe Source: The Williams-Sonoma Baking Book