Suggested by Linda Martin-Morris
Department of Biology
The oatmeal bread "production" tradition — making 5 loaves at a time — was passed from my grandmother to my mother. As a working-outside-the home farmer's wife, my mother believed in batch production of food to feed her five kiddos. Make a big batch, store it away for later. While I have no need for five loaves at a time, I make it for every family birthday and that way I can share the benefits of the batch with others. Both my kiddos have their own kneading pail and will, in time, take on the mantle of "birthday bread production".
We enjoy this bread as toast for breakfast.
Ingredients
- 4 cup of boiling water
- 2 cups of raw oats
- 1 cup unsulphured molasses
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons salt
- 2 tablespoons yeast, dissolved in 1 cup water
- 10 cups of bread flour (4 grams of protein per serving is key)
Directions
- Mix the boiling water and raw oats and turn off heat to pan. Leave for 1 hour.
- In a 10 gallon pail, combine the cooked oats, molasses, butter, salt, yeast, and bread flour. Knead 10 minutes.
- Let rise until doubled. Knock down and let rise again until doubled.
- Turn out on floured surface and knead briefly. Cut into five equal portions. Knead each for 5-10 minutes.
- Create loaves and place in buttered bread pan. Cover and let rise until loaves overtake the tops of the pans.
- Bake in 350 (F) oven for 35 minutes.
- Cool on rack. (Optional: brush tops with butter.)