oatmeal wheat bread

several months ago, i asked my dear pals for bread recipes. i got several and i have tried most of them. i need to go back and see which ones i have not tried and give them a go.

this one is my absolute favorite - because it's easy. it uses honey instead of white sugar. it has oatmeal, which i love and wheat flour, which makes it semi healthy, right?

did i mention it's really hard to screw this up? this recipe came to me from my friend bob, who got it from HIS friend's wife.

oatmeal wheat bread

* 2 C. whole wheat flour
*4-6 C. white flour (i use 4, tops)
*1 C. oatmeal (regular or quick cooking)
*2 pkg. yeast (4 1/2 tsp.)
*1 tsp. salt
*1 C. water
*1 C. sour milk (1 T vinegar in 1 cup milk)
*1/2 C. honey
*1/3 C. melted butter
*2 eggs, beaten

of course, i use my kitchenaid for this. combine wheat flour, 1 c. flour, oats, yeast and salt. in a separate bowl, mix together water, milk, honey, and butter. warm the liquids until the temperature is between 110-120 degrees. (i warm the milk in the microwave and get warm water from the tap.) stir into flour mixture and beat until smooth. add eggs. add enough flour to form a soft dough. Add the flour 1 cup at a time. you want the dough to just pull away from the bowl and stick to the dough hook (i got this tip from my friend brenda). knead for 10 minutes. let rise until doubled (if using rapid rise yeast, just let dough sit for 10 minutes). punch down and shape into 2 loaves. cover and let rise until doubled. bake at 375 for 30 minutes.

on kneading: who actually kneads bread now? let the dough hook do the work for you. five to seven minutes is sufficient.

another tip: warm the bowl with hot water before you start. i hope this is obvious, but dump the water out of the bowl before you use it. :)

i've also found that for my oven, if i bake this at 375 for 30 mins, it's much too dark. i like to bake it at 350 for about 20-25 minutes. it depends on the weather that day and the flour.