We’ve always gotten along really well. We like a lot of the same things and have been able to take interest in the other’s hobbies. He won’t bake but he’ll whip up a mean meat sauce for pasta. He’ll also sit at the island and taste a goodie from dough/batter to finished product.
I’ll hang out while he kills zombies and watch him direct his minions to run around and hunt for treasure. And I’ll pick up a controller to help him get passed a really tough level.
That doesn’t meant that we always agree on everything, though. Peyton or Tom? Locatelli’s or Candelari’s? Barolo or shiraz? Astros or Braves? Windows or Linux? White or wheat? That’s one thing we definitely don’t agree on: sandwich bread.
He’s a white bread kind of guy. But not just any white bread will do (sorry, Sunbeam). It has to be chewy and firm, not soft. And salty, not sweet. His favorite sandwich bread is the ciabatta recipe from Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook.
It’s a good ciabatta, definitely my favorite recipe for ciabatta. But when it comes to sandwich bread…
I’m a wheat bread kind of girl. But not any wheat bread will do (sorry, Nature’s Own). It has to be soft, not chewy or firm. And preferably sweeter than nutty or salty. My favorite sandwich bread is the Buttermilk Oatmeal bread recipe from The Macrina Bakery and Cafe Cookbook.
Oatmeal Buttermilk Bread
Oatmeal keeps this light and fluffy wheat bread moist for days.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups rolled oats
- 1 cup boiling water
- 1/4 cup water
- 2 tsp + 2 Tbsp agave (divided)
- 2 tsp yeast
- 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil (extra light)
- 2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp salt
Instructions
- Set aside 1/4 cup rolled oats. Place the remaining oats into a medium bowl. Cover with boiling water. Mix with spoon and let sit uncovered for 10 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Whisk 1 tsp agave with 1/4 cup of warm water in the bowl of your stand mixer and sprinkle yeast on top. Let rest for 5 minutes. Add soaked oats, buttermilk, oil, 2 Tbsp agave, both flours, and salt. With hook attachment, mix on low speed to combine, then increase speed to medium and mix for about 10 minutes. Dough will be wet and cling to hook, but have a satiny finish.
- Place dough in an oiled bowl and over with plastic wrap. Proof in a warm area for 1 hour, the dough will almost double in size.
- Place dough onto a floured surface and flatten it with your hands, releasing excess air bubbles. Form dough into a 12 x 6-inch rectangle and position it so that a long side is facing you. Fold the 2 short ends onto the top so they meet in the middle. Starting with the closest end, roll dough away from you into a log. Let loaf rest on its seam for a few minutes.
- Transfer loaf to an oiled 10-inch loaf pan (if your pan measures 8-9 inches, consider dividing it into two loaves - this is a big loaf of bread!), pressing dough into the corners. Mix remaining agave with 1/2 tsp very hot water. Brush over the top of the loaf and sprinkle with the remaining oats. Let sit for 35-45 minutes, until loaf rises just over the top of the pan.
- While loaf is proofing, preheat oven to 385. Bake for 1 hour and allow to cool completely before cutting.
Notes
Yields: 1 large loaf, or 2 medium loaves
Estimated time: 3 hours
I wish I could bake bread, this bread looks amazing!
I love oatmeal bread for sandwiches, too. I think the oatmeal keeps the bread moist and I agree, soft is key. Your loaf is gorgeous!
This looks great–I just made a really unsuccessful loaf of Swedish Rye about an hour ago….sigh. So glad you’re back!
Oh wow this bread looks amazing! I’m not too picky about what I eat my sandwiches on…if it taste good I’m happy:) I need to give this bread a try though. It would be nice to have some real home cooked bread to eat my sandwiches on:)
Thanks for sharing a new wheat bread recipe for me to try. We love homemade bread. But I have one question, 385 degrees?!? Really? REALLY?! 😉
This looks amazing and will be my Sunday morning project this week.
(One thing, you don’t mention the agave in the ingredients portion of the recipe.)
I love how this bread looks. It is beautiful.
I’ve made an oatmeal bread once before and it was one of my favorites. This looks wonderful!
Yum, that bread looks delicious. I’ll have to try it. I was excited to see a new post from you in my google reader. Yours is my favorite foodie blog out of about ten I read but we haven’t heard from you in a while so today was a fun treat. 🙂
Wow, that looks goooood!
Can I substitute sugar for the agave?
Breads are my favorite. This looks tempting!
Susanna – absolutely. The original recipe actually calls for 1/2 cup sugar but that’s just too sweet for me.
Can i do it my hand? Please tell me how. I have been finding for whole wheat bread recipe and i think this is the one. Pleasee tell me how. Thanks.
I’m going to try this right now! I’ll report back later.
PS I’m going to sub honey for the agave.
Janice – you can make just about anything by hand that you would using a stand mixer. However, this might be one recipe that I personally wouldn’t try by hand myself. This bread dough initially is extremely wet – very sticky and unbread-dough like when the kneading process begins. If you do try it, let me know how it turns out!
This recipe is tasty, the bread texture is fluffy and soft. Thanks! I recommend using 2 9×5 loaf pans. The first time I made it though, not having a 10in pan, I used only one 9×5 bread pan, it overflowed the pan.
Okay, I made this last night and…wowie! Exactly as advertised! Mine looked dead on the same as the one in the photo, maybe slightly larger/higher as I had to let mine rise a bit longer. It was very sticky after the ten minutes with the bread hook, but I have a trick – I spray my hands with Pam before I try to take it out to knead it. It definitely helps it not stick to my fingers! I thought that only making one loaf instead of two would leave me wanting more, but no – this loaf is huge and very substantial – one slice is enough to fill you up. I had a slice of this toasted with my friend’s farm chicken’s eggs this morning, along with some french press espresso. A perfect breakfast!
The oatmeal on top does make it look very pretty, but makes it very messy to cut. I might skip it next time. The beauty it adds in initial presentation is balanced out by how messy it makes the counter as you cut it.
Thanks Shawnda for another great recipe! I still make the strawberry cake.
wendy
This looks amazing and I plan to make it tomorrow. I have one question: did you use regular whole wheat flour or whole wheat pastry flour? I have one but not the other and want to make sure I follow the recipe exactly.
Hi Ronni, I just used regular whole wheat flour (not pastry).
I totally want to try this! Just want to check before I start, do you use active dry yeast or instant yeast?
Hi Ellie – I use active dry. Whatever Fleischmann’s is 🙂
I did a little altering as you see below and my three loaves turned absolutely amazing and delicious. I have been making bread for 48 years and this is my favorite. Recipe:
1 1/2 c oats 2 c water 2 T honey 2 T molasses 1 T brn sugar 2 t yeast 2 t salt 1 1/2 c buttermilk 1/4 c water 1/2 c butter/oil blend 2 1/2 c ww flour 2 1/2 c flour 1/2 c potato flakes 1/4 c gluten 1/2 c wheat bran Bring water to a boil, add oats, cover, stirring often, for 10 min. Then add butter/oil and buttermilk, rinsing the cup with the 1/4 c water. Pour over sugars and yeast. Stir well, allowing yeast dissolve before adding rest of ingred. Place in an oiled bowl, cover with plastic and rise 1 hour, or until double. Place dough onto a floured surface, flatten to release any air bubbles. Shape loaves, put into pans. Let rise until above pan by an inch. Preheat oven 385. Bake 1 hr or until done and allow to cool completely before cutting. 3 nice loaves
Hi!! Dying to try this recipe! What yeast do you men in the recipe. Thanks!
I use active dry yeast.
My bread came out burnt and stuck in the pans.
i love this bread