I think that I can now announce with confidence that my yeast fears are behind me.  I hope.
Admittedly, I have kinda set myself up though.  I have organic bread from Ace Bakery delivered via my food box every other week.  I was finding that we weren't getting through an entire loaf each week.  Might have been just a phase.  Maybe all things like this are a phase.  Either way, right now we are in a bread eating phase... school lunches, toast and jam, toast and honey.  It means that we're getting through more bread now than we have all through the school year.  I know it's weird but the upside is that I've made more bread.


Am I totally happy with my bread?  Do I feel like it's awesome and rises so high and tastes mind blowingly different and all that crap?  No and No.  It's bread people.  I make it and it tastes like bread.  It's not the biggest loaf going but it fills a whole (I'm really not selling this here).  I guess that what I'm trying to say is that because I don't have a big bread obsession that I don't really care if it's the best bread in town.  It's bread.  It gets sliced and then stuff is put on it to make it taste even better.  There.
Having said all that.  This bread upped the ante a little.
Mixing the oatmeal and sugar together first and then soaking it for a while was a really cool idea and made for a sweeter loaf with a nice chewing texture (I'm not sure if that's a real turn of phrase or not).  I'd make it again.
The bigger deal is that I'm making my own bread.  It's not hard.  It's really not.  The kneading part is like 10 minutes at the most - I doubt that I did it for that long.  I'm just using plain old all purpose flour, nothing fancy.  I'm not going out of my way by doing anything extraordinary... just some flour, yeast and liquid.  And you know what?  It's a nice feeling, that 'bread rising and then baking in the oven' feeling.  Baking a loaf of bread feels substantial and almost subversive at the same time.  That's a weird combo, I know.
If you decide to give it a try, making that loaf of bread you've been thinking about for so long, then let me know what it feels like for you once it comes out of the oven and doesn't suck.  It's good to share these things.  If you have a recipe for two loaves (like this one) then you could do more than just share your feelings.



Oatmeal Brown Sugar Bread
'More with Less' Cookbook
makes 2 loaves

1 cup quick cooking oats
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp salt
2 cups boiling water

1 pkg yeast (not instant)
1 tsp sugar
1/2 cup warm water

5 cups all-purpose flour

Combine the oats, whole wheat flour, brown sugar, salt and boiling water together in a bowl and set aside for about 15 min.  Letting it cool to room temperature or so.


meanwhile combine the warm water, sugar and yeast together.  Set aside for 10 minutes to proof (it will smell yeasty, get very foamy and double it's volume.
In a large bowl combine the oat mixture and the all purpose flour.  Mix until the two are well incorporated. Add in the yeast mixture and combine.
Put the dough on a lightly floured surface and knead for 5 - 10 minutes.  Place in a buttered bowl, cover with a clean cloth and let it rise in a draft-free spot for 1 hour or until doubled in volume.
Punch the dough back down and shape the dough into two loaves.  Place each in a greased loaf pan, cover with a clean cloth and let rise 1 hour or until doubled in size.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Bake the loaves for about 35 - 35 min. or until golden on the top.  Remove from the over and brush a little butter over the top.  Cool about 20 minutes before slicing.