Crusty oatmeal bread

I had mentioned in one of my recent posts that we've been consciously incorporating quite a bit of oat into our daily diet, due primarily to my other half's committed effort to lower his cholesterol.  We've had quite a bit of oat-based muffins, pancakes, cookies, and most recently we made oatmeal bread!

This simple oatmeal loaf was so surprisingly good that I knew I had to share it here with all of you the minute I took my first bite.  Health benefits aside, what really surprised me was how crisp the crust turned out while the insides remained soft and moist.  I strongly recommend having this bread fresh out of the oven, once it has cooled slightly but still warm to the touch.  A day later the crust was still lovely but not as crispy as the day before.  Herr Scherrer made some pink salmon sandwiches with it for lunch and it was so yummy we regretted not making a bigger loaf as we ran out of bread!  I intend to try the recipe again soon, replacing a portion of the strong white flour with wholemeal flour.  

Recipe below makes 1 small loaf

Ingredients:
1 tsp dried yeast
175ml water
188g strong white flour
125g oatmeal (I grounded rolled oats in a food processer)
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp honey

Method:

Sprinkle yeast into 50ml of water. Leave for 5 minutes then stir to dissolve. Mix flour, oatmeal and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the centre and pour in yeast mixture and honey. Pour in remaining water in 2 to 3 batches while gradually mixing in the flour to form a stiff sticky dough. Turn the dough out on a lightly floured surface and knead till smooth and elastic. Put the dough into a clean bowl and cover with towel. Leave to rise until double in size, about 1.5 hours. Knock back, then leave to rest for 10 minutes. Shape dough into a loaf. Place on an oiled baking sheet or loaf tin and cover with towel. Prove until doubled in size, about 1 hour. Brush loaf with water and sprinkle some rolled oats over the top.  Bake in preheated 200 C oven for about 35 minutes until brown and hollow sounding when tapped underneath. Leave to cool on wire rack (out of loaf tin).

Simple & quick oat cinnamon cookies

For a couple of weeks now we've been having a bit of a oat and bran craze at home.  Mostly due to my better half's strong desire to lower his cholesterol level (oats are supposedly good for that). 

One morning he sweetly asked me if I could make him some oat cookies.  It was such a simple request, I couldn't possibly refuse... also, its not as if I need a strong reason to head into the kitchen to bake...

This is a really simple & quick to make recipe - good if you simply want to enjoy the taste of oats and with a bit of cinnamon. I baked 1/3 of it and froze the other 2/3 in the freezer for future yum yum!

 

Recipe below makes about 30 cookies

115g butter, chopped & softened

95g granulated sugar

95g brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

130g self raising flour, sifted

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

120g instant oats

Beat butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar together with electric mixer until creamy.  Beat in egg then stir in vanilla.  Combine flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.  Mix into butter mixture until dry and wet ingredients are well incorporated.  Stir in oats.  

Roll flat tablespoon quantity of dough into balls.  Place 5cm apart on greased baking sheet.  Flatten dough balls slightly with spoon.  Bake for 9 to 10 minutes in 190C preheated oven.  

Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool completely (cookies will initially be too soft to transfer to wire rack but will harden as it cools).  

(If dough appears too soft / butter begins melting while you are working on it, just cover dough with plastic and chill in fridge for about 15 minutes before working on it again.)