Oatmeal Bread

I got this recipe from my sister, and tried it yesterday.  Mmmmm.  I didn't expect it to be half as easy or nearly as tasty as it turned out.  And I already had ALL of the ingredients, which is key now that we're down to one car.

It turned out so well, I thought I'd share the recipe:

1 pkg.active dry yeast (2 1/4 tsp)
1/2 cup warm water
1 cup quick oats
1/2 c whole wheat flour
1/2 c brown sugar or molasses
1 tbsp salt
2 tbsp butter or marg.
2 cups boiling water
5-6 cups of flour

Dissolve yeast in warm water.
In your mixing bowl combine oats, whole wheat flour, sugar, salt and butter and mix well. 

Pour boiling water over and mix well. let cool down to lukewarm.
Stir in yeast.
Mix flour in slowly.  The dough shouldn't be too dry, but not too sticky, either.
Place in a well greased bowl, cover and let rise until doubled.  (I turned my oven to its lowest setting while mixing the dough, turned it off, and let the dough rise in the warm oven - it took about 1 1/2 hours).
Punch down bread and shape into 2 loaves.
Place in greassed loaf pans and let rise again. (another hour or so)  

*I did one loaf, since I only have one loaf pan; I rolled the rest into balls, and put them in a muffin tin.  I would do this differently next time - I think I'd put the balls side-by-side in a greased glass pan so that they'd actually look like buns rather than muffins.*
Bake at 350 for 30-40 min. 

Brush crust with a bit of melted butter - this leaves the crust soft (and tastes oh so good!)

Enjoy!  (Please, oh please, eat some of it warm!)

PS: Like my signature?  I learned how at Blue Cricket Design.