Baking on Friday: Oatmeal Toasting Bread

Mmmmmmmmm.  Ahhhhhhhhhhhh.  The house smells soooooo good!

I finally got around to trying this recipe that I found on a blog called Farmgirl Fare.  I don't know how I happened to find her blog, but it was while we were traveling.  I set this one aside to do soon after we got home, and I'm so glad.

I haven't done a lot of bread baking, other than sweet tea breads.  But I love it when I do it.  I love the way the dough feels so soft in my hands, and I love how it feels warm to the touch--as if it's alive, which of course, it is!  You can find the recipe on her blog, and rather than retype it all here, I thought I'd let you all find it there along with her detailed instructions about how to do it.

A few notes of my own:  I didn't have the "old dough" that she mentions, and so I used the alternative directions, which mainly include adding more liquid.  Also, she has amended the recipe to note that she always uses milk instead of water now.  I did that too, mainly because we have trouble using up our milk before it spoils around here.  Also, I have a Kitchenaid stand mixer and I used my dough hook to knead the dough rather than kneading it by hand.  I had some concerns about how long I should knead it by machine, and so I did a little bit of investigation on the internet.  I came up with this article from Cook's Illustrated (my favorite resource in the kitchen) that seemed to imply that there was no difference in the time required to hand knead vs. machine knead.  And so I did it for the same amount of time mentioned in the recipe.  Aside from those things, I did it just the same as she did on her blog, and you can see the results.  I haven't yet cut into it because it's still warm.  (Is there anything better than fresh-from-the-oven homemade bread?  Maybe fresh-from-the-oven cookies?)

She also goes into quite a lot of instruction about how to shape the loafs.  I followed her instructions fairly loosely.  It didn't seem as complicated as the instructions implied.  I didn't go to a lot of work to "seal" the seam before plopping the loaves into their respective loaf pans, and they don't seem to have suffered any.  Of course, appearances can be deceiving.  The proof is in the eating.  I'm hoping mine will be fluffy and yummy, but I'll have to let you know later when they've cooled enough to cut into.

I'm heading off to the Portland Farmers Market tomorrow with Erik and Mae, and I plan to surprise them with a loaf of their own.

Update:  I just cut into it.  It is sooooo yummy!  I'll have to exercise some restraint to avoid eating the whole loaf before Mike gets home from work.