Cowgirl Cuisine: Homemade Bread...once a week

Okay, I have been holding onto this subject for a while...haven't dove into it because it is such a tough subject for me!

I make all our bread we eat weekly. Sunday is usually my baking day and my recipe (which I will write down for you below) makes 2 good sized loaves that last us all week. I love oats and oat bread, so I searched and searched for an oat bread recipe that was easy, delicious and simple in ingredients. I tried several before I found the one I really liked. Now it is almost routine, although I still work on different aspects of it to see if I can improve the taste, size, and crust.

Our little tradition is now to tear off the corner of the bread as soon as it is out of the pan and taste it, to make sure I did it right! I had a few disappointments....hard as a rock bread, flat "I didn't rise hardly at all" bread, crumbly beyond normal bread, etc..

I have never been around much baking from scratch and certainly not bread baking, so all my lessons have been from the School of Hard Knocks! I try to follow a recipe as it describes and if it doesn't turn out right, then I try to analyze why not and try again.

My lovely sister saved me a lot of heartache by sending me a link to the following site that has "lessons" in bread making that has helped me immensely in understanding the science and mystery of making bread. (http://www.thefreshloaf.com/)

HELEN'S OAT BREAD

1 cup rolled oats

2 cups boiling water

1 cake yeast (2 1/4 tsp dry yeast)

1/2 cup lukewarm water

1/2 cup honey

1 1/2 tsp salt (I use kosher)

1 tbsp shortening, melted

4 1/2 cups sifted bread flour

In a large mixing bowl, combine rolled oats and boiling water. Cover and let stand for 1 hour.

Dissolve yeast in lukewarm water. Add to cooled oats along with honey, salt and the melted shortening. Add the flour in parts, mixing thoroughly in between. When all incorporated, knead dough for another 5-10 minutes, until soft and silky.

Return to the greased bowl, cover and allow to rise to double it's size.

When it is double it's size, remove from bowl, punch down and knead again for another 5-6 minutes.

Shape in a rectangle, cut in two and place in 2 separate greased bread pans. Cover and allow to rise again. It should rise to over the sides of the pan.