Maple Oatmeal Bread

This is a lovely sandwich loaf, with fall flavours and a delicious sweetness that pairs well with ham and cheese and chicken salad and good old pb&j. If you bake only one bread this month.. (What's with that? Why would you want to bake only one kind of bread in a whole month? Bread baking is fun and therapeutic. Don't you need fun? Therapy? Hmmm.)
Seriously, it is an easy bread to make, requiring only 4 hours of your time, largely unattended. Don't let September go by without making this wonderful bread!

Maple Oatmeal Bread
September's Bread of the Month

Makes 2 loaves

2 1/2 cups boiling water
1 cup rolled oats
1 package dry yeast
3/4 cup maple syrup
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon oil
5 cups flour

Put the oats into a bowl. Pour the boiling water over the oats and set aside for an hour.

Mix the yeast, syrup, salt, and oil into the oats. Mix in 3 cups of the flour. Cover the bowl and let rise for an hour.

Add more flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until the dough is the correct consistency. Knead for 10 minutes. Cut the dough into two pieces, then shape it into loaves and place in greased loaf pans. Cover and let rise another 45 minutes. *Note - you can place some parchment on the bottoms of your pans so the bread doesn't stick.

Bake at 350 for 40 - 50 minutes.

This recipe originates in Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads.

This bread has been Yeastspotted!