Bread Baking Day #83: Bread with special flour

After several years and 82 Bread Baking Days, it's getting more difficult to find a new challenge.   This time around, Zorra (the founder of BBD), asked bakers to make a bread using special flour, either alone or in combination with traditional wheat flour.

I had some oat flour hiding in my freezer, so I decided to find a recipe that would help me use it up.  Luckily, I discovered one and it has become my new favorite:  Oatmeal Sandwich Bread from King Arthur Flour.

I have made it several times, using different sweeteners each time as an experiment.  For the first loaf, I used golden syrup in place of the brown sugar and honey.  It was delicious, but, for the second loaf, I used maple syrup.  That was a winner, hands down.  

The other change I made was to bake the bread in a larger pan (9"x5") instead of the stated 8.5"x4.5" pan.  In the smaller pan, the bread can overflow.  It still tastes good, but doesn't look as nice.  I watched carefully, making sure the bread was risen just right, using the proofing times as a guideline rather than the rule.

The addition of regular oats along with the oat flour gives the bread some texture, and, in case you don't have the flour, you can grind up some oats instead.  

I also used my bread machine during the mixing and initial proofing process to save some time.  It really was a non-fussy way to make a lovely bread.  While I was able to take photos of the loaf, itself, it disappeared too quickly to show the slices!

Here's a link to the original recipe.  Please give it a try -- you won't be disappointed.

And, check back with Zorra in the next few days to see how other bread bakers used alternative flours.



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