Modified Honey-Oat Success (At Last!)

Sunday after Church I decided, since we're nearly out of the oatmeal bread that DM likes, to take another crack at baking a loaf.  

My last attempt was a little flat and dense, but edible and not all that bad tasting.

This time I elected to go with a recipie for honey-oat bread from the booklet that came with our WEST BEND bread machine, making a few modifications for her dairy - free diet and my proclivity for whole grains. 

Had just bought a bag of all purpose white flour, since I’ve had trouble getting my WW creations to rise, so dumped a short cup of warmed (30 sec in the microwave = 92°) almond milk in which was dissolved 2 tbs. of organic honey and 1 tbs. of maple syrup (bringing temp down to 82°), a couple tbs. of light olive oil as substitute for butter, 1 cup of the white, 1/2 c. whole wheat and1/2c. sprouted wheat flour, a cup of Quaker oats, and a heaping tsp. of salt into the bucket of the bread machine.
Dug out a little fox hole in the middle of the ingredients and dumped a packet of fast rise bread machine yeast into it before setting the machine on “dough” and firing it off.
Had contemplated letting the machine bake the loaf, but I forgot to lube the bucket and since the paddle is stuck on to the shaft might have trouble getting the loaf out. Besides; I wanted to experiment with baking in a containment - in this case an old aluminum turkey roaster which can fit two of my loaf pans in sideways or one the long way.

After the machine got done thumping and bumping the dough around I plopped it on to a sheet of glass with some flour and flax chaff on it, and formed it gently into a fat little torpedo, which went into the red glass loaf pan which in turn went into the turkey box with a dish towel over it to proof on the stove top, which was warm from our supper baking in the 350° oven beneath it.

By the time my chicken rice cassarolle was done, the dough had risen pretty well so out came dinner and in went bread after cranking the oven up to 375°. Had to move the rack almost to the bottom in order to fit that big aluminum box in there.

When the timer went off in 35 minutes I’d intended to take the loaf pan out and put it back in the oven for another 10 min or so to brown, but found the loaf nicely risen with a radient, golden brown crust.
The meat thermometer stuck in the middle showed a tad over 200°; it was done!

Before it was done cooling on the rack, I had lapsed into my nightly coma so Mrs. C. put it in the fridge.
This morning I took it out and sliced some slabs off of it; toasted one for her and I fried two in bacon fat. Yummy!
It has a nice tight crumb without being overly dense.
The flavor is a bit cake - like; in the future I think I’ll cut the sweetener down to 2 tbs, and might go with maple syrup… as it is, after all, sugarin’ season here in Maine!

This is the closest to a baking success I’ve had thus far, and I’m encouraged to keep baking and experimenting.

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Looks delicious - congratulations!

I was about to advise you to avoid refrigerating your bread - that makes it get stale faster…or so I’ve always heard. But a quick google search yielded some new thoughts on this. Basically, it’s fine if you’re heating it up again anyway.

Hey Jacque! That’s a great looking loaf. Congratulations. And that giant roasting pan is a gem. Especially because it’s so tall and has square corners. Enjoy and keep on baking.