Thursday, February 17, 2011

Steel Cut Oat Bread

Background first on how I cook my oats:

I make steel-cut oats (SCO) as follows

3 cups SCO
12 cups of water
1 stick Butter
1 1/2 tsp. salt

I brown the oats in the butter first.  Then I cook it for about 30 minutes or so and enjoy.  My boys didn't like the extra nutty taste at first but they have since learned it is really good.  I make a HUGE batch and keep it in the refrigerator.  They are creamier reheated and I don't have to wait for it to cook.  To reheat I chop it up with a wooden spoon and add hot water.  Heat until hot. Another plus about browning it,  the butter keeps the oats from boiling all over my stove.  Moving on....

This bread recipe uses the oats how I cooked it above. You can cook them with out browning them but add the fat, EVOO or butter to the dough.

2 cups Cooked SCO room temperature
1/2 cups Black-strap Molasses
Butter or EVOO (see above) 1-2 Tab.
2 cups warm water
4 cups unbleached white flour
4 cups graham flour
2 tsp sea salt
1 Tab lecithin granules
1/8 tsp vitamin C powder
1 tab and 2 tsp yeast or 2 packets

This may be a tricky dough, depending on how wet your SCO are, so you may need to add additional flour.  This can be halved.  The amounts listed above made 5 pounds of dough.  Kneed 10 minutes.  Let rise till doubled, punch down form into loaves, let rise till doubled.  Bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes.  I weigh my bread dough.  I have 1 pound and 1.5 pound pans depending on your pan size is why the time varies.  Bake until golden brown and when tapped with the back of your finger nail you get that hollow sound.

This is my new favorite whole grain bread.  It is not very sweet, if you like your bread sweeter than I would add some sucanat.

Let me know your thoughts.

1 comment:

Mary Bergfeld said...

Julie, this sounds delicious. I imagine I can get blackstrap and the lecithin granules at the health food store. This sounds quite nice. I'm curious as to how it tastes. The only way to satisfy my curiousity is to try it :-). I hope you have a great day. Blessings...Mary