Whole wheat, Oats & Honey loaf

 

We all are very busy in our daily lives, same is in my case even. But the thing which gives me happiness & peace is cooking and baking. These days I am in love with baking breads and I must say specially with oats & honey loaf. Oats and honey is a deadly combination and when all together combined with wheat flour reaches to its peak. Honey provides it a perfect sweetness which very well goes with a spread of jam or butter even. So lets have a quick look on the ingredients and the directions for baking it.

 

Ingredients:

• Whole wheat flour : 2 cups
• Bread or all-purpose flour/Plain Flour : 1 cup
• Rolled oats : 1cup n a little for topping the loaf
• Active dry yeast : 2 tsps
• Water : 1/2 cup
• Milk : 1/2 cup
• Honey : 1/4 cup
• Olive oil : 2 tbsps
• Salt : 1 tsp

Method:

• Combine water and milk in a microwave-safe bowl and heat for 30-45 seconds until warm. Add yeast and 1 tbsp of honey and give a slight stir. Let it sit for 15 minutes or until it becomes frothy.
• In other bowl mix flours, oats, oil, salt and rest of the honey. Now make a well within the flour mixture and pour frothy yeast into it. Try to mix up all together and knead a slightly sticky dough. (If you are using a stand mixer then with a dough hook, knead on medium speed 6 minutes until dough is smooth, elastic and slightly sticky). Now knead the dough by hand  for 10 to 15 minutes on a lightly floured surface. Transfer the dough in greased bowl and cover with a tea towel. 
• Keep the dough in some warm place and let it rise unless it gets doubled in size. This might take 1-1 1/2 hours depending upon the temperature.
• When dough is doubled, punch down and again knead for 5 minutes on to a lightly floured surface. Shape it in to a log as per the loaf tin, pinch sides slightly. Transfer to a lightly greased 9-by-5-inch loaf pan. Cover with a tea towel and let rise 30 to 40 minutes or  until dough reaches 1 inch above the pan edges.
• Apply a little warm honey on the top of the risen loaf with very light hands and sprinkle some oats over it.
• Preheat oven to 190 degrees C. Bake 40 to 50 minutes, until loaf is deep brown on top and sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom. Remove from loaf pan and transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. Once completely cooled, then only cut the slices.

TIPS

• The dough should not be very dry nor it should be too sticky. If you think that it has become too dry while kneading add a couple of tsps of water, if sticky then add a bit of flour.
• I usually let my dough rise in an oven with its light on. No heating is on.
• If you see that the crust is becoming darker, then cover it with aluminum foil after 20-25 minutes of baking

Bye n Happy Baking
Priyanka :)