DIY EATS: Honey Oatmeal Bread

I just recently discovered this bread recipe - holy cow, it's so yummy! The honey gives it just a hint of something sweet while the texture and consistency couldn't be more perfect. My mom actually tried it as well and thought the same.

When I start baking bread it reminds me of when I was pretty young, like say about 9 years old. We lived in Wyoming where my Dad worked as a ranch hand, so it was Mom's job to make the pennies stretch as far as they possibly could, so she made nearly everything completely from scratch, including all of our bread. That said, I started baking bread when I was 9. Unlike most kids who start out baking cookies, Mom had me baking bread and by the time I was 11 I could cook an entire meal and have it all come off the stove at the same time. This turned out to be a really good thing because it was the summer that I was 11 that Mom fell and broke her tail bone, so I was suddenly in charge of the household cleaning and cooking. I actually learned a lot that summer and I'm glad for it as well as my mother's foresight in preparing me for it. Thank you Mom!

Well, on to the new found love......

Honey Oatmeal Bread
Adapted from Taste of Home

Ingredients:
2 C water, divided
1 C oatmeal
1/3 C butter, softened
1/3 C honey
1 Tbsp. salt
2 packages (1/2 oz each) active dry yeast
1 egg
4 - 5 C all purpose flour, divided
Melted butter (optional)

Directions:
Get a sauce pan out and bring 1 cup of the water to a boil, then add the oatmeal, honey, butter and salt and give it a good stir until butter is melted. Make sure this mixture is cooled off a bit (to about 110 degrees) before adding anything else, otherwise you could ruin your yeast.

In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add the oatmeal mixture and 2 cups of flour. Stir until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a stiff dough.

I put it in some cold water to help cool it down a little faster.

This is what the yeast should like if it's working like it should.

Now the fun starts!

I was taught and have since learned first hand that now matter what the recipe says (unless of course you're using a bread machine) you need to proof your yeast and that is done by taking the liquid, i.e. 1 Cup of water and making sure it's about 110 degrees, then adding a teaspoon of sugar, then your yeast. Now just a small word of advice, don't stir the yeast very much, only enough that the yeast itself ends up basically getting wet in the water. Then put it aside and let the yeast goolies do their magic. It will get bubbly if everything goes as it should, that's when you know that you're yeast is working.