Oat-Beer Bread
- Serves: 4 Loaves
- Preparation Time: 45 minutes – 1 hour
- Total Cooking time: 35 mnutes
One of the more satisfying foods in life is freshly baked home-made bread. While being admittedly labor-intensive this recipe is perfect for when you happen to have a weekend or evening free to bake and the loaves make wonderful additions to gift baskets.
| Amount | Measure | Ingredients |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | lbs | flour (I use high gluten baking flour but all purpose will do) |
| 2 | cups | Oatmeal chopped coarsely in a food processor or use Irish Oatmeal |
| 1 | oz | salt |
| 1 | oz | sugar |
| 2 | oz | active dry yeast |
| 3 | cups | lukewarm water |
| 2 | 12 oz | bottles beer (use a pale beer like Corona or Molson) |
To prepare:
Place the flour, chopped oats and salt in a large steel mixing bowl and mix well. Add the yeast and sugar into the lukewarm water and let sit for 5 minutes or until yeast comes alive (it will begin to expand and foam). Add the yeast-water mixture into the flour and then carefully add in the beer mix until a stiff and satin textured dough forms. Pour out onto a floured countertop or cutting board and knead 15-20 minutes by hand until dough is smooth and no longer sticky.
Place back into the bowl and cover in a warm area. Let rise until doubled in size and punch down. Allow to rise one more time then divide into 4 equal portions. Flatten and roll into cylinders and then place into greased loaf pans. Run a very sharp knife down the center of the loaf to make a shallow slit. Brush egg wash or sugar water over the top of the loaf and sprinkle with oatmeal.
Allow to raise one more time then place in a preheated 350 degree oven and bake 35 minutes or until browned (bread will also sound “hollow” when tapped when it is done). Remove from oven and place on cooling racks. Slice and serve as you would any bread.
