Cinnamon Oatmeal Bread for my Mom

The other morning I decided to make bread for my mom. I read out a few recipes I had bookmarked and she chose this Oatmeal Sandwich Bread.

I accidentally didn't follow the instructions very well...missing the first 30 minute rise, forgetting to add the salt until the last minute, etc... Anyways, I decided to just write exactly what I ended up doing because it worked out well for me, but if you want to check out the recipe I was supposedly making, just follow the link. I also weighed my ingredients, calculating the weight from the nutritional information on the packages. I decided to both weigh and measure the oats, to compare, and the difference was over 30 grams! I was so surprised. I prefer to weigh, mostly because it creates fewer dishes, but it is also more accurate and repeatable. Anyways, here's the recipe by weight...

Cinnamon Oatmeal Bread
(accidentally adapted from Oatmeal Sandwich Bread)

Ingredients:

• 1 package active dry yeast
• 45 grams honey
• 300 grams whole wheat flour
• 240 grams all purpose flour (or bread flour, if you have it)
• 120 grams oats
• 20 grams butter, softened
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 1/4 tsp fine sea salt (subtract 1/4 tsp if you use salted butter)

Instructions:

1. Combine yeast with 2 cups of water and the honey. Stir gently and set aside for 5 minutes to allow the yeast to bloom.

2. Meanwhile, combine dry ingredients and add butter. 

3. Add dry to wet ingredients and mix until combined.

4. On a lightly floured surface, knead dough. Before you get too far along, make a well in the dough and add salt and cinnamon*. Continue to knead until dough is smooth and slightly sticky, about 15 minutes. Add flour as needed and ensure the cinnamon is mixed in well. 

5. Shape your dough into a ball and place in a greased bowl. Cover with a towel and let sit in a warm place for about an hour, or until it's doubled in size.

6. Once the hour is up, plop your dough onto a lightly floured surface and form your loaf. I used a  different loaf making strategy than before... by poorly following the instructions...

• I flattened the dough into a rectangle, making sure any air bubbles were gone
• Folded it in three 
• Tucked in the edges and rolled the dough to form a loaf shape that I then stuffed into my bread pan, lined with parchment paper

7. Cover your loaf with a damp cloth and let rise for another hour, or until it's increased in size by half.  

8. Place loaf in oven, preheated to 400F and bake for 35 minutes, rotating halfway through.

9. To make sure it is baked through, tap the bottom for a hollow sound. My bread was a bit hard on top,** so before it cooled completely, I brushed it with a bit of water, as recommended by my mother. Let loaf cool completely before cutting, allowing crust and flavours set.

*This was a mistake...but who knows, maybe it was essential in my bread results! If you don't believe me...add the salt and cinnamon before you start kneading.
**I baked my loaf in a glass pan, but, upon later Googling, found out that if you decide to use glass in a recipe that calls for a metal tin, you should decrease the oven temperature by 25 degrees. Otherwise, it tends to bake the top faster than the rest...but oh well, mine still turned out great. I should really start Googling these things before I bake.

This bread was delicious. You can really taste the cinnamon, the crust was chewy, and it was surprisingly light (thank you white flour). My mom, my taste-testing friend (Katie) and I loved it, but all ate it with different toppings—my mom used cream cheese, Katie used butter and I drizzled mine with honey. Though I cannot speak for them, mine was delicious with honey.

 I also had some left over "jam" from making thumbprint cookies, so I decided it would be nice on a piece of this bread, toasted! I don't normally eat white flour, but I wanted to taste my product, and it was mostly made for my mom, so I didn't want to ruin it for her by fiddling with important things like flour.