Instant Oats Loaf

My husband has been asking me when am I going to make him a bread loaf with oats. The thing is he likes to eat oatmeal in the morning for breakfast, and using quick oats as a main ingredient to make a bread loaf is really an excellent idea! Oats are a good source of many nutrients including vitamin E, zinc, selenium, copper, iron, manganese and magnesium. Oats are also a good source of protein and both soluble and insoluble fiber. Insoluble fiber's cancer-fighting properties are due to the fact that it attacks certain bile acids, reducing their toxicity. Soluble fiber may reduce LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol) without lowering HDL cholesterol (good cholesterol). So for your own health benefits, there is really no reason NOT to eat oats! ;) Why did I wait so long to make this....haha, beats me!

So I did my usual research and again found a few good recipes from some Taiwan blogs. I made slight changes to the recipe so as to suit my taste and fit my bread tin nicely. ;)

Ingredients for Roll Oats Loaf:
Set A:
37g instant oats
75ml fresh milk

Set B:
375g bread flour
40g instant roll oats
50g caster sugar
7g instant active yeast
5g salt
65g of whole egg
180 - 185ml fresh milk
40g unsalted butter, room temperature

Method:

• In a small pot, cook the instant oats with the milk in Set A with low fire till the mixture is thick and lumpy. Remove from fire and set aside to cool. Refrigerate the mixture for an hour before use.
  
• Mix all ingredients in Set B except for butter together with the mixture in Set A in a large mixing bowl to form a soft dough. Knead the dough till it is not sticky, about 15 to 20 minutes.
• Add the unsalted butter in and continue to knead till the dough is shiny and elastic. To test if the dough is ready, pull a small piece off and stretching it with your fingers. If dough is very elastic and pulls to almost see through without breaking, then it's done.
• Place dough in a greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap and allow to proof for at least 90 minutes to 2hrs.
• Punch out the air in the dough and divide it into 3 equal portions.
• Roll out each portion into a long flat oval shape and roll up one end to make it into a swiss roll form.
• Placed the dough into a greased loaf tin and repeat with the rest of the 2 portions.
• Cover and let proof for another 2hrs or till the loaf fills 90% of the tin.
• Preheat the oven to 180°C. Brush the top of loaf with egg wash.
  
• Bake loaf in the oven for 40 to 45 minutes. If top browns too quickly, cover with aluminum foil till baking time is up.
• When done, take out from oven and unmold immediately and let cool on rack before slicing.
  

This loaf is special somehow, it rises very fast! Usually my other bread loaf takes about 2 hrs to rise properly, but this loaf took about 45 minutes to an hour to reach the 90% rise in the 2nd proofing! But again, it might just be the hot and humid weather lately, haha!

I have to say I am very please with the soft and fluffy texture of this oat loaf. I guess the above picture says it all. It was actually so soft that it's kind of hard to slice the bread even when it was cooled. ;) And the best part is, you enjoy eating it so much that you did not even realize it's really good for you!

Again taste tested with my daughter and she down it easily with some butter and strawberry jam. Yippee! It feels good to be able to provide a healthful breakfast for the family that they can enjoy. ;) Try it, it's good for you and yet taste delicious.