Blueberry Oat Loaf with Red Raisins

Lately I have not been doing anything new. Have been baking the same stuff, like Mango Swiss roll, since there is still an abundance of mangoes in the market. :) Also baked a batched of Oatmeal Chocolate chip cookies, which is one of my family's favorites. So today, I figured I should be a little adventurous and so I came up with a new bread recipe. Okay, maybe not exactly that new, since it's an oat loaf again (upon my better half's request). But I played with some other new ingredients in the recipe to come up with this Blueberry Oat loaf with Red Raisins. ;) Result? Satisfactory. :)

When I bake, I only use Organic Sunview Raisins. Reason is simple, the quality is very good. The price maybe slightly steeper, but definitely worth it because you can see & taste the difference. :) They come in Organic Black Seedless, Green Seedless and lately I just bought Red Seedless and it's good! What better ways to enjoy it then to put it in my home bakes. ;)

Ingredients for Blueberry Oats Loaf with Red Raisins:
Set A:
50g instant oats
125ml fresh milk

Set B:
350g bread flour
50g instant roll oats
50g caster sugar
7g instant active yeast
5g salt
1 whole egg
160ml fresh whipping cream
100g blueberry pie filling, blended
25g unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup Sunview Red seedless raisins (optional)

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 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 4 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.

If you are wondering how come my loaf has a rather "flat" top...well because I usually proof my dough using the tin cover. And surprisingly, this loaf rises pretty fast and it was already pressing on the cover when I checked on it after an hr! ;P So anyway, I let it proof without the cover for another 15 mins before baking....so it puffs up a little.
This is again a super soft and yummy bread. When it is fresh out of the oven, me and my girls each devour a slice without any spread, even after we just had our dinner, haha!
The faint smell and taste of the blueberry is really nice. And with the raisins, this loaf is good on it's own. Okay, maybe the blueberry did not give a distinct blue color, but it's alright so long as it taste good. The taste of oats was evident since I added quite a bit of it to the recipe, but I love it and it's healthy too. ;) No worries if you fear that there will be chunky oats in the bread....in fact all the oats will be "melted" in and all you taste is soft, delicious bread. And this is the perfect way to get your kids to eat oats if they do not really like it.
Tired of the same old white loaf that you buy from the store shelf? Why not get your hands working and start making this healthy and delicious loaf now? You will not regret it, I am sure of that. :) Cheers!