Honey Oat Bread

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Fresh Homemade Honey Oat Bread is great for sandwiches or toast. This delicious bread recipe is light and airy with a bit of texture from the oats. 

Several years ago I made a new year’s resolution to strive to bake my own bread. I had always been a baker, but I was a baker of convenience. Before that I baked when I had extra time, I baked. I also baked when it was cold and snowy. 

For several months I baked all our bread, but then after a year I fell back into baking when I had time. It seemed life got too busy and I didn’t have the time to bake every weekend.

Lately, I have gotten into the habit of baking most of our bread again. I truly enjoy baking bread. This honey oat bread is one of my go to recipes. It’s perfect for sandwiches or toasted and topped with honey butter.

Substitutions

Sometimes you might not have all the exact ingredients needed to make a recipe, but you still want to bake. For this recipe, there are several substitutions that will work.

• You can use all purpose flour instead of the white whole wheat flour
• Use one-minute oats instead of old fashioned oats
• Use canola or vegetable oil instead of olive oil
• Use instant yeast instead of active dry yeast – reduce yeast to 1 3/4 teaspoons of instant yeast.

How much time does it take to make homemade bread?

Baking homemade bread takes a bit of time. Well, a bit of planning and waiting time. Not a lot of hands on time. You do need to plan enough time to mix up the dough, let it rise, shape the dough, let it rise and then bake the dough.

I will often start a batch first thing in the morning on the weekends and by mid morning, my bread making in all done.

Plan between 3 and 4 hours from start to finish when making bread. Time will vary depending on how long it takes for your dough to rise. 

What type of flour do I use to make bread?

This honey oat bread is made with unbleached all-purpose flour, white wheat flour, and old fashioned oats.  White wheat flour is a lighter wheat than regular wheat flour. It is milled from hard white winter wheat instead of from hard red wheat. White wheat yields a lighter texture and flavor but is filled with all the nutrients you want from a whole wheat flour. If you don’t have white whole wheat flour on hand, you can use all purpose flour.

Why do bread recipes call for a range of flour?

Yeast bread recipes rarely list an exact amount of flour needed in the ingredients.  Instead, a range is listed – 3 1/2 – 4 cups of flour. When making bread, the amount of flour varies from time to time. This depends on many factors – humidity in the air, exact measurements of liquids and flour, how compacted the flour is and more. 

When making bread always add flour in small increments. Stop adding when you reach the final cup of flour. Gradually add flour until the dough comes together and forms a ball. Dough will still be a bit tacky, but not sticky. Be careful to not add too much flour or dough will become dry.

The more you make bread, the easier this becomes. And the more you make bread, you will realize that every time will be a bit different. 

How to make bread in a stand mixer

1. Add water, yeast and honey to a mixing bowl
2. Let set for 5 minutes until mixture is bubbly or foaming
   

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3. Mix in oats,salt, oil and 1 cup of flour
4. Continue adding flour 1 cup at a time
   

   

    

5. Once dough forms a ball, mix on low speed (KitchenAid mixer speed of 2) for a few minutes.
6. Add a bit more flour if dough sticks to side of bowl of becomes slack
7. Knead for 10 minutes 

Tips for making bread

• Making certain water is between 105 and 110 degrees
• When using active dry yeast, allow yeast to become active in a liquid for 5-10 minutes
• Preheat oven before baking
• Bake bread on the middle rack of your oven
• Allow bread to fully cool before slicing

Can this bread be frozen?

Yes, this bread freezes well. To freeze, allow bread to fully cool. I like to slice my bread and then place in a freezer safe bag. To thaw, let bread sit at room temperature for 3-4 hours. 

Other great bread recipes

• White Wheat Bread
• Pumpkin Seed Bread
• Apple Pull Apart Bread
• Multigrain Bread
• Potato Bread

 

Don’t forget to PIN for later!

If you make this recipe, I’d love to hear about it! Leave a comment below and take a picture and tag me on Instagram @beyondthechickencoop. 

If you loved this recipe you’ll LOVE all the others in this category. Check out all my bread recipes or this collection of bread here!

This recipe was originally published in March 2017. The post and pictures have been updated.