kitchenMage's Leftover Oatmeal Bread recipe

 

When you bake bread as often as I do, it is easy to find yourself looking around covetously at ingredients in your kitchen that might have been headed for another use. Cooked cereal is one of those things that lends itself to ad hoc bread making, adding a whole grain depth to otherwise white bread. This also appeals to the frugal side that many home cooks have, turning leftovers that might otherwise be thrown away, into tasty bread.

This is less of a recipe and more of a formula to use up leftover cooked cereal, which it seems all too easy to end up with. I have a soft spot for oatmeal bread, but you can make this with any cooked cereal. Or leftover brown rice, for that matter.

kitchenMage's Leftover Oatmeal Bread notQuiteRecipe

This makes about a single loaf of bread, but it is easy to scale to make larger quantities. All quantities are approximate and should be adjusted to suit your taste.

cooked oatmeal	1 - 1 1/2 cups	355 ml	I have no idea what this weighs...
water	1 cup	235 ml	8 ounces	234 grams
brown sugar	1/8 cup	40 ml	1 ounce	25 grams
bread flour **	2 cups +/-	470 ml	9 ounces	252 grams
instant yeast	1 teaspoon	5 ml	1/8  ounces	5 grams
salt	1 teaspoon	5 ml	1/8 ounces	5 grams

** if this was measured, this would be an actual recipe...

In mixing bowl, stir oatmeal, flour water (thx for the correction, Novalis) and yeast together enough to break up oatmeal. Let mixture sit on counter for 15 minutes. Add brown sugar and 1 cup of flour and mix to combine into wet dough, about 1 minute. Add additional flour, mixing well after each addition until the dough comes together into a rough dough. This may take 2 cups, or it may take 3+ - it depends on all sorts of things.

When the dough holds together, turn it out onto a well-floured counter. Knead, adding more flour as needed, for 2-3 minutes. Cover and let rest (autolyse) for 20 minutes.

After the autolyse, add the salt and knead for another 3-5 minutes, adding more flour as needed. Determining when the dough is sufficiently kneaded is mostly a matter of experience. It will no longer be sucking up flour from the counter, the surface will smooth and be less sticky (although still a little tacky), and it will feel more bread-like. You will know it when you feel it.

Place the dough in clean bowl, cover and let rise until doubled in bulk.

Turn the dough out on floured counter and punch it down gently. Shape the dough into a loaf and let rise until doubled in bulk.

Preheat oven to 375°.

Bake for 30 minutes and check for doneness (hollow sound when tapped on bottom, 195-200° internal temperature. Let cool for an hour before slicing.

Toasted, spread with butter, and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar, this bread makes some of the world's best cinnamon sugar toast.

Comments

[Danielle]

This looks fantastic! Hearty and delicious. I'm trying to convince my partner to make it while I'm out on the town tonight, so it'll be ready for me to eat when I get home.

[Tanna]

I love oatmeal bread, it's one of my go to recipes but I can't remember ever really having more than maybe a tablespoon leftover when I make it for breakfast cereal.

[novalis]

In mixing bowl, stir oatmeal, flour and yeast together enough to break up oatmeal. Let mixture sit on counter for 15 minutes.

You probably meant to say water instead of flour, here, since the water isn't called for anywhere else.

[elf]

Looks lovely. Have you actually tried this with brown rice? I have some left over from tonight's dinner.

[vanessa]

any idea on how high altitude would affect the recipe? I really want to try this one but give I'm at 4,500 feet above sea level, i feel an accident coming on.

[Camille]

I'm about to try this and I'm excited... the bread looks amazing. I've got four days unti l get paid, so it's kind of fun to make my own bread out of necessity! :)

[Fishook]

Left over Oatmeal loaf just out of oven .Looks and smells great.Cant wait for it to cool
Just found the link as I was browsing in A Year of Bread which I'm enjoying very much.

[Fishook]

Left over Oatmeal loaf just out of oven .Looks and smells great.Cant wait for it to cool
Just found the link as I was browsing in A Year of Bread which I'm enjoying very much.

[teacup]

this bread was wonderful with a great oatmeal flavor, but by the 4th day it had taken on a seriously funky smell (a cross between kitty litter and garden chemicals). what happened? should I have refrigerated it? did anyone else experience this? Maybe I didn't bake it long enough to begin with. I hated to have to toss out this bread as I had enjoyed it so much!

[kitchenmage]

Fishook, glad you found us, and the recipe.

Vanessa, I am sorry I missed your question. My best advice is to reduce the amount of yeast by ~1/3 and watch how it rises - bread is prone to quickly over-rise at altitude.

teacup, when I have bread that does that it's usually just the occasional convergence of things that make bread go bad. Feta a warm counter, for example, will turn bread to the darkside in about 8 hours. I've seen this particular bread go bad faster with leftover oatmeal that had things added to it - grated apple, raisins, cream, etc. I often slice my loaves and freeze them so I can pull out a few slices at a time.