Vermont Whole Wheat Oatmeal Honey Bread

I am getting quite adept at baking bread.  In the last 12 months, I have made bread multiple times.  There have been a few loaves that didn't turn out as well as I would have liked, but overall, I am pleased with my results.

I have gotten into bread baking because of my family.  My brother has made his families bread for several years.  He makes a couple of loaves every week.  My dad and brother in-law are now baking bread too.

I have made bread with my brother and my dad.  They have the same recipe that they make little tweaks to in order to prefect their bread.  I have remade bread recipes, but I like variety too.  

I found this whole wheat oatmeal honey bread recipe on the King Arthur Flour website.  I only make one loaf.  The original recipe makes to loaves.   I also added powdered milk.  

The ingredients for only one loaf are 1 cup boiling water, 1/2 cup oatmeal, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/2 tablespoon honey, 2 tablespoons butter, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, 1/2 tablespoon dry active yeast, 1/4 cup powdered milk,  1/2 tablespoon cinnamon, 3/4 cup whole wheat flour, and 2 cup all purpose flour.

As you can imagine from these ingredients, the loaf was a little sweet with a touch of cinnamon.  

I added the brown sugar, honey, boiling water, oats, butter, and salt into a bowl.  I let these ingredients sit together until the mixture was lukewarm.  

I then added the yeast and let it activate in the warm mixture for about five minutes.

I mixed in a the cinnamon and the powdered milk.

I mixed in the whole wheat flour and then gradually added the white flour.  I stopped adding flour when the dough started to come off the sides of the bowl.  I kneaded the dough with the dough hook for about seven minutes.

I let the dough rise in a greased bowl for about an hour.  It doubled in size.  I then punched it down, formed it into a loaf, and let it rise again in a greased loaf pan.  It doubled in size again.  This took about an hour.

I then baked the bread for 35 to 40 minutes at 350 degrees.  I let it cool a little in the pan before letting it cool on a wire rack

I made peanut butter and banana sandwiches and jam and cheese sandwiches.  I used chocolate peanut butter for the sandwich in these pictures.  It was a yummy combination.

This loaf was a little sweeter than other recipes I have made.  It wasn't sweet like a dessert, but it had a touch of sweetness.  It also had a hint of cinnamon.  The cinnamon and sugar were scrumptious additions to this wheat bread.

The bread was tender and soft.  It had a excellent texture in my house.  

 It was homey, nutricious, and delicious.  I would make this recipe again.  It was a winner.