OK, I am old. As the name of the blog confirms, I am also fat. One of the contributing factors is that I love bread. I decided if I am going to eat bread, it might as well be healthy with fiber and all that stuff. The problem is that most high fiber breads remind me of a Brillo pad. To get around this, I don’t use 100% whole wheat flour and I have added oatmeal bran which has fiber without the coarse texture of wheat bran.
I started by weighing the white flour. If you are going to make bread or do any other kind of baking, I really recommend getting a scale and weighing your flour instead of trying to use a measuring cup. It is just way more accurate.
I mixed the rapid rise yeast and salt into the flour.
I mixed the water, milk, honey and oil in a microwave safe bowl. I microwaved it 20 seconds at a time until it reached a temperature of between 120 F and 130 F. This feels quite warm to the touch but not hot.
I put the paddle on my stand mixer and turned it on low. I slowly poured in the liquid. When all the liquid was in, I turned the mixture on medium and mixed for 2 minutes.
I weighed the whole wheat flour and added it and the oat bran to the batter.
I put the dough hook on the stand mixer and kneaded until the dough started to come together in a ball. Then I let the machine knead it for another 7 minutes.
Cover the bowl with a towel and let sit on the counter for 15 minutes.
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead it three or four times. Then stretch it into a rectangle with the narrow side being the same as the length of your bread pan. Roll it up from the narrow side of the rectangle.
Pinch the seam together. Then fold the ends over and pinch the seam together on both sides. Put it in a bread pan that has been sprayed with baking spray.
Cover the loaf with a tea towel and put it in a cold oven. Boil a medium pot of water and put it in the oven with the bread. Let it raise for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, until doubled in size.
Take the loaf out of the oven and preheat it to 375 F. Bake the loaf until the internal temperature is 200 F, 35 to 45 minutes.
Take the loaf out of the oven and run a knife around all sides of the pan. Turn the loaf onto a rack to cool.
The Verdict
This is a great bread. If you didn’t tell anyone that you added bran, they would never know. It is not light and fluffy like a white bread but it is not heavy and coarse like a whole wheat loaf. It has a fine grain and a nice chew. The flavour is way better than white bread.
Don’t tell your family you are bumping the fiber in their bread, just make this and be smug.
The Old Fat Guy
Yield: 16 slices (1 loaf)
Ingredients
- 240 grams (8 1/2) ounces all purpose flour (2 cups sifted)
- 1 envelope rapid rise yeast
- 7 ml (1 1/4 teaspoon) salt
- 315 ml (1 1/3 cup) water
- 75 ml (1/3 cup) milk
- 25 ml (2 tablespoons) honey
- 25 ml (2 tablespoons) vegetable oil
- 225 grams (8 ounces) whole wheat flour (2 cups sifted)
- 50 ml (1/4 cup) oat bran
Instructions
- Mix the all purpose flour, salt and rapid rise yeast together in the bowl of a stand mixer.
- Mix the water, milk, honey and vegetable oil together in a microwave safe bowl.
- Microwave the liquids 20 seconds at a time until they are quite warm but not hot, 120 F to 130 F.
- Put the paddle on the stand mixture and slowly mix the liquid ingredients into the flour mixture.
- When the dry ingredients are moistened, increase the speed to medium and mix for 2 minutes.
- Add the whole wheat flour and oat bran to the dough.
- Change to a dough hook and knead until the dough starts to form a ball.
- Continue to knead with the dough hook for 7 minutes.
- Cover the bowl with a towel and let it sit on the counter for 15 minutes.
- Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead 4 or 5 times.
- Stretch the dough into a rectangle with the short side being as wide as the length of the bread pan.
- Roll the dough from the narrow edge.
- Pinch the seam together.
- Fold over each end and pinch the dough together.
- Put the dough in a bread pan that has been sprayed with baking spray.
- Cover the pan with a tea towel and put it in a cold oven.
- Boil a medium sized pot of water and put it in the oven with the bread.
- Let the bread rise for 1 1/2 to 2 hours until doubled in volume.
- Take the bread from the oven and preheat the oven to 375 F.
- Bake the loaf until the center of the loaf is 200 F on an instant read thermometer, 35 to 45 minutes.
- Run a knife around all edges of the loaf and turn it onto a wire rack to cool.
2 Responses
That looks delicious! I am getting older (and fatter) by the day, so I better start looking into oat bran! đŸ˜‰
Har! I have shirts older than you! Kidding around aside, try oat bran in muffins, breads and loaves. It has a nice taste and texture and is really good for you.