One-Loaf Oatmeal Bread

Stack of sliced oatmeal bread

Barry Yee / Photographer's Choice RF / Getty Images

Prep: 2 hrs 30 mins
Cook: 40 mins
Total: 3 hrs 10 mins
Servings: 10 servings
Yield: 1 loaf

This easy, single loaf oatmeal bread recipe is easy enough for beginners to make and it tastes better than anything you can buy at the store. This is a great bread to make because it can be served at any meal, warm, cold, or toasted. It also makes a delicious french toast.

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup water, at room temperature

  • 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast

  • 1 cup milk, at room temperature

  • 2 tablespoons sugar

  • 1 teaspoon salt

  • 1 tablespoon shortening

  • 1 cup rolled oats

  • 2 1/2 cups bread flour, or as needed

  • 1 large egg white, optional

Steps to Make It

  1. Gather the ingredients.

  2. In a large bowl, mix the warm water and yeast together until the yeast is dissolved. Add the milk, sugar, salt, and shortening. Stir. Add the oats and mix well. Add in enough bread flour to make a dough that follows the spoon around the bowl.

  3. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 10 minutes, adding more bread flour as needed until the dough is firm and smooth to the touch.

  4. Place the dough in a medium greased bowl. Turn dough over in bowl so that the top is also lightly greased. Cover with a clean cloth and let rise in a warm, draft-free place for 1 hour.

  5. Punch down the dough. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board and knead for 5 minutes or until the bubbles are out of the bread.

  6. Shape into loaf and place in a greased 8x5-inch bread pan. Cover and let rise in a warm, draft-free place for 45 minutes or until doubled in size.

  7. Preheat oven to 375 F. Brush egg white on the loaf.

  8. Bake bread in preheated oven for 40 minutes or until the bread sounds hollow when the top is tapped. Remove bread from pan and let cool on a rack.

Tips

  • Keep yeast stored in an airtight container and in the refrigerator. Heat, moisture, and air kills the yeast and prevents bread dough from rising.
  • To keep bread soft, store in a plastic bag.
  • Store flour properly to keep it from spoiling.
  • Bread flour has a higher amount of gluten than all-purpose flour. This means that bread made with bread flour will rise higher than bread made with all-purpose flour. You can make your own bread flour by adding 1-1/2 teaspoons gluten to each cup of all-purpose flour you use in your bread recipe.
  • You can use any type of milk in this recipe: whole milk, skim, low fat, etc. Milk can also be replaced with water and nonfat dry milk.

Recipe Variation

  • You can add raisins or dried cranberries to this recipe. Add 1/2 cup of either (or both) to the bread dough.
  • Chopping the raisins before adding them to the dough will release the sweet raisin flavor into the bread as it bakes.
Nutrition Facts (per serving)
191 Calories
3g Fat
34g Carbs
6g Protein
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 10
Amount per serving
Calories 191
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 3g 4%
Saturated Fat 1g 5%
Cholesterol 3mg 1%
Sodium 225mg 10%
Total Carbohydrate 34g 13%
Dietary Fiber 2g 7%
Total Sugars 4g
Protein 6g
Vitamin C 0mg 0%
Calcium 39mg 3%
Iron 1mg 4%
Potassium 106mg 2%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)