Honey Oat bread

Erin’s giving us a bread recipe for all of us carbie barbies out there.

Honey Oat bread
2 tablespoons old-fashioned rolled oats
1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1 1/3 cups whole-wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
8 ounces nonfat or low-fat plain yogurt
1 large egg
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup clover honey, or other mild honey
3/4 cup nonfat or low-fat milk

Preheat to 375 degrees and generously coat a loaf pan with cooking spray. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon oats in the pan. Stir together whole-wheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Beat the remaining 1 cup oats, yogurt, egg, oil and honey in a medium bowl until well blended. Stir in milk. Gently stir the yogurt mixture into the flour mixture just until thoroughly incorporated but not over mixed. Immediately scrape the batter into the pan, spreading evenly to the edges. Sprinkle the remaining 1 tablespoon oats over the top. Bake the loaf for 40 to 50 minutes until brown on top. Let stand in the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Run a table knife around and under the loaf to loosen it and turn it out onto the rack. Be sure to let it cool!

I love the ease of this quick bread recipe. A lot of bread recipes aren’t always that simple especially when you’re not using a bread machine. Because this recipe doesn’t utilize yeast as a leavening agent, but instead baking powder and baking soda, it eliminates a lot of the time, steps, and the physical kneading involved. This will also produce a more tender cake-like crumb texture as opposed to a strong chewy quality. That, along with its slightly sweet honey flavor, is what makes this bread great for breakfast toasted with butter and jam! Although this bread isn’t gluten free it is more health conscious because of the whole-wheat flour, low milk fat, sugar and oil content, and the oats. To make the bread more health conscious use only whole-wheat flour as opposed to both whole-wheat and all purpose. Add nuts or dried fruit for some texture and interest.