How to Transform Oatmeal into a Loaf of Bread

Oatmeal is fabulous. It can even give you an out-of-body experience—or at least my roommate swears it happened to her once. She took one bite of oatmeal, her eyes got really wide, and she said she felt her soul leave her body for a second. Wild.

Today, I share her love for oatmeal, but I wasn’t always such a fan. About a year ago was when I realized that oatmeal was more than a bowl of goopy mush to eat after your teeth start falling out. So what changed my mind? My dad, mostly. The idea of oatmeal always intrigued me whenever I saw him eat it for breakfast. It seemed so fancy and wholesome from a distance, but whenever I actually tried a bite, it didn’t taste all that different from what I imagine a soggy sweater would taste like.

Regardless, I really wanted to like this simple breakfast food that seemed a tad classier than Eggo waffles. So I kept trying my dad’s oatmeal with different combinations of brown sugar, nuts and fruits, and eventually, I started to appreciate it. Now, I love it so much that I decided it was time to take my relationship with oatmeal to the next level. That’s when I turned it into another love of mine: bread.

Oatmeal Bread

Difficulty:BeginnerPrep time:3 hours Cook time: 40 minutesTotal time:3 hours 40 minutesServings:6 servings

Ingredients

• 3 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp honey or brown sugar
• 1 packet active dry yeast or 2 tsp instant yeast
• 1 1/4 cups lukewarm milk

Instructions

1. 
   

   Mix all ingredients together to form a loose dough.

2. 
   

   Knead the mixture until it becomes a smooth little ball of oatmeal goodness. #SpoonTip: Technically, if you’re using active dry yeast, you should dissolve it in the lukewarm milk before adding it to the rest of the ingredients, but it’s no biggie if you don’t. Place dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover and let rise for one hour.

3. 
   

   Transfer dough to a lightly greased pan (still covered) and let rise for another 1 to 1.5 hours. Then, bake for 35-40 minutes at 350°F. #SpoonTip: To see if it’s done, check if the center is at 190°F with a thermometer. No thermometer? Just cut a little hole into the center. If it still seems really doughy, bake for a few more minutes.

4. 
   

   Remove from the oven, let cool for fifteen minutes and enjoy!

I know making a loaf of bread in a dorm room seems scary and overly ambitious, but this oatmeal bread is easier than you’d think. Of the seven steps in the original recipe, I only followed two of them exactly, and my roommate and I liked it so much that we made it again. Moral of the story: Go make some bread.

• Bread
• Breakfast
• Dorm Lyfe
• Dough
• Flour
• Health
• Lunch
• Nutrition
• Snack
• Vegetarian