Rolled Oats in Bread

Oats in Bread Print this page

by Azélia on 12/08/2011

in Baking,Bread,Ingredient List

As I type I have an Oat Sourdough in the oven and when putting together the dough this morning I took the opportunity of photographing it to show what happens when I add oats to dough.  I’ve been making a variation of this loaf since the spring after Carl & Emily had tweeted about adding oats to their loaves.  I noticed as soon as the oats were added it cut the strands of gluten.   Even if I mix the dough without oats first, letting the gluten develop and then adding them it still does it.  The elasticity of the dough is shorten.

Today’s loaf is Oats & Raisins, but my usual combination is Oats & Dates which are the photos of the various loaves you see here.  I wanted a sweeten loaf for breakfast and this fits the bill, it’s a loaf oldest daughter will eat since she finds my mild sourdough still too sour for her taste.  I’ve played around with adding a little bit of wholemeal flour, with the oat amounts, toasting oats which give a off a lovely aroma, sometimes throwing other things in.

I’ve used various size of rolled oats and soak them first in boiling water before adding to the dough.  I’ve played around with the amounts of water and obviously end up with small variations on the openess of the crumb but it will always remain a relatively denser crumb because of the oats, perfectly good for toast.  However just out of interest, I would be curious to see if anyone has managed to make an open crumb sourdough with oats.

The darkness of the crust comes from the sugar released from the dates which then caramelises on baking.  Because of the dark crust I like to dust the loaf generously with flour to show off the contrast once baked.

Also because of the sugar in the crust it will not give you a super crunchy crisp crust.

Below – this morning I mixed the dough without the oats and raisins and added them after about 45mins-1hr on first folding.  The change of the dough happens as soon as the oats are added, you can feel it but becomes more apparent later when doing the second fold.

Back to do second fold about 45mins later and you can see if pulling a good amount of dough there’s strength in it as photo shows…

When pulling a smaller amount of dough you can feel it how the gluten strands are different…not as strong as a normal loaf…

They pull apart really easily, in a way I can only describe as “short”.  For this reason I always treat this dough with kid’s gloves and don’t over-work it.

Today’s Loaf:

  •  400g white bread flour (12% protein)
  • 100g wholemeal bread flour
  • 300g water
  • 200g levain (fed same water/flour)
  • 100g jumbo oats soaked in 200g boiling water.  All the water will be absorbed, if you using smaller rolled oats you may only need 150g of water.
  • 150g raisins (or 130g dates) soaked but I don’t use the water
Mix everything first apart from oats & raisins for 30mins-1 hr then carry on as normal.

{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }

Emily August 12, 2011 at 8:04 pm

This looks great! What % oats did you use, approximately? Right, going to feed my starter now… :)

Azélia August 12, 2011 at 8:28 pm

Thanks Emily – just for you I’ve added today’s recipe! :-)

Emily August 12, 2011 at 9:26 pm

Thank you! x

drfugawe August 13, 2011 at 3:29 pm

Nice post and a great bread idea! Don’t know why I’ve never done a sourdough oatmeal bread – I’ve only made yeasted oat breads in a pan – and we love those. I’m embarrassed to admit this is new to me, but I will try it soon.

What do you think will happen if you add the oats right up front? I think the crumb of your loaves is good.

Azélia August 13, 2011 at 3:47 pm

If you add relatively small amount of oats like I have here up front Doc it will be fine because I did that with the Dan Lepard Oat & Apple bread I think it’s more problematic when larger amounts are added just as fat can be a problem in large quantities. I like to leave them out to start with to give the dough a chance to gain strength.

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