Oat and Wheat Bread

2 C whole wheat flour
1/2 C quick or rolled oats, processed in blender until finely chopped.
6-7 C Bread Flour
1 packet of baking yeast
1 C plus 1/4 C water
1 C Milk
4 Tbsp Butter or Shortening
2 tsp Salt, 2 tsp
2 T Granulated Sugar

In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in 1/4 cup warm water. Set aside. In a saucepan, heat over low 1 cup milk. Stir in butter, sugar and salt. Butter only needs to soften, so don't heat above very warm. When butter is softened, remove pan from heat, and stir in 1 cup of water and yeast mixture. Pour all into a large bowl or into the bowl of your heavy duty mixer. Add oatmeal and whole wheat flour and mix or stir until it forms a smooth batter. Begin adding white flour a 1/2 cup at a time until a rough dough forms. Turn onto the counter (or switch to the dough hook on your mixer) and knead in enough flour to make a heavy and slightly sticky dough. Sprinkle occasionally with flour and knead until dough is smooth, elastic and not very sticky. Put in greased bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Let rise for 1 hr to 90 min. (Keeping the dough warm will help it rise faster, so if there's a warm place in your kitchen, put the bowl there). When dough is doubled in volume, punch it down and knead briefly to work out the bubbles. Divide dough in half, and shape each loaf into a bread pan (medium sized). Cover the pans with waxed paper, then allow to rise again until just pushing above the top of the pans, another hour. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven until loaves are nicely browned on the top and sound hollow on the bottoms when firmly tapped, about 35 minutes. When done, turn loaves out of pans and onto a wire rack to cool completely. Each loaf makes about 12 thick slices, but you can make thinner slices if you have a nice sharp bread knife.

Number of Servings: 24

Recipe submitted by SparkPeople user MESASA1978.