2 things going on here....
One never rise bread by the clock.....but by what the dough looks and feels like. After shaping, dough should be allowed to rise until it's about 2/3 larger....
Secondly, that's a huge amount of dough for one bread pan...
I usually make a recipe that has 1 1/3 cups of water and 3 3/4 cups of dry ingredients....flour oat meal etc.
It's a recipe designed for one of those big bread machine pans....not for a 9 by 5 loaf pan.
I would have made 2 free form loaves when they has risen I would have brushed the tops with beaten egg and sprinkled with rolled oats for pretty.
Linda C

Perfect! Thank you Linda. Going to make it again this weekend.

Kate

I'm not sure if that's the case Linda, since your recipe contains 3 3/4 cups flour/oats and that recipe contains 3 1/2 cups flour/oats and says it makes a 1.5 lb. loaf. I have a bread machine and that is its standard loaf size. And a 9x5 inch pan is the standard pan for 1.5 lb. loaves. However, 9x5 inch pans might actually be 8.5x4.5, or 10x5 or lots of other options in between. When I make oat bread it does ten to "puff up" a lot, which I have always atributed to it being very sugary dough, lots of food for the yeast. But this doesn't account for all the oven rise so I don't know specifically what the deal would be. But overproofed bread has a certain texture, it can also collapse, so size isn't the main issue. I would just use a bigger pan next time with this recipe, if you have one, or divide into two. My oat bread poofs way out too, but it isn't really that much of a problem. It's one of BF's favorites.

Thanks Lpink. I'm going to give Linda's suggestions a shot and see how that goes. If they turn out well I'm taking them to the Easter supper a friend is making for our families.

Kate

1. A 9x5-inch pan is commonly called a Quick Bread Pan because that's what it was designed for. If using a 9x5 pan for yeast breads the dough should weigh approximately 2-pounds and contain approximately 4-cups of flour.

A Standard Loaf Pan (8-1/2x4-1/2) is designed for yeast breads. The dough should weigh approximately 1.5-pounds, or approximately 3-cups of flour in the recipe.

Weigh your dough on a scale so you know how much there is and choose your pan accordingly.

Other pan sizes....
Jumbo - 10x4-1/2-inch pan - 2+-pounds of dough - 4-5 cups flour
7-1/2x3-1/2-inch pan - 1-pound of dough - 2.5 cups flour
5-3/4x3-3/4-inch pan - 8-ounces of dough - 1-1/2 c. flour

2. As Linda said, dough doesn't raise to a clock, but rather according to the hydration of the dough, ambient temperature, moisture in the air, and the strength of the yeast. It's "double" when it reaches it, whether it takes 25-minutes, one hour, or whatever.... Start checking after 20-25-minutes.

3. The dough amount represents approximately 1/3 of the finished size of the baked loaf. Allow it to double in bulk in the pan (final proof), which represents 2/3 of the finished size. It will probably be crowning the rim of the pan by about 1-inch. The dough continues to rise in the oven (oven spring) which represents the last 1/3 of the rise and the finished loaf size.

Allowing dough to rise more than double at any point in the bread making is over-proofing it. A common mistake is made by placing the wrong amount of dough in the wrong size pan, or allowing the dough to rise as high as you want the finished loaf, rather than just doubling the size of the dough log, and not taking oven spring into consideration.

-Grainlady

VERY helpful. Thank you Grainlady. This is going to be so helpful for future breadmaking. Much appreciated.

Kate

One further thing....the recipe you linked is a "light" oat bread....meaning not a lot of oats....I make an oat bread that is nearly half oats and it wouldn't rise quite so high and the loaf produced is quite dense....(it's also got a lot of fruit and nuts in it too)...
so a heavier bread wouldn't necessarily have the same oven spring and not pouff out of the pan like that.

All this bread talk has me on a roll...I have a heavy oat-y loaf about to go into the oven, a big bag of whole wheat roll dough in the refrig....and some experimental bread to use up the juice from draining the pineapple for the carrot cake, in the bowl rising!
And a keyboard full of flour!!!!!

Linda:

One more question please. I am trying this again today. I understand now just to proof it until the dough has about doubled. No problem. I'm going to do it in the two loaf pans so what I'm wondering is should I still aim to cook it for about 35-40 minutes? Not sure how much, if at all, I should modify the cooking time for having two loaves of bread of cooking as opposed to one giant one.

Thank you.

Kate

Kate-
Your two smaller loaves will bake quicker than one large loaf, probably only taking 20-25-minutes (at 375-degrees F), possibly as much as 30 minutes (at 350-degrees F). BUT, the only accurate way to check bread for doneness is by the internal temperature of the loaf. Panned yeast breads are done between 195-205-degrees F (use an instant read thermometer inserted into the center of the loaf). Some of the free-form Artisan-style breads are done at 210-degrees F. Checking color or thumping the bottom of a loaf are not accurate measures.

-Grainlady

Thank you ma'am! I am going to be a wise breadsmith one day:)

Happy Easter.

Kate

Yay! So it went like this: Put together recipe as it was written using the dough cycle on my bread machine. I then removed it and divided the dough into two even pieces. Placed in greased 9 x 5 pans, covered and let rise for appr. 40 minutes. We then brushed tops with an egg wash, sprinkled some oats and baked for 28 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Not only are they cooked more evenly through but the one we cut into had a nice light flavor and good consistency.

Thank you kindly!

Kate

For those of you who want the best possible in baking:

Commercial bakers use dough proofing appliances to help quality control. Those machines cost thousands and huge. I am not aware of machines designed for home use.

Here is a setup that I have and IMHO, very practical:

Get a what is called "personal" or "portable" or "camping" refrigerator. It's less than $50.00. It's small and light weight. The interior space is about 12" x 8" x 6". This type of refrigerator uses a Peltier solid state device, and it can actually cool as well as heat by flipping a switch.

Hook this refrigerator to an aquarium thermostat ($20.00), you will have a precision (+- one degree) proofing box.

It doesn't matter if it's 110 degrees in the summer or 50 degrees in the winter in your kitchen. You can maintain any temperature to proof your dough.

dcarch

Lovely loaves Kate!!! Congratulations on a successful baking day.
-Grainlady

Yummers.....and love the oats on the top "for pretty"!!
I'd show you what I was baking yesterday....but the "mice" have eaten almost all of it.
Linda C

Both of your guidance and suggestions saved the day:) Furthermore my friends who we took the bread to just raved about it. I took over to their place a spinach salad, deviled eggs, sweet potato muffins, homemade cornbread and one of these oat loaves. The latter stole the show and they asked me to bring it again on my next visit. I learned a lot with this baking experience thanks to feedback here.

Hope you had a great Easter.

Kate