Resurrecting this old thread because I was sorting through my print-out recipes a couple of days ago, filing the one's that I had tried and sorting the untried ones. For some reason, I had failed to annotate Rusty's recipe so, thinking it was untried, I made it again. Those loaves are gone so I made it again today. I mixed the two loaf version in the bread machine and removed to rise, shape loaves, rise & bake again... Using quick-cooking oats (cuz' that's what I had & they need to be used up)--1 c. oats in 2 cups boiling water--I didn't need to add any addt'l. water at all. Dry yeast into the breadmaker...total amount of water for the recipe was 2 cups. Of course, weather conditions, your flour, etc. & YMMV. If you're using whole, old-fashioned oats, you may need the additional hydration.

Lisa - after reading this post yesterday, I decided I didn't need to wait until Saturday to make the bread. This bread turned out even better than the last 3 recipes I made in the last two weeks. It's light, fluffy, tastes great and it was easy to slice thin. Here's a pic of my successful endeavor. Some people that are already accomplished bread bakers may think this is no big deal, but I'm truly excited because I've never had bread turn out that was not only delicious but had a perfect texture too. THANKS again to Annie and to others who so willingly share their tried and true recipes. I used to spend my GW time on the kitchen and appliance forum but the people here on the cooking forum have been so helpful and the threads interesting with tasty-looking photos that I now spend more time here than the other forums.

Thanks guys! Grainlady - you are just a font of information!! I keep copying and pasting your little "gems" into a separate document that I then keep in front of the "breads" section of my three ring binder where I keep all the recipes I collect - keep them coming! Unfortunately, the bread's already long eaten so I don't have any pics! Sorry - I'll remember to take some next time! I just made two free form round loaves. Off the top of my head, the recipe I used called for 1 1/2 cups oatmeal and 3 cups of all purpose flour. I simply used 1 1/2 cups oat flour instead of the oatmeal. So there was 4 1/2 cups total flour. I used 1/2 cup honey because of the other recipe calling for 1/2 cup maple syrup. It was my first time making it and since I wasn't following the recipe exactly I figured I'd just do it and see what the results where. It made two small to medium loaves of bread. It seemed to rise fine - I'm no expert bread maker by any means, but it did double in size for the first rise, then I halved it and made the two loaves and let them rise again. I read the Pig's label and theirs had oats, flour, yeast, and cider and I think that was about it. The recipe I used had the two flours, the yeast of course, milk, butter, and the honey. I'm one that likes "heavy" bread tho. I'm after a hearty, dense bread. I like lots of fiber and whole bits of seed and groats and things in my bread. Chewey center and crusty outsides. I've gone to the When Pig's Fly store a couple of times myself when we take a trip up to Kittery. The 7 grain one is my favorite, but I also like the oat & honey. I love their apple, chocolate, orange pistachio cranberry, the olive and red pepper - hell, I love every one I've ever tried! I try to not eat too much bread because I'm trying to watch my weight and I could easily sit down and polish off a loaf of good bread all by myself and be perfectly happy. But I do have the "taste" for it now so I do plan on making some now and then. I'll try to keep it to a couple times a month so I can fit in my clothes tho!! Lisa

Carole, I always use my bread machine. Liquid on the bottom, dry ingredients on the top, I just use the machine for mixing, I never bake in it because I don't like the crust in bread machines. So I can say with some authority that this recipe is "tried and true", made a dozen or so times in the big Zojirushi. Annie