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.

A day late and a dollar short, but anyway, here's that recipe Lou! I hope people can post suggestions as I really like this bread and I'm determined to perfect a recipe that's loaded in whole grains and fiber, with lots of what in my house we call "groats" sprinkled throughout the bread, but that will also rise and not be like a rock! It's from the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day book and it's their recipe for oatmeal bread: 1 3/4 cups lukewarm water 1 cup whole milk 1/2 cup maple syrup 1 1/2 Tbsp yeast 1 Tbsp salt 1/4 cup veg oil 1/2 cut oat bran 1/3 cup wheat bran 1 1/2 cups old fashioned rolled oats 1/2 cup whole wheat flour 4 1/4 cups unbleached all purpose flour My changes were: I switched the milk and water, using 1 3/4 cup milk (I didn't have whole and I can't recall if I used 1% or 2%) and 1 cup of water. I used honey in place of the maple syrup. I didn't have wheat bran so I used 1/3 cup oat flour in its place. I reduced the oil to 1/8th cup. Then I added the following and soaked them in the milk for about 10-15 minutes (but I think I should have soaked them longer as they were still a bit hard): 1/4 cup steel cut oats 1/4 cup wheat berries 1/8 cup sesame seeds. The recipe makes 3, 1 1/2 pound loaves. I made two free form and one in a bread pan. None of them rose very high - the bread in the pan was "squatter" than a banana bread type loaf would be and the only way I can think to describe the free form loaves is for anyone that's made biscotti - that's the shape the loaves ended up - about an inch, inch and a half tall and that's about it. As I keep saying, the taste was great (heavy, but again, I like that) and it's just getting a higher rise that I'm after. I plan on adding some vital wheat gluten to my next batch as that was suggested. Any other tips from you expert bread makers out there?! Thanks! Lisa

Non-gluten and low-gluten additions such as oats/oat flour tend to make bread more crumbly - that's just a natural characteristic. Following Linda C's advise and adding vital wheat gluten could improve the loaf, but too much vital wheat gluten will make the loaf dry and tough. I'm not a fan of vital wheat gluten UNLESS you are using an unusually large percentage of low-gluten or non-gluten flour. You don't say what your proportions are nor what type of other flour you are using. If you are using all-purpose flour, try switching to high-gluten bread flour and see if you get different results before adding vital wheat gluten. There are other things that contribute to bread that crumbles, including: - Over fermentation (allowing the dough to rise too long). This may be possible because allowing a dough that has a high percentage of low- or non-gluten flour probably doesn't have the extensibility to proof to "double". I'd keep it under "double" for both the first fermentation and the final proofing before it goes into he oven. Use a dough rising bucket, rather than a slant-sided bowl, so you don't have to guess if dough has doubled or not. - Rising conditions that are too warm. This often happens from using the pre-heated oven method and proofing dough in the oven (and failing to check the ACTUAL oven temperature before parking the dough in the oven), or the boiling water in the microwave method (also at risk for a much higher temperature for rising dough if you don't check the temperature with an oven thermometer). - Adding too much flour. If you tend to add a lot of additional flour during kneading and get a stiff dough, too much flour to liquid ration, this can also contribute to bread that's crumbly. As an aside... I'm assuming you are thoroughly cooling your loaf on a wire rack before cutting the loaf. If you cut into a warm loaf, you'll compromise the crumb. -Grainlady

This is the method I have used for many years when making bread dough in my Kitchenaid stand mixer. The source is Betsy Oppenneer's The Bread Book. Mixing and Kneading Bread in a Heavy Duty Electric Mixer 1.Put dry yeast and proofing water into mixer bowl; whisk, proof yeast. 2.Fit mixer paddle on. 3.Add rest of liquid ingredients (milk, eggs, butter) to the yeast/water. 4.Add half of the flour amount of the recipe and any other dry ingredients. 5.Turn mixer on medium speed (#4 on KA) and beat 2 minutes. 6.Reduce speed to low (#1) and add rest of flour ü cup at a time. 7.Remove paddle, scrape well. Attach dough hook. 8.Scrape down sides of bowl, turn speed to #2 and add more flour 1 TB at a time (dough will cling to hook then spread back to sides of bowl). 9.Increase speed to #4 and knead 5 minutes. At the end of this kneading time the dough should cling to the hook and clean the sides of the bowl. If not, add flour 1 TB at a time, until the dough cleans the sides of the bowl. 10.Remove the dough to an oiled bowl, cover with a towel, let rise per therecipe ��" or ��" turn out dough, knead by hand a few times, form into a ball, drizzle a little oil in the mixing bowl, put dough in, swirl in bowl and turn oiled side up, cover, let rise.