The birthday baking begins...

Ready to take to school - with butter, of course

Carrying on the tradition from the previous AP Statistics teacher, I have been baking for each of my students’ birthdays. Seniors sometimes revert to their maturity level in elementary school, so birthday treats are fitting. One student of mine asked for raisin walnut bread, which was much different from the normal request of cookies, brownies ,or cupcakes, but I was up for the challenge. I found quite a few recipes online, finally choosing one from The Fresh Loaf, self-described as “a community for amateur artisan bakers and bread enthusiasts.”  Their recipes had oats in the dough but not walnuts. I figured I could add walnuts and it would turn out fine. It worked great! I actually made the dough the night before, let it finish proofing in the refrigerator, and baked it in the morning so it would be fresh for class 1^st period. The students loved it, as did I. I want to try this recipe without the final proofing in the fridge – I think it would turn out even better.

I changed a few things from the original recipe – I multiplied all the quantities by 2/3 because I only wanted two loaves, omitted the cinnamon, and added walnuts. The link to the original recipe is here: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/recipes/cinnamonraisinoatmealbread

Oatmeal wheat raisin walnut bread
Makes 2 loaves
3 2/3 cups bread or all-purpose unbleached flour
1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup + 1 T rolled oats
1 2/3 cups water
1/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons +2 teaspoons vegetable oil
2 1/4 teaspoons salt
2 ½ teaspoons instant yeast
1 1/3 cups soaked and drained raisins

1 cup chopped walnuts

At least half an hour before you begin, soak the raisins in warm water. Doing so plumps them, which makes them softer and moister in the loaf and also prevents the ones on the surface of the loaf from burning. Just prior to adding the raisins to the loaf, you'll pour the water out.

Next, soak the oats in the 2 1/2 cups water for 20 to 30 minutes. If you are using active dry yeast instead of instant yeast, which I did, withhold 1/2 cup of the water to proof the yeast in.

Mix the flours, yeast, milk, honey, oil, salt, and cinnamon into the oats. Mix well, until all of the flour is hydrated. Knead by hand for 5 minutes or in a standmixer for 3, then mix in the drained raisins. Knead or mix until the raisins are distributed throughout the dough.

Cover the bowl of dough and allow it to rise for 1 hour. Then remove the dough from the bowl and fold it, degassing it gently as you do. Place the dough on a floured work surface, top side down. Fold the dough in thirds, like a letter, gently degassing as you do. Fold in thirds again the other way. Flip the dough over, dust off as much of the raw flour as you can, and place it back into the bowl.

Cover the bowl and allow the dough to rise in bulk again for another hour. Then divide the dough in thirds and shape the loaves. Place each shaped loaf into a greased bread pan. Spray or gently brush each loaf with water and sprinkle with some more oats. Cover the pans and set aside to rise until the loaves crest above the edge of the pans, roughly 90 minutes. (I put the loaves in the refrigerator at this point and let rise overnight. I removed them from the fridge 30 minutes before baking to help them come to room temperature.)

Preheat the oven to 450. Place the loaves in the center rack of the oven. After 5 minutes, reduce the oven temperature to 375. Rotate the loaves 180 degrees after 20 minutes, and bake for another 15 to 25 minutes, until the tops of the loaves are nicely browned, the bottoms of the loaves make a hollow sound when tapped, and the internal temperature of the loaf registers above 185 degrees when measured with an instant read thermometer.

Let cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then remove from the pan and let the loaves cool completely before slicing (although we ate them warm and they were delicious).