Honey and oats sandwich loaf

I can't believe it's hump day already! Halfway to the weekend. The weeks just fly away, it was barely spring and now it's less than 100 days to Christmas. But rather than thinking of dark mornings and evenings ahead, let's think about happy things. Like carbs!

This recipe is adapted from the Brown Eyed Baker blog, as it was one of the first hits that came up when I googled "sandwich bread recipe oats" and I thought it looked and sounded very delicious. I saw a very special sandwich on a cooking program on telly the other day, and am dying to try it but we didn't have any bread in the house so instead of buying some substandard British supermarket bread I just thought I would make some myself.

I always convince myself baking bread is a huge hassle, so I don't do it nearly often enough. But I started this dough after getting out of bed on a Saturday morning (around 8ish), and it was out of the oven by 11.30 am, so after giving it a bit of time to cool I will have super fresh bread for our lunch sandwiches.

This is a very simple dough to throw together from ingredients you are most likely to have at home at any time (possible minus the honey, depending on if you are a big honey fan or not. I have some old honey that has started to crystallise a bit, so this recipe was a perfect way to use it up before it became completely unusable). The original recipe uses traditional oats, not the quick cook ones, and there were comments on the site saying the dough was too soggy if using quick cook oats, but I didn't have a problem, hopefully this will work for other people as well. If you use traditional oats, have a look at the original recipe, as you are supposed to soak them in boiling hot water first and then letting the mixture cool before proceeding. I made my bread exactly as described below without problems. 

Honey and oats sandwich bread (makes 1 loaf):
1 cup warm water 
1/4 cup warm milk
2 tsp instant (easy bake) yeast
1/4 cup honey
1 cup quick cook oats
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp butter (cut into small pieces)
1 cup strong whole wheat flour
1 2/3 cup strong white flour

Ready for the oven

The howto:
Mix the warm water, milk, yeast, oats and honey in a bowl, and leave for a few minutes. Add the butter and salt and mix. Add flour and turn onto a table and knead until a soft dough forms (this can be done by hand or using a machine. As I don't have any other options, I did it by hand. The dough is a bit soft, but after kneading this brioche bun dough, this dough was easy peasy). Leave to proof for about an hour, or until dough has doubled in size. 

If using a regular bread loaf pan (9x5 in), butter it. I used my trusty silicon loaf pan, which needs no prep, I love it as it's one more step that can be omitted, making things just that little bit easier. After the dough has proved, oil your hands, and knock the air out of the dough by kneading it a few times. At this point the dough seemed really well behaved, it didn't stick and was easy to handle. Shape the dough into a log by smoothing it out to a rectangle and make a roll, tucking the ends under and rolling a few times on the table to ensure its even. There are some pictures of the process on the Browned Eyed Baker blog here if you aren't sure how to do it. Pop the loaf into the tin, and leave to proof for another hour to hour and a half (my loaf was climbing well over the edges of the loaf pan after an hour). At the end of the proofing, preheat oven to 175 degrees C (350 degrees F). Bake for 45 minutes, and protect with foil if bread starts to brown too heavily. I added 10 minutes to the baking time as the bread still felt a bit wobbly after 45 minutes. Also, it didn't become nearly as dark as the bread in the original blog post, not sure why but it turned out great nonetheless.

The verdict:
This was a very easy bread to put together and it had great rise. It was really hard to wait until it had cooled completely before sampling it. But I do urge you to wait, as the bread is really difficult to cut while the loaf is still warm (don't ask me why I know). This bread is quite sweet from the honey, so beware if you don't like sweet breads. For me it was perfect, as I do like a bit of sweetness, and it goes great with the light nuttiness of the oats. I also like that it's very soft and fluffy, not at all dense. I think it would be perfect for toasting and serving with butter and jam. I'm not sure it would be the best for sandwiches as it seems quite soft, and quite hard to cut into really thin slices. Given how little work it is to make, this is a really great, tasty and lightly textured bread which baked perfect the first time I tried it although I did make some alterations to the original recipe.

Courgette and lemon bread

So what have you all been up to? I know I wrote a few weeks ago about feeling like I had lost my kitchen mojo. I think just writing about it helped, as after that post, I spent almost the whole next weekend in the kitchen, making many things including this amazing bread.

I tried a recipe for courgette chocolate bread once. I didn't think I would ever say this about anything with chocolate, but it wasn't too brilliant. And it put me off courgette bread for a long time. Until I saw this Lemon Zucchini bread from My Baking Addiction when browsing the blogs I follow the other day. 

I feel it was divine intervention as we have quite a crop of courgettes that need to be harvested, and I am having courgettes and tomatoes coming out of my ears (not that I'm complaining, I love them!!). I have tried a few courgette cakes in the past, and found them at best more or less average, but I thought I would try this as we both like lemon drizzle cake in this house, and I thought the lemon drizzle would add a bit of oomph to what I usually find are rather boring cakes. This is a really simple bake to put together, all you need is one bowl, a spatula and a loaf tin. I love how it's called bread instead of cake, so you don't feel like you are having a treat, just a slice of bread. And not just any bread, courgette bread which has to count towards one of your five a day.

Courgette and lemon bread (makes one loaf)
3/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp lemon zest (I used whatever zest I could get from 2 lemons)
1 large egg
1/2 cup vegetable oil (I used rapeseed)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups grated courgette (packed and undrained)
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Glaze:
1/2 cup icing sugar
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice (I had to add a bit more to make the drizzle a good consistency)
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

The howto:
Preheat oven to 160 degrees C. Butter a 8x4 in loaf pan, or line with parchment paper (or use a silicone mould like I did, they don't need any prepping). Combine sugar and lemon zest, rubbing them together with your fingers until fragrant (it makes your fingers smell amazing too!). Add egg, oil and vanilla and mix. Add courgette. In a separate bowl, mix flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon (I probably don't have to say I can't be bothered with this step and just mix them straight into the batter, I am too lazy to wash up an extra bowl). Add the flour mixture to the courgette batter and mix only until combined. Pour into loaf tin and bake for 50-60 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in the tin for about 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely. For the glaze, mix all ingredients and drizzle over the bread once it's completely cooled. Store in fridge, keeps for 4-5 days.

The verdict:
I was not expecting much from this bread due to my previous experiences. But it was very tasty. It was lovely and moist, and the glaze added the perfect final touch. I ate this for breakfast at work with a cup of coffee, and we also had it for pudding. I was amazed at how moist the bread was, even after several days in the fridge. Certainly a very enjoyable way to enjoy your courgettes. And finally a recipe for courgette bread I will make again!