It’s been a long time since I’ve made a new(-to-me) bread from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. Long enough, actually, that they’ve come out with The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day! I don’t know if this recipe was in the original, but it’s a keeper in my book! This recipe (which can be halved) makes 2 hefty loaves of a lightly sweet bread with a crisp crust and a very soft fluffy inside. Having a thick slice at breakfast keeps me full significantly longer than any of my regular breakfasts.

Ingredients:

• 2 3/4 cups warm water (100 degrees F or below)
• 1 tablespoon granulated yeast
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 3/4 cup maple syrup, plus more for brushing the tops
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup wheat bran
• 1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 4 cups all-purpose flour

In a large bowl or storage tub, combine the water, yeast, salt, syrup, and oil, stirring together.

Add the remaining ingredients, stirring until all the dry patches have been incorporated, but not kneading.

Cover loosely and let rise until the dough has risen and then begun to collapse, about 2 hours. You can either move to baking now, or refrigerate the dough (or half of it) up to a week.

When ready to bake, grease an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2″ bread pan. Sprinkle some flour over the surface of the dough and cut in half, taking out an approximately 2 pound/large cantaloupe-sized portion of the dough. Dust with a bit more flour, then stretch the top of the dough down to the bottom. Rotate a quarter turn and repeat the stretching, then continue to rotate and repeat until you’ve pulled down 4 times and shaped the dough into a rough ball. Gently roll the ball just a bit to shape more into an oval, then place that into the greased bread pan.

Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise – 45 minutes for fresh dough, 90 minutes for refrigerated dough.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Use a pastry brush to brush approximately 1 tablespoon additional maple syrup over the top of the risen loaf.

Bake on the center rack for 50-60 minutes, until browned and firm, and hollow sounding when tapped on the bottom. At 50 minutes mine wasn’t 100% done baking, but was a solid enough loaf that I could turn it out of the pan and put the bare loaf on the oven rack, to brown up a bit more on all sides.

Remove from the pan and cool on a cooling rack, ideally at least 2 hours – warm bread releases a lot of steam when cut, which negatively impacts the texture, so letting the bread cool fully helps create a better bread.

It can do breakfast, lunch, snack, and dinner!

Oatmeal Maple Bread

From The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.

• 2 3/4 cups warm water (100 degrees F or below)
• 1 tablespoon granulated yeast
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 3/4 cup maple syrup, plus more for brushing the tops
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup wheat bran
• 1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 4 cups all-purpose flour

In a large bowl or storage tub, combine the water, yeast, salt, syrup, and oil, stirring together. Add the remaining ingredients, stirring until all the dry patches have been incorporated, but not kneading. Cover loosely and let rise until the dough has risen and then begun to collapse, about 2 hours. You can either move to baking now, or refrigerate the dough (or half of it) up to a week.

When ready to bake, grease an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2″ bread pan. Sprinkle some flour over the surface of the dough and cut in half, taking out an approximately 2 pound/large cantaloupe-sized portion of the dough. Dust with a bit more flour, then stretch the top of the dough down to the bottom. Rotate a quarter turn and repeat the stretching, then continue to rotate and repeat until you’ve pulled down 4 times and shaped the dough into a rough ball. Gently roll the ball just a bit to shape more into an oval, then place that into the greased bread pan. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise – 45 minutes for fresh dough, 90 minutes for refrigerated dough.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Use a pastry brush to brush approximately 1 tablespoon additional maple syrup over the top of the risen loaf. Bake on the center rack for 50-60 minutes, until browned and firm, and hollow sounding when tapped on the bottom.

Remove from the pan and cool on a cooling rack at least 2 hours.