French Toast with KAMUT, Oatmeal Date Bread

Two of my baking groups, the HBinFive Bakers and the Mellow Bakers are baking oatmeal breads this month so I decided to continue the oats theme for August rather than choosing a different grain of the month.  Oatmeal bread is one of my all time favorites so this should be a fun month.

The first bread for the HBinFive Bakers for August is an Oatmeal Date Bread. I had some KAMUT flour left from my Sprouted KAMUT Bread experiment in June so I decided to use it in this recipe instead of whole wheat flour. I loved the flavor of this Kamut, Oatmeal and Date Bread so I used a couple of slices to make French Toast.

 

KAMUT, Oatmeal and Date Bread Recipe

Makes: One 2-Pound Loaf

Adapted from Healthy Bread in Five Minutes by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois

 

 

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups KAMUT flour
• 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (plus more for dusting if necessary)
• 1 cup steel-cut oats (or you can substitute old-fashioned rolled oats)
• 3/4 tablespoons granulated yeast or 1 packet
• 1/2 tablespoon kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons vital wheat gluten
• 1 1/4 cups lukewarm water
• 1/8 cup neutral-flavored oil
• 3 tablespoons maple syrup
• 3/4 cup dates, finely chopped
• Egg wash (1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water) for brushing on the top crust
• Raw sugar for sprinkling on top

 

Directions:

1. Mix together the flours, oats, yeast, salt, and vital wheat gluten in a large bowl using a whisk or a wooden spoon.

   

2. Combine the liquid ingredients and dates and incorporate them into the dry ingredients using a Danish dough whisk or a wooden spoon.

   

3. Cover the bowl (or container) and allow the dough to rest at room temperature until it rises and collapses, about 2 hours. Refrigerate the dough for at least 24 hours and up to 7 days.

   

4. When you’re ready to bake, remove the dough from the refrigerator, dust it lightly with flour and shape it into a ball. Let the ball rest for about 5 minutes before further shaping. Elongate the ball into an oval shape and place it in a greased 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan.  It should fill the pan about three-quarters full. Cover the pan loosely with plastic wrap and allow the loaf to rise for 1 hour 45 minutes.

   

5. Thirty minutes before baking time, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. It might not take your oven this long to preheat. Paint the top of the crust with egg wash using a pastry brush.

   

6. Sprinkle it with raw sugar.

   

7. I also slashed the dough diagonally with 1/4-inch-deep cuts, using a serrated knife. Place the loaf on the middle rack and bake for about 45 to 50 minutes, until richly browned and firm.

   

8. Remove the loaf from the oven and let it cool a little bit on a wire rack before slicing or eating.

   

    

   The first time I made this bread, I got distracted while the loaf was baking and I let it bake a little bit too long.  I gave the end slice to the birds and tested a couple of slices.  It had a wonderful flavor so I thought it would make some killer French Toast.  Turns out…I was right!  This is what I had for dinner the other night. 

   

    

   A few days later… 

   I decided to test this bread again.  This time, I baked it the appropriate length of time and it turned out really well. I didn’t slash the loaf so it separated on its own. The flavor of the oatmeal, maple and dates blend very nicely throughout the bread and the addition of the KAMUT flour gives it a lovely creamy color and nutty flavor.  It tastes great warm with butter.

   

   I’m delighted my experiment worked so I’ll be submitting this bread to the KAMUT International Team (at their request) to be posted on their site www.kamut.com 

    

   Thanks for joining me in the bread baking blog. 

   Happy Baking!
   Cathy