When all else fails – hit the oven!

Well, gang, I promised you I’d have another lash at my wholemeal oat loaf – this time adding the salt.

But what I didn’t count on was a power outage just as Bev’s baking cycle was about to kick in. 

I left the dough to proof for almost two hours (!), which it did superbly, before the power came back on. However, Bev reverted to her original three-hour cycle – which meant I had to fire up the kitchen oven. 

I turned the dough out onto a floured board and gave it a half-hearted knead before sticking it into an oiled baking pan and covering (thanks, Rich, for your plastic shopping bag idea! The dough continued to rise steadily for another hour before I thought it was ready to ‘fire’). 

I pre-heated the fan-forced oven to a shade more than 200C (about 400F) and set the timer for 35 minutes. 

The result? A fantastic loaf! Great dome! Wonderfully hollow sound when I turned it out of the pan! Great smell wafting all through the house! 

The taste is richer than normal (the raw sugar?), but delightfully oaten. The texture is slightly dense and it’s chewier than commercial loaves, However, it melts in the mouth. 

Man! I am really getting to love baking! 

Now – the ingredients (in order): 

* 325 mls of tepid tap water

* 450 gms of wholemeal flour

* 1 tbspn of plain flour

* 2 tbspns of rolled oats

* 1 tbspn of olive oil

* 1 ½ tspns of salt (didn’t forget it this time!)

* 1 tbspn of raw sugar (thought I’d try it instead of the usual ‘white death’)

* 1 tspn of bread improver

* 1 ½ tbspns of milk powder

* 1 ¾ tspns of dry yeast

 Now the posse will be spoilt for choice – lunches tomorrow will be either wholemeal or white-oat – and two loaves lovingly hand-made for less than the price of one tasteless factory jobbie.