Buttermilk Oat Bread

Instructions

1. Stir yeast into warm water, set aside to bubble up.
2. Lightly grease a large bowl (for rising), set aside. Lightly grease a loaf pan (preferably pale aluminum), set aside.
3. Boil a kettle of water (for rising), then keep on simmer.
4. Blend/grind half of the rolled oats into a fine oat flour (easy in a Nutri-Bullet.) Reserve the balance intact.
5. Warm the buttermilk and melt the butter, then combine with salt, sugar, honey and the unground oats. (See OPTIONAL below. you may want to reserve 1 rounded Tbsp of rolled oats for the loaf's crust.).
6. Add yeast, ground oats and flour; knead until smooth. (For me, that's about 8 minutes with the Kitchen Aid, or 12 minutes by hand.).
7. Place dough in greased bowl to rise. Set (uncovered) in closed oven with an open kettle of boiled water. Don't turn on oven. Leave to rise for 1 hour.
8. After the hour, reboil kettle of water.
9. Form a loaf, place in greased pan. Again, set to rise (uncovered) in closed oven with an open kettle of boiled water. Don't turn on oven. Leave to rise for 1 to 1-1/2 hours.
10. Remove dough and kettle from oven. Preheat oven to 350°.
11. Bake in preheated oven for approximately 55 minutes total (+/- 5 min), lightly tenting with aluminum foil after 30-40 minutes to keep top from over-browning. The bread is done when its top is golden-brown and its center temperature is 190°.
12. OPTIONAL: Just before baking, brush the top of the loaves with an egg white beaten with 1 Tbsp cold water. Sprinkle with 1 rounded Tbsp rolled oats (unground).
13. NOTE: If you can't grind/blend the rolled oats, substitute 1 cup oat flour (or any flour) for the 1 cup of ground rolled oats in step #6.
14. NOTE: This is my adaptation of a recipe from King Arthur Flour: KAF "Vermont Whole Wheat Oatmeal Honey Bread." The main difference being that I replaced water and whole wheat flour with buttermilk and oat flour. Both recipes use whole rolled oats, but I've doubled it's proportion.