Oatmeal Bread (No Knead)
Easy no knead oatmeal bread made with old fashioned rolled oats and oat flour. This overnight recipe yields a multi-grain sandwich bread, perfect for slicing.
Another easy sandwich loaf recipe but this time with oats! This oatmeal bread is my favorite so far, I love the added grains. The process is mostly the same, save a special way of incorporating the oats and in the end you have a big beautiful, multi-grain loaf bread.
Recipe Origins
This recipe is based on my ‘everyday sandwich bread’ but with the significant change of incorporating rolled oats into the bread. This requires soaking the oats in hot, boiling water, they absorb the water and soften in this process (otherwise the bread slices will have tough, dry oat bits).
We’re also incorporating a second grain into the bread. I have alternated using whole wheat flour, white whole wheat and oat flour (the latter is my favorite) which gives it more nutrition and an earthy flavor.
Recipe Ingredients
Oats: old fashioned rolled oats (not quick cooking, not steel cut).
Water: we’ll boil a portion of the water to soften the oats and the other portion will be at a cool temperature.
Maple Syrup: to sweeten the bread, just so.
Yeast: active dry yeast or rapid rise will work here.
Oat Flour: or whole wheat or white whole wheat.
Flour: bread flour has a higher protein content, which helps the bread develop it’s structure.
Salt: fine sea salt. If using table salt, halve the amount.
How to make No Knead Oatmeal Bread
Around 7-8pm, start making the dough
Set the oats in a large bowl and bring 200g of water to a boil (I use my tea kettle to do this). When it’s boiling, pour the hot water over the oats and stir so all the oats get soaked.
Leave the oats and water to cool for about 15 minutes, you’ll see they swell as they absorb the water.
Once cool, add the cool water and maple syrup, then stir to combine. Sprinkle the yeast over the mix and stir.
Measure the wheat (or oat) flour and the bread flour in and add the salt. Stir until the dough comes together in a shaggy mass. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside.
Two to Three Folds
After 45-60 minutes, lift the plastic wrap and wet your fingers. Lift the dough on one side and fold it over itself. Repeat this folding motion as the dough gets tighter and starts to resist.
Once you can’t really lift or stretch the dough, stop and cover it.
Repeat the fold again after another 45-60 minutes and again once more, if you have time. You should have a tight ball by the time you are done with the second fold:
Leave the dough on the counter, sealed with the plastic wrap overnight.
In the morning, shape the dough and do a second rise
The dough will be more than doubled in size in the am and possibly bubbly. Ready a loaf pan by buttering it all over then rubbing olive oil over the butter (the double oil seal helps prevent the dough from sticking to the pan).
Remove the dough from the bowl and stretch it then shape it into a tight, short log by folding it over itself a few times. Tuck the edges then place the log into the loaf pan. Rub the top of the dough with more olive oil and place the plastic wrap on top.
Leave on the counter for about 2 hours, the dough should rise to above the rim of the pan by about half an inch (it rises more in the center).
Bake the bread
Preheat the oven to 425 F. Once it is preheated let it stay hot for at least another 10 minutes, a hotter oven bakes better bread.
Set a small cake pan filled with ice in the oven – the ice will melt and release steam which helps the bread rise more before the outer crust sets.
When the dough is ready to bake, remove the plastic wrap and set it near (but not next to) the pan with the ice.
Bake for about 30-35 minutes, until the crust is a deep golden brown.
Out of the oven, turn the pan upside down to release the bread onto a cooling rack. Let cool for at least an hour before slicing.
Slowing the Dough Rising
If for some reason you need to start making the dough earlier or delay its baking time, you can set the bowl of dough in the fridge. Keep it covered and sealed. I sometimes make the dough around 4-5pm and once the folds are done keep in the fridge until 10pm, then I take it out and let it rise on the counter overnight.
Alternatively, if you need to stall the second rise, after you shape it into the pan, stick it in the fridge for a few hours.
Important: always remember that rising and baking times are cue dependent! Look at your dough for visual cues to know when it’s done rising.
Storing Homemade Oatmeal Bread
If you have a bread keeper, use that to keep the loaf bread fresh from going stale. If not, wrap the loaf in aluminum foil and store at room temperature.
For even longer storage, once the bread is completely cool you can slice it and place the slices in a gallon ziplock bag in the freezer.
Recipe for No Knead Oatmeal Bread
No Knead Oatmeal Bread
Ingredients
- 120g or 1 cup old fashioned rolled oats not quick cooking and not steel cut
- 200g boiling water
- 250g cool water
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- ¼ teaspoon active dry yeast
- 100g oat flour or whole wheat flour, or white whole wheat flour
- 330g bread flour
- 1 ¾ teaspoon fine sea salt
Method
- Set oats in a bowl. Pour boiling water over the oats, stir gently. Let sit for about 20 minutes, the oats will absorb the water.
- Pour the cool water and the syrup over the oat mixture and sprinkle the yeast on top. Stir gently.
- Measure in the flours and salt, stir until you have a shaggy dough. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside for 1 hour.
- After 45-60 minutes, do a fold: wet your fingers and lift the dough on one side, stretching it as much as you can without tearing it, then fold the lifted dough over the dough in the bowl. Turn the bowl 45 degrees and repeat, stretching and folding. As you stretch and fold the dough will become tighter. Cover and let rest for another 45-60 minutes.
- Repeat the dough folding process (it will be less easy to tear now, as the gluten is developing), lifting, stretching and folding it over itself. After 4-6 folds the dough will be a tight ball. Optional: a third fold, lifting and stretching and folding the dough, 45 minutes after the second. The third fold helps the dough develop more structure but it isn’t absolutely necessary.
- Leave to rise overnight on the counter. In the morning the dough will have doubled (or more) and be very bubbly.
- Butter a standard size loaf pan (5x8.5 or 9 inches) and then oil it.
- Stretch the dough and fold it over itself a few times, shaping it into a short, thick log, until you have a taught dough. Oil the top and set it in the loaf pan to rise until it is an inch above the rim of the loaf pan, for about 2 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 425 F. Once preheated, set a pan (8 or 9 inch square or rectangle cake pan) filled halfway with ice in the oven, off to one side. Next to the ice pan, set the loaf.
- Bake for 35 minutes, until the loaf has risen considerably and is deeply golden. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool for about 2 hours before slicing.
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Hi Sam!
I’m curious if you think this could work with 100% oat flour or substituting gluten-free flour for the bread flour?
Hi
Thanks for a great recipe. I made this last weekend everything went great except the last rise in the bread pan, it didn’t get quite as tall as your photo (maybe half as tall) – it still looked pretty good after baking but came out really chewy.
Any ideas what might have gone wrong? : (
Hi Monique, sometimes my breads don’t rise this high (it depends on a variety of factors: rising times, kitchen temperature and how hot the oven really is) but they’re never “really chewy” as you described, which leads me to think yours might have needed more time in the second rise. Rather than going by timings listed which vary based on kitchen temperature, watch the dough itself (it should be quite puffy before going into the oven ); I’d also check the oven with a secondary thermometer.