Granny's Oatmeal Bread

So, I had to hang around the house today while Mike went home, because people were coming by to look at my room. What do I do when stuck around the house all day? Bake, that's what. I have to confess that I am extremely thrilled about this recipe, as I finally had success with yeast! I have tried to make yeast breads a few times before and something has always gone wrong. This time, however, I was very careful and everything worked out perfectly. Hooray! This bread, from Vegetarian Planet, is very hearty and a little bit sweet, a perfect breakfast bread. I will definitely enjoy it all week long for my brunch at work with an apple or a banana. I used the first variation suggested at the bottom--substituting whole wheat flour for two of the six cups of flour. It's kind of a fitting bread to make, as Didi Emmons got the recipe from her neighbor who was working on his dissertation. On that note, I also finished writing and submitting all of my personal statements to the schools I am applying to: Brandeis, Brown, BU, BC, Cornell, NYU, the University of Chicago, and the University of Illinois at Chicago. I just have to finish my writing sample (a lot easier said than done), mail in my transcripts, and make sure the official GRE scores get to each school. My recommendations are all in. It's getting down to the wire, and I am still very very nervous.

Granny's Oatmeal Bread
My upstairs neighbor, Rob, occasionally cooks up a storm to relieve the pressure of finishing his grad school dissertation. This recipe, one of his favorites, came from his grandmother, Dorothy Wilson McElroy. Even when it's a week old, her oatmeal bread makes excellent toast.
Rob prefers Br'er Rabbit or Plantation molasses. He also likes blackstrap molasses, but says it is probably too strong for most people's tastes. I used blackstrap and loved it.
2 cups rolled oats
2 cups boiling water
1 cup scalded whole milk [I used skim, it was fine]
1 tablespoon canola or corn oil
2/3 cup molasses
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon dry yeast
6 cups unbleached white flour
1 tablespoon salt

1) Put the oats into a very large bowl, or into a mixer with a dough hook. Pour the boiling water over them. Then add the scalded milk, and stir. Pour in the oil and molasses, and stir.
2) In another bowl, mix the sugar with the yeast and 1 cup of the flour. When the oatmeal mixture has cooled to lukewarm, add the yeast-flour mixture. Stir, and add the salt. Stir in the remaining 5 cups of flour.
3) If you are using a mixer, knead on the lowest setting for 5 minutes. Otherwise, beat the dough with a sturdy spoon (preferably a metal one) for 8 minutes, holding the bowl tight with one arm. If you use a spoon, make sure you work all the dough. This is hard on the wrists; if 8 minutes is longer than you can manage, just beat as long as you can.
Cover the bowl with a damp towel, and place the bowl in a warm spot until the dough has doubled in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours.
4) Punch the dough down. Knead briefly with a spoon, then divide it in half, and place it in two greased 9-by-5-by-3-inch loaf pans. Cover the pans with a damp towel, and let the dough rise in a warm spot until it has almost doubled in bulk.
5) While the dough rises, preheat the oven to 350.
6) Bake the loaves for about 1 hour. To make sure they're done, turn them out of the pans and tap them on the bottom; they should sound hollow. Let the loaves cool on a rack. When the loaves have cooled thoroughly, wrap them well, and store them in a cool spot.
Variations: Use two cups whole-wheat flour and four cups unbleached white flour instead of the six cups white flour. Or substitute 1 cup cornmeal for 1 cup of the flour.
Makes 2 loaves.