One day I misread the directions for making oatmeal and found myself with a lot of leftover oatmeal. I found the thought of serving leftover oatmeal somewhat repulsive. It would take longer to reheat the mess than to make fresh, but I couldn’t just throw it out. So, I search the net and my cookbooks for something to do with it. I found a couple of bread recipes that all started with cooking the oats. This is an amalgamation of those recipes alone with a huge dose of reality. Bread-making takes time and my life is hectic. When left-over oatmeal shows up, I don’t always have time to complete all with steps when they SHOULD be done.

This bread doesn’t have a real recipe. Every time I make it it is different. Here is the general guideline, or story if you will, of how I make this bread. It will make one free-form loaf

Step One: 5 Minutes work and hours waiting

Start with 2 Cups Cooked Oatmeal. I use slow cooked oatmeal. Use whatever you have left over or make extra so you have left-overs. Let the oatmeal cool until it is below body temperature. Add ¼ Cup Flour and ½ Cup Water. Sprinkle with 2½ Teaspoons or 1 Packet Dry Yeast. Use plain old yeast or bread yeast. Don’t use instant yeast. For a more interesting bread add less Yeast and let the bread take it’s time rising.

Stir together and let it sit on the counter for a while. In this case a while means anywhere from 4 to 24 hours. If it needs to sit for more than 24 hours add some more flour and give it another stir.

Step Two: 25 Minutes work and more waiting

Give the Oatmeal a good stir. Add 2 Teaspoons Kosher Salt and begin adding Flour. Keep adding flour and stirring until you are tired of mixing. Turn the dough out onto a Floured board or counter. Here Floured mean the work area is solidly white with Flour and there is a good mound of Flour in the corner to use later. Knead the dough adding more Flour as you go, until the dough is smooth and elastic. To quote James Beard, “You can not knead too much.” If you are stressed — go to town. If you are in a hurry — stop when it feel like real dough. I sometime add ¼ Cup Molasses along with the Salt.

Put the dough in a bowl and cover with a towel and set it in a warm draft-free place for two hours. Like that ever happens at my house. This is the part where I tend to abuse the dough most. The bread will rise faster where it is warm and slower where it is cold. On average it will take 1-3 hours for the bread to rise at room temperature. But what if you aren’t going to be around in 2 hours? Fine, put it some place cooler, like the refrigerator or the back deck on a freezing night. When you are ready for the next step, bring it in an let it finish rising.

So, now it has risen and you still don’t have time to finish the bread. No problem. Just punch it down and knead it a bit more and let it rise again and again. Yes, it is abusive and you won’t get a consistent product, but if you want a consistent product you can go to a store or read a real cookbook. I’m just telling you how works in my life.

In the end the dough should be about doubled in size and won’t spring back when you poke it with your finger.

Step Three: 15 Minutes work and 1-2 hours waiting.

Punch down the dough one last time. Knead in any extras like Rosemary Make a ball and let the dough rest for about 10 minutes. Form the dough into a loaf or drop in into a loaf pan. Let rise one last time until it is almost double its original size.

Step Four: 5 Minutes work and the final hour of waiting.

Heat the oven and baking at least a half hour before baking to 400 degrees.
Slide the dough onto a baking stone or baking sheet and bake for 40 minute to an hour. The bread should sound hollow. Cool on a rack until you can’t stand waiting and enjoy.

Some of my favorite Bread Cookbooks include:
Joe Ortiz’ The Village Baker
James Beard’s Beard on Bread
Daniel Leader and Judith Blahnik’s Bread Alone