Honey-Oatmeal Sandwich Bread
63 comments » 
Honey-wheat bread was the second loaf of bread that I ever baked from scratch, behind my beloved white bread. As a result, it naturally holds a special place in my heart. What I was hungry for this week was some type of oat bread, so I went off flipping through my cookbooks, magazines and websites to see what I could find that would inspire me. When I flipped open King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking
The addition of oats adds a sweet, nutty flavor that really enhances the taste of an already magnificent honey wheat bread. This is a typical sandwich loaf, so the crust is on the soft side, but the bread is firm and has a tight crumb that makes it sturdy and perfect to build the biggest of sandwiches on. It’s also fabulous toasted with butter and jam, or a drizzle of honey!
This is a really simple yeast bread recipe, and would be a great one to try if you are new to yeast or tend to be intimidated by it. Since it uses instant yeast there is no “blooming” of the yeast that you need to worry about and the dough itself is very workable – I actually chose to knead it by hand instead of in my Kitchen Aid and it came together very easily. You may need to sprinkle a few extra teaspoons of flour if it’s a little sticky, and you will be good to go!
For those that are new to bread-baking, sometimes shaping the dough can provide one of the biggest challenges. I have included some photos below within the recipe to illustrate the best way to shape a loaf of bread that will be baked in a loaf pan. The explanation is as follows:
To shape a loaf of bread:
♦ Gently pat the dough into a rectangle about 5 inches by 8 inches.
♦ Starting at the short side, begin to roll the dough into a tight cylinder, one section at a time, pinching the crease with each roll using your thumb or the back of your hand.
♦ Once at the end, pinch it closed tightly and pinch the ends as well.
♦ Rock the cylinder back and forth to ensure that it is even all the way across (the ends should not be tapered).
Enjoy the bread! 
One year ago: Mushroom Spinach & Gruyere Quiche
Two years ago: Traditional Madeleines
Three years ago: Chicken Salad
Honey-Oatmeal Sandwich Bread
Yield: One (1) 9x5-inch loaf
Prep Time: 20 minutes (active), 2½ hours (inactive)
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
Ingredients:
1¼ cups (10 ounces) boiling water
1 cup (3½ ounces) old-fashioned rolled oats
2 tablespoons (1 ounce) unsalted butter, cut into 3 pieces
1½ teaspoons salt
¼ cup (3 ounces) honey
1 cup (4 ounces) whole wheat flour
1-2/3 cups (7 ounces) all-purpose flour
¼ cup (1 ounce) nonfat dry milk
2 teaspoons instant yeastDirections:
1. Place the boiling water, oats, butter, salt and honey into a medium bowl, stir, and let the mixture cool to lukewarm.
2. Mix the remaining dough ingredients with the oat mixture, and knead - by hand, mixer or bread machine - until you've made a soft, smooth dough. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover it, and let it rise for 1 hour; the dough should be doubled in bulk.
3. Lightly grease a 9x5-inch loaf pan. Gently deflate the dough - it'll be sticky, so oil your hands - and shape it into a 9-inch log. Place it in the prepared pan. Cover it gently with lightly greased plastic wrap, and allow it to rise until it has crowned 1½ inches over the rim of the pan, about 1 to 1½ hours. Near the end of the bread's rising time, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
4. Uncover and bake the bread for about 45 minutes, tenting it with foil after 20 minutes to prevent over-browning. The bread is done when it's golden brown and an instant-read thermometer inserted in the center registers 190 degrees F. Remove it from the oven, and after a minute or so turn it out onto a rack. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with additional oats. Cool the bread completely before cutting it.
(Recipe adapted from King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking
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Looks like a winning bread to me! I bet it makes the perfect toast!
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I love honey-oat bread. It’s perfect for sandwiches and toast with jam!
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This bread looks great! I would love to make a sandwich out of this and have it for lunch today!
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That loaf is beautiful! I love KAF recipes.
Cheers,
Rosa
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This sounds divine! The ladies at the Whole Grains Council would definitely approve.
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Your bread looks wonderful! I’ve tried quite a few of KAF’s bread recipes but this isn’t one of them. I’ll be adding it to my to-bake list immediately
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This bread looks glorious Michelle.
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This bread is soo pretty! Thanks for the measurements!
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I have a similar recipe (the only difference is really that you use “real” milk instead of water + dry milk) and it’s heavenly! Toasted, it brings the honey flavor and it’s just perfect for breakfast
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Looks like a gorgeous loaf of bread!! Bet it’s awesome with some homemade jam!
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My goodness – you should be charging for this loaf!
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Yep, that’ll work for me. That bread looks delicious! I love king arthur flour as well. They have some yummy recipes!
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That bread looks great! Whole Wheat is my favorite kind.
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Wow, this bread is gorgeous! Would love some of that for breakfast tomorrow – toasted with honey, please!
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Very helpful tips for shaping the loaf. I will definitely be referring back to this.
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Thanks for sharing all the details about this beautiful bread. I am very intimidated by the thought of baking a loaf, but u make it sound very do able!
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mmmmm
yummy
Looks great
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looks so warm,..
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Wow, your loaf looks perfect! Mmm, I’d love a toasty and butter piece for breakfast.
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YUM!!
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What a gorgeous bread!
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I have made that recipe, and it’s great. Yours looks beautiful! And it’s from one of my all time favorite cookbooks!
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Oh my. I love honey oatmeal bread, and this looks awesome. I’m making this first thing in the morning.
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I love your recipe for honey bread….looks great!!!
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Could you replace the white flour with whole wheat flour? It’s all I have!!
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Michelle on June 1st, 2010 at 10:12 am
Hi Katrina, Yes, you can replace the white with more whole wheat. Enjoy the bread!
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This bread looks so good. I have to make this loaf!
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hey there!
I just tried making your bread with your recipe! I followed everything to the T except that i used Whole Wheat Flour instead of AP Flour. My dough was extremely sticky. I ended up having to add half a cup more of flour to the dough. What have i done wrong? 10z of liquid vs. 7 oz of flour. Even with the 3.5 oz of rolled oats it was still too sticky. Please help!
Your bread looks amazing!!! and im upset that I can’t seem to yield the same results
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Michelle on August 1st, 2010 at 10:25 pm
Hi Iris, Oh gosh, I am soooo sorry! I just re-checked the recipe and I accidentally omitted 1 cup of whole wheat flour when I typed the recipe. I have added it now, but I feel horrible that you had a wasted attempt!
You should find much better results with this revised version; please let me know how it goes or if you need anything else. Again, my apologies!!
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I love the King Arthur catalog and their store (been there) and I still want this book. This bread looks amazing.
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Ack! I attempted this recipe tonight and after following the directions to a T I found that my dough had failed to make its second rise. There’s definitely lift there but no way near cresting the pan much less rising above it. Going to try to figure out what went wrong and hopefully try again tomorrow with more success.
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Michelle on October 1st, 2010 at 11:02 pm
Aw Rachel, I’m sorry this wasn’t a success today! I hope you have a nicely risen loaf tomorrow!
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I started making my own bread about a year ago and haven’t bought a loaf of bread since! I have a wonderful whole wheat bread I make, but it would be nice to change it up sometimes. This recipe looks great and I really would like to try it, but I don’t normally have dry milk powder on hand, is there anyway to make this without that? How would I substitute? Thanks!
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Michelle on January 13th, 2011 at 9:53 pm
Since the liquid in the recipe is used to both reconstitute the dry milk powder as well as dissolve the oats, I don’t feel comfortable giving you an alternative for using the dry milk powder in this particular instance. If you need any help, let me know! I usually find it in the baking aisle below the cans of evaporated and sweetened condensed milk.
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Oh thank goodness! I was starting to think that I’m just a failure at bread making. I made this over the weekend and it was perfect: moist, light, flavorful. Yum! Thanks for this great recipe and your terrific photos–they were a great help.
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I make this bread at least twice a week now. Love it.
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Hi,
The recipe looks awesome. Btw can I substitute the all purpose flour with whole wheat flour. Can me n my husband are trying to avoid white flour.
Thanks and regards,
Chitra.
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Michelle on January 11th, 2012 at 12:39 pm
I have not made that substitution with this particular recipes so I could not say for sure what the results would be. You could always give it a try; at the worst it might be a little heavy.
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Has anyone attempted this with bread machine?
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Hi, Michelle! I saw in another comment that someone was looking to substitute the dry milk powder, and I was wondering if you could substitute 10 oz of steamed milk for the boiling water and milk powder? Though if you’re not using the milk powder, I would think that you’d need to cut down on the liquid just a bit so it doesn’t get super sticky… Does that sound like it might work? (Though I’ll probably find out sometime today because I don’t have milk powder either!)
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I made this 3 times and each time the bread did not rise on the second rise. I came back here to find out the whole wheat flour was inadvertently omitted from the recipe. Not to be defeated, I tried yet again and while the dough was of a better consistency, it still did not rise above the top of the loaf pan. I’m extremely disappointed as I love the flavour of the bread and had it risen properly I know would have been great! I am now defeated – at least with t his recipe! I have no idea where I’m going wrong but good luck to everyone else.
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Michelle on November 1st, 2012 at 1:49 pm
I would check your yeast, and buy a new packet. It sounds like the yeast might be old if your dough isn’t rising. Also, be sure you are placing the dough in a warmer place free of any drafts. If the air temperature is cool, rising will be very difficult.
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S Powers on November 1st, 2012 at 11:51 pm
Thanks for your response. The dough doubled in size the first rise so that suggests to me the yeast was active… I also put the dough in a the oven that was turned low then off so it was warm and draft free. Anyway, I tried
a different recipe which worked fine so not sure what the problem was.
I really liked the taste of your recipe but I guess it’s just not for me.
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Jen on January 29th, 2013 at 8:55 am
I had the same problem! It doubled in size the first time around (boiled some water in the microwave then left the bread in there). After I put the loaf i the pan it rose a bit, but barely to the top of the pan. I’d love some tips!!
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Wondering if I could use up the Quick Oats I have on hand and not alter the results … thoughts??
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Michelle on December 13th, 2012 at 11:01 pm
Hi Stacey, The quick oats don’t have a sturdy enough texture for this bread, I would stick with the old-fashioned rolled oats.
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Hi! I tried your recipe last night and I was pretty happy with it, until I looked at your picture again
My bread came out pretty dense and not as fluffy looking as yours. Is there some secret bread-making technique I’m missing? (this is only the second loaf of bread I’ve made!) Thanks for posting!!
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Michelle on January 29th, 2013 at 1:10 pm
Hi Jen, I don’t have any secrets. I would make sure that your yeast is fresh and that you are using the water at the correct temperature. The temperature of the water is very important – it needs to be warm enough to activate the yeast, but not too hot so that it kills it. A lot of bread baking is trial and error and learning as you go… keep on baking!
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I am making this loaf right now. i changed a couple of things. Instead of using the suggested amount of honey, i used about half and substituted agave nectar and added 1/3 tsp of honey. Thank you so much for your recipe. I will use it for years to come. it is really easy.
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I made this over the weekend and it is divine!! It smells beautiful and tastes even better. Thank you!!
My only question is that mines didn’t come out looking as brown as yours, it was more on the golden side, any way to get that deep brown color? It just looks amazing.
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Michelle on February 10th, 2013 at 2:03 pm
Hi Kosta, It could have just had to do with how brown mine got before tenting with foil. Could have been higher in the oven, etc.
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I made this for a friend so I used one of those shiny aluminum disposable bread pans. Big mistake. The crust above the pan was wonderful but the part in the pan was way too soft, not sone of blob but close. This is a definte keeper. That;s two I owe ya.
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The bread looks fantastic and as I was preparing it, everything went well – the dough was kneaded, it rose, shaped it, placed it in the loaf tin, it rose again, placed it in the preheated oven and everything seemed to be going according to plan until it was 20 mins in and I went to cover the bread with foil… it deflated on me!! I quickly put it back into the over but to no avail… it remained deflated and it’s all dense and neither does it feel cooked (it had been in the oven for over an hour!) Help… Thank you!
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Michelle on April 21st, 2013 at 4:06 pm
Hi Yasmine, When you go to cover baking bread, it’s very important that the foil is tented, meaning that you crease it in the middle so that it doesn’t touch the bread. If you did this, it could have also fallen from moving it, the loaf pan being tapped against the oven rack or counter, etc.
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