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Oatnut Sandwich Bread

Oatnut Sandwich Bread

I will always be a fan of white-ish sandwich breads – not necessarily “white bread”, but buttermilk, potato and similarly pale and soft breads that are versatile and toast well – but I also like to get some variety into my sandwiches with whole grain breads, as well. One bread I particularly like right now is Oroweat‘s Oatnut Bread. As the name suggests, the bread has whole oats and nuts in it. The oats give it a nice sweetness and the nuts, a nice texture. Oroweat actually uses finely chopped hazelnuts in their bread, so the flavor is very unusual for a sandwich loaf.

My version of homemade Oatnut bread has more whole grain than the original bread it is based on, as I made it with white whole wheat flour. The store-bought bread has a fairly fine texture and, because white whole wheat flour is lighter than plain whole wheat, I used it in the hope of recreating that texture. Since whole grain flours don’t usually have as much protein in them as all purpose or bread flours, I also added some vital wheat gluten (basically wheat protein, sold at markets like Whole Foods) to help give the bread some additional elasticity. Wheat gluten keeps the texture of the bread from getting dense or crumbly. I also added in rolled oats (I used the quick cooking variety, but whole rolled oats are fine) and finely chopped pecans. Hazelnuts or walnuts are also good choices here.

The finished product was excellent, and similar enough to the original that the source of my inspiration was obvious. My bread was slightly sweet and the nuts provided some of the contrast in texture that I had hoped for. The loaf had a light and even crumb to it and was easy to slice into thin, sandwich-able pieces. If you can’t find the wheat gluten, you will be able to bake this bread without it. You may not be able to get such fine slices, however, as a bread made with only whole grain flour will probably be a bit more crumbly than this loaf was.

This bread makes great sandwiches and excellent toast. It’s hearty enough to stand up to a cheese, as well, so simply cut thick slices if you wish to put it out with appetizers as a pairing for dip or sliced cheese.

Homemade Oatnut Sandwich Bread
2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
1 1/4 cups warm water (100-110F), divided
3-4 cups white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup quick cooking rolled oats (whole rolled oats, chopped)
1 tbsp vital wheat gluten (optional)
2 tbsp honey
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup pecans, finely chopped

In a large bowl, combine the yeast (about 1/4 oz.) and 1/4 cup warm water. Stir and let stand for 5 minutes, until foamy.
Stir in remaining water, 1 cup of flour, the oats, vital wheat gluten (if using) and honey, and mix well. Add in salt, pecans and an additional 1 1/2 – 2 cups flour. Stir, adding remaining flour gradually, until the dough comes together into a ball a begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl (this can also be done in an electric mixer with the dough hook attached).
Turn dough out onto a lightly floured board and knead, adding flour a tablespoon at a time as necessary to prevent sticking, until dough is smooth and elastic, about 5-8 minutes.
Place dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in size, about 1 – 1 1/2 hours.
Lightly grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan.
After dough has risen, turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface again. Gently deflate dough into a rectangular shape. Fold up the two long sides of the rectangle and pinch the seam together. Place seam-side down into prepared loaf pan. Again cover the bread with a piece of plastic wrap and let rise until almost doubled in size, about 45 minutes.
While the bread is going through its final rise, preheat oven to 375F.
Bake loaf for 35 minutes, until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the bottom reads about 200F.
Cool loaf outside of pan on a wire rack completely before slicing.

Makes 1 loaf.

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33 Comments
  • Katrina
    July 30, 2008

    Looks so good. I love whole grain breads and I love homemade bread. Printing off recipe now…thanks.

  • r
    July 30, 2008

    That loaf looks great! A wonderfully light/fluffy bread! Delicious!

    Cheers,

    Rosa

  • Nicole
    July 31, 2008

    Yum. I love whole grain breads that have oats involved. It looks delicious!

  • Mary
    July 31, 2008

    I was thrilled to see your recipe for Oat bread using the white whole wheat flour. I recently bought some of this flour and am anxious to see how it bakes up. I was going to try and modify another recipe I have for an oat bread that we love but your recipe looks better.

    Thanks,

    Mary (Mary’s Nest)
    http://marysnest.typepad.com/

  • Patricia Scarpin
    August 1, 2008

    It looks wonderful, Nic. I love trying new kinds of bread!

  • Angela
    August 3, 2008

    That looks delicious. One thing I like about breads like this is that they are much more filling than white breads. My mom makes wonderful bread and she, too, likes more “natural” breads. I plan on giving her this recipe. 🙂

  • ttfn300
    December 27, 2008

    this was great, thanks for the recipe 🙂

  • susan
    January 5, 2009

    Looks tasty, a wee bit of break from the norm. Will give that a go soon. 🙂

  • Xiaolu
    January 24, 2009

    This looks delicious. It seems to be exactly the type that I look for at the store. I don’t see where you say to add the rest of the water. I’d already started mixing when I realized this, so I added it after the oats, wheat gluten, and honey. I also only ended up adding about 2 1/2 cups of KA organic white wheat flour and the dough was too dry. The bread’s formed and rising in the pan right now. My fingers are crossed that it turns out ok. I’d appreciate your guidance. Thanks!

  • Angie
    May 2, 2009

    Thank looks absolutely gorgeous, I’m going to surprise my sons with this tomorrow!

  • make money online
    May 28, 2009

    Somehow I feel like breakfast… But it’s actually night time, hmmm..

  • Syracuse NY Attorney
    May 28, 2009

    This looks amazing!

  • Lose 40 Pounds
    June 29, 2009

    Eating a good health bread like that is also good for people looking to lose weight, what ever you do stay away from weight bread, it is really bad for losing pounds

  • Dwight
    July 7, 2009

    Looks delicious. Does it not need a little oil or butter?

  • Monica H
    July 23, 2009

    I just started making this bread and I’m already confused.

    When do I add the extra water or do I add it all at once? Is there a total of 1/4 of water. or is it 1 and 1/4 cup?

    I saw that Xiaolu asked the same thing but I didn’t see a response or a change in the recipe???

    I look forward to your response. Thanks and I can’t wait to try this bread. OutNut is my fave!

    Monica

  • Acer Vijay
    August 17, 2009

    This is a great reciepe , will try it this weekend 🙂

  • Equipment Leasing
    October 3, 2009

    This is a very good looking recipe. I’ll give it a try. Thanks for sharing it.

  • san diego real estate
    October 23, 2009

    This is a great recipe. I love sandwiches specially in brunch. I’ll surely go for it today. Thanks for sharing.

  • zhu zhu
    November 26, 2009

    Looks very, very awesome! Will be baking this with bananas thrown in.

  • Darrell
    February 22, 2010

    I wonder how it will taste if you add pecans or walnuts? I’m going to try it :-).

  • Discount
    March 2, 2010

    It looks wonderful, Nic. I love trying new kinds of bread!

  • Vivian
    April 24, 2010

    Still no reply about when to add the additional cup of water, I added it after the oats and so on. I also found that I needed less flour than the recipe calls for. Wondering how the bread turned out for those who actually tried it

  • Real Life Vampires
    May 2, 2010

    Ohhh I tried this recipe, and just wanted to say it’s really yummy! Thanks for giving all the details. I’m gonna check out some of the other recipes now…:)

  • Rickey
    May 7, 2010

    I have been looking for a recipe like this one. Thanks a million!

  • Thea
    November 21, 2010

    I’m late to this party, but this is exactly what I was looking for! Their oatnut bread is my staple for every day use, but I wanted to make my own, and you had it. Fantastic.

  • Kim
    August 17, 2011

    I’m gonna try this too! Looks great!

  • AJ
    November 28, 2011

    Tried this bread and added flaxseeds too. It was really good and the texture was perfect. Thank you for all your lovely recipes!

  • LB
    November 10, 2012

    What about possibly making this in a bread machine? Could I just follow my bread machine’s instructions of how to add ingredients and would it turn out? Any one with experience would be helpful. I LOVE this bread, so would love to be able to make it regularly.

  • Rance Moest
    January 6, 2013

    “until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the bottom reads about 200F.”

    How does one do that? There is a metal pan in the way.

  • Nicole
    January 6, 2013

    Rance – Once the bread is close to being done, it should slide very easily right out of the pan, so you can easily flip it out and double check the temperature. Once you’ve made it a time or two, you can count on the baking time in your oven being the same and you shouldn’t really need to check it. This works with all breads, including free-form ones not baked in pans.

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