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Brown bread is cold weather comfort food, just right alongside baked beans or a hearty stew. |
This chewy brown bread is easy enough for beginners…
There’s something about brown bread that speaks of fall. It’s a cold weather food that’s just right alongside baked beans or a hearty stew. Like many Maritimers I grew up eating fresh-baked brown bread with supper on Saturdays and I suspect on those nights I ate a lot more bread smeared with butter than I did anything else on my plate.
This recipe came from my aunt Nana back in the late 1960’s, when she was living in Dorval. It was given to her by a next door neighbour who just happened to be from Sussex. What are the chances? Two transplanted New Brunswickers living next door to one another in a suburb of Montreal. Sharing recipes from back home.
Any brown bread recipe is good but this one is great for a couple of reasons:
You don’t need to proof the yeast and there is no kneading involved so it’s quick and easy to mix up. I think it was the first yeast bread I ever made and I’d recommend it as a starter bread for anyone intimidated by thoughts of bread baking.
I love this recipe. You don’t need to proof the yeast and there is no kneading required so it’s quick and easy to mix up.
No knead oatmeal brown bread
- 2 cups boiling water
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2 tbsp. butter
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2 tsp. salt
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1 cup rolled oats
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2 tbsp. dry yeast
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1 cup warm water
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2 tsp. sugar
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2/3 cup molasses
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6 cups flour
- In a large bowl combine butter, salt and rolled oats. Pour over the 2 cups of boiling water. Cool to lukewarm.
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In a small bowl combine the 1 cup warm water and sugar, stir in yeast then add to the cooled oat mixture.
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Add molasses.
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Slowly stir in flour. (You may need to turn the dough out onto the counter to incorporate the final cup or two of flour.)
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Divide dough in half, shape into loaves and place in two greased loaf pans.
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Cover with a clean dishtowel and let rise until doubled in bulk (about 1.5 hours, but really depends on how warm your kitchen is).
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Bake at 350 F for 45 minutes to an hour, until loaves sound hollow when tapped.
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Remove from pans to cool.