Homemade Whole Wheat Oatmeal Sandwich Bread w/ Tomato Jam
Homemade oatmeal wheat sandwich bread is amazing. Make a few loaves to share. You’ll make someone very happy!
Wheat Oatmeal Sandwich Bread Recipe
The maligned sandwich loaf. A second-class citizen in the bread world. Soft, mass-produced, with nothing artistinal or interesting about it. Bearer of boring pb&j’s and bologna sandwiches. Oscar Meyer has a better repute than the soft sandwich loaf breads.
Yet, are they really such an inferior loaves? Or has it become such a commercial mainstay that it becomes hard to admire its qualities. It’s like trying to appreciate Barber of Seville overture after watching Bugs Bunny shave up Elmer.
Easy Wheat Bread Recipe
We say rise up! Rise up noble Wheat Sandwich Bread loaf. Hold your crust high amongst your doughy brethren. Made in the hands of ones who love you, your crumb is one of our favorites. Especially you, the Whole Wheat Sandwich bread Loaf.
Your beautiful singe of crumb balanced by a delicate softness as we toast and grill you. Yet there is still that extra layer of texture and flavor given by the whole wheat which leads us to you over your brother the White Loaf. How glorious of a grilled cheese you make when paired with smoked Gouda, paper-thin sweet onion slices, crisp sweet pickle slices and a touch of balsamic. A wonderful nutty toast your gently charred slices provide. Perfect for a glancing spread of butter and jam.
Bow down before no other loaf. Every loaf has its wonder and quality, and yours is no less than any others. Do not undervalue yourself gentle sandwich loaf, because we love you and will always make you. You hold the heart of a boy who bakes.
For our latest loaf, as the nation tires and continues to braves the winter chill, we thought to open some of our bottled summer sunshine, tomato jam.
Our Homemade Tomato Jam Recipe
We had a great tomato season and were determined to save as much as possible for exactly this time of year. Even though we now live in the comfort of Southern California weather, the memories of growing up months of snowy winters will never be forgotten. The cold and gloom starts to settle into the bones. Snow isn’t “pretty” anymore. It’s annoying. And cold. I remember and feel your frostbit toes.
So here’s a sweet reminder of the warmth of summer. The ice will thaw and warmth will come again.
-Todd
Start with the dry active yeast
mixing flours and oatmeal
allow bread to rise
viola, ready for the oven
Whole Wheat Oatmeal Sandwich Bread
Ingredients
- 1 cup (240ml) Water
- 1 cup (240ml) Milk
- 1 pkg. Active Dry Yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons or 7g)
- 1 Tablespoon (20g) Honey
- 2 Tablespoons (40g) unsulphured Molasses , preferrably not backstrap molasses
- 2 1/2 cups (300g) Whole Wheat Flour
- 2 cups (275g) Bread Flour
- 1 cup (90g) Rolled Oats
- 1/4 cup (1/2 stick or 56g) unsalted Butter , melted and cooled slightly (plus extra if topping loaf with oats or bran)
- 1 Tablepoos (15g) Kosher Salt
- optional:
- bran or additional oats for topping loaf
Instructions
- Lightly butter 9x5x3 bread loaf pan.
- Gently warm milk and water to about 115°F/46°C. Combine water, milk, yeast, honey, and molasses in the bowl of a standing mixer. Stir to dissolve yeast. (If you aren't sure if your yeast is good, wait 5 minutes to see if it blooms-bubbles. If it doesn't throw out and start over.)
- Add flours, oats, melted butter, and salt to the liquid mix. Using the bread hook and stand mixer, mix for 6 minutes on medium speed. The dough should climb the dough hook and slap around the sides of the bowl without sticking. If the dough is sticking, add a tablespoon or two more of flour at a time until the dough comes cleanly away from the sides of the bowl.
- Cover the bowl with a towel and place in a warm area to rise. Leave to rise for about an hour or until doubled in size (to test if it has proofed enough, gently poke the dough- if it springs back, it needs to proof longer - if a dimple remains, it is ready.)
- Shape the loaf. Put the dough on a lightly floured work surface. Flatten out the bubbles while working the loaf into a square shape. Grabbing the top edge, fold the dough down towards the middle. Grab the bottom edge and fold up to the middle, bringing the two edges together. Pinch the seam and sides, sealing them with your fingers. Roll the dough back and forth, plumping it into an even log and about the size of your bread pan. Gently place the dough into your bread pan, seam side down. Press the dough gently into the corners of the bread pan.
- Cover the loaf with a towel and leave it to rise in a warm area for about an hour or until the dough rises to half again its size and is puffing up barely over the edges of the loaf pan.
- While the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 400°F/205°C.
- If loaf topping is desired, gently brush some melted butter over the top of the loaf, being careful not to deflate it. Sprinkle the top of the loaf with bran or oats.
- Bake for about 40 minutes, rotating halfway through. The loaf is done baking when the crust is dark brown and sounds hollow when tapped. Remove the loaf from the pan and allow to full cool on a baking rack.
Nutrition Information per Serving
Here’s moreeasy bread recipes for you.
I made this bread and like it, thank you so much for sharing
Just thought I’d mention, substituting AP flour for WW flour works great. I had already started proving my yeast in the water, milk, and honey mixture when I noticed my WW flour had gone bad. So I used AP instead and it came out yummy!
Can I use backstrap Molasses? Thanks for answer.
Jane
The author of the cookbook where the recipe originally came from mentioned to not use backstrap molasses. I don’t think it will kill the loaf, however she probably had a reason for not wanting to use it. Maybe just flavor preference though.?
this was a lovely recipe, thank you! only thing I would change is the amount of salt. I found it to be a tad bit on the salty side, so I’d add less next time. maybe it’s because I didn’t use molasses? not sure, but otherwise it was delicious!
I wanted to let you know how much I enjoy this bread recipe. I baked some for my friends and they absolutely LOVE it! Thanks for sharing it.
This bread is beautiful. Absolutely gorgeous. It’s soft without falling apart, perfectly chewy, moist, and has just the right salty/sweet/oatmeal-y flavor. And what a crust! No glaze or egg wash needed. I make all our bread, so I bake fairly often, but I have almost never used the same recipe twice. I’ve done potato bread, black bread, rye bread, buttermilk bread, yeasted banana bread, anadama bread, peanut butter bread, and countless variations on white and wheat sandwich bread…nothing compares to this, which will be my regular bread from now on. Ironically, I chose this recipe to use up the rolled oats in the cupboard once and for all, and will now be buying more just so I can keep making this bread! My only concern is the size of the loaf. I doubled the recipe and made 2 loaves, but I think it should have been 3; they’re huge, containing 4.5 cups of flour each, and I won’t be able to finish a sandwich in one sitting. Those tall slices sure do look pretty, though. Anyway, thank you for this wonderful recipe :).
followed your recipe. weighed dry ingredients. water and milk were at temp. result was a HUGE ball of dough. I actuallly split this in to two loaves. second rise is going down now. Will let you know how it all turns out. can’t wait.
Ok. ny anxiety about the size of the first rise causing my to split in to two loaf pans was unfounded. What I do have are two smaller loaves of really awesome bread. Thank you for the recipe. the next time, I will stay the course.
Made this today in my bread machine! So easy – used your ingredients (using whole wheat bread flour for both flours) and my manufacturer’s instructions, and woke up to our new favorite sandwich bread. Much more tender and mild than most 100% whole wheat breads we’ve tried. Thanks!!
Great bread, and it makes a really big loaf. I used 3/4 c. oat bran and 1/4 c. ground flax seed in place of the oatmeal, which resulted in a finer texture. The molasses gives it such a nice touch of color and aroma. I always need to add a bit more flour while the mixer is working the dough, but as was pointed out, it’s easier to add flour than water. I prefer to keep my dough on the sticky side anyway to result in a moister bread.
I would love to find a nice thin bread knife like the one in the photo. My mom had one.
Help! I’ve tried this recipe twice now and I have yet to get my dough to rise! I even went out the next day to buy new yeast to try again.
Any thoughts?
There are usually 4 main reasons a dough won’t rise. 1. The yeast was old. Check the expiration date. 2. The water was too cool to activate the yeast or too hot and it killed the yeast. Should feel like warm bath water. 3. The dough was too stiff. Best way to get the correct amount of flour for the recipe is to weigh it. 4. Rising place is too cool. Ideal temp. is 100 degrees F, but a warm kitchen is fine too. At cooler temps it will still usually rise, but it may take much longer.
Hope that helps. Good luck.
I like to put dough outside to rise in the summer to speed things up. It’s a perfect temperature, whereas the air conditioned house might not be so good.
Typo alert: Change “backstrap” to “blackstrap” in the ingredient list. Other than that, this is a great recipe!
I’m also interested in making this in a Pullman or “pain de mie” pan.
Have you tried this recipe in a covered pullman pan?
Not yet. That’s another baking pan on our “need-to-buy” list.
Pretty neat job!
Made it yesterday….I thought I had my fav before, but now I do for sure! This bread is amazing. Moist, dense loaf with a bit of chew, and toasted with butter and plum jam it makes the perfect start to your day. I subbed a Bob’s Red Mill 10-grain cereal for half of the oatmeal for a little extra texture and it was a good change. Otherwise made it exactly to the recipe.
I love this recipe! I made it once so far and I am about to make another batch. I also added flax seeds and chia seeds to my dough. The milk makes all the different, in my opinion. Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe!