733. Gingerbread and Oatmeal Bread#Breadbakers

Gingerbread and Oatmeal Bread#BreadBakers

Theme: Whole Grained Holiday Breads

   Whether people would like to admit it or not, December brings about an air of festivities for all. The celebrations begin with ThanksGiving and will end with New Year celebrations. Shops are decorated, Christmas sales are on, friends and relatives share decorated streets, trees, homes photos. One cannot help but get drawn to this seasonal celebration. I consider myself very lucky that I get to enjoy Diwali, Eid and Christmas. As a Hindu living in a predominantly Christian Country and a strong Muslim part of Kenya, I get drawn into celebrating all three festivals.

   When Kalyani of Sizzling Tastebuds suggested Whole Grained Holiday Breads, I tried looking for recipes where I could use whole grains. There are many recipes out there using spelt and rye flour. I don't get either in Kenya or India. Kalyani suggested that we try and use whole grain as much as possible. I was nearly going to sit this one out as I know 100% wheat festive bread can turn out pretty dense. You know how sometimes light bulb moments happen, well I was rolling out rotis for dinner and suddenly it dawned on me that the flour I'm using is a multigrain flour. Why not use that for the bread, I thought? Well, tweaking an oatmeal bread recipe to fit into a holiday bread, I got this delicious, not so sweet bread and the family enjoyed it for breakfast. You'll laugh at the combination the family requested with the sweet bread, not honey, jam or marmalade but fried eggs with masala (spicy) tea! Oh well!

   Keeping in mind the need to include multi grains in ones diet, many flour companies in India now sell multi grain wheat flour or atta as its commonly called. All Indian households use atta on a daily basis to make flatbreads like parathas, rotis, puris etc. The flour that I used has wheat, finger millet, soya, chickpea,oats,barley and maize. By adding dried cranberries and topping it with orange glace icing, this was definitely a delicious holiday bread. I also added gingerbread spice. Christmas season and no gingerbread spice? That is not possible. The whole house smelt so aromatic while the bread was baking.

GINGERBREAD AND OATMEAL BREAD
Makes 1 loaf

2½ cups multi grain flour (multi grain atta)
¾ cup oats
2¼ tsp dried active yeast
1½ cups warm milk
1 egg
4 tbsp melted butter
½ tsp salt
¼ cup honey (or molasses)
½ cup dried cranberries

For the Gingerbread Spice Mixture:
1½ tsp ginger powder
1 tsp cinnamon powder
½ tsp nutmeg powder
¼ tsp clove powder
¼ tsp black pepper powder
1 tsp orange zest

For Orange Glace Icing:
½ cup powdered or icing sugar
2-3 tbsp fresh orange juice
¼ tsp orange zest

extra flour for dusting
extra butter for greasing

1. Take a ¼ cup of the warm milk. Add a tsp of honey and mix well. Add the yeast. Cover and let the yeast ferment for 10 minutes or until the mixture is frothy.
2. Add oats to the remaining warm milk and let it soak for 10-15 minutes.
3. Mix flour, all of the gingerbread spice and salt in a bowl.
4. Beat the egg and add it to the oat mixture. 
5. Add honey, melted butter and the yeast mixture to the oat mixture. Mix well.
6. Add the oat mixture to the flour and form a dough.
7. Dust the worktop with little flour and knead the dough for 15 minutes by hand (or 10 minutes if you're using the machine) till it is smooth. 
8. Form the dough into a round shape. Rub some butter over it.
9. Grease a bowl with some butter. Put the dough into the bowl. 
10. Cover and let it rise till its double in size. Mine took 2 hours because of the slightly cold weather.
11. Dust the worktop with little flour. Remove the dough from the bowl and deflate it.
12. Add the cranberries and knead it gently.
13. At this stage you can either use a loaf tin or make a round shape. I decided to make it round.
14. Grease a baking tray with some butter. Place the shaped dough on it. 
15. Let the dough rise again for 45 - 60 mins.
16. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
17. Brush the top of the risen dough with some milk.
18. Bake the bread for 35-40 minutes or till the top is golden brown. 
19. Tap the bread at the bottom and it should hollow if done.
20. Let the bread cool down completely. 
21. To prepare the icing, mix the sugar and orange juice till you get a thick creamy mixture. It should coat the back of the spoon.
22. Drizzle the icing over the cake.
23. Slice and serve. 

Tips:

• The amount of water required may vary from flour to flour. 
• I used honey instead of molasses.
• As no plain or all purpose flour was used, the bread will be a little dense.

Check out more exciting Whole Grained Holiday Breads made by Fellow Bakers:

• 100% Whole Wheat Bread from Cook's Hideout
• Eggless Whole Wheat Chocolate Cinnamon Rolls from Spill the Spices
• Gingerbread and Oatmeal Bread from Mayuri's Jikoni
• Kamut Cloverleaf Rolls from Cindy's Recipes and Writings
• Key-Shaped Challah with Finger Millet from Sara's Tasty Buds
• Khameeri Puri from Sneha's Recipe
• Oats Whole Wheat Bread from The Mad Scientist's Kitchen
• Santa Lucia Buns from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Slovak Pasca from Ambrosia
• Spelt Banana Bread from Food Lust People Love
• Swedish Limpa from Palatable Pastime
• Whole Wheat Grissini from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Whole Wheat Stollen from All That's Left Are The Crumbs
• Wholewheat Garlic Flavoured Monkey Bread from Sizzling Tastebuds

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