i'd rather be baking

The bakery where I work is primarily a cupcake shop, but we do serve lunch as well. We buy our sandwich bread from another local baker, and it’s by far the best part of our sandwiches. Every time our delivery guy comes in with fresh bread, I can’t help but snack on an end piece.

The much-lauded bread is a great whole-grain blend that includes oatmeal and is wonderfully soft and moist thanks to the use of applesauce in the dough. Customers are sometimes uncertain about ordering a sandwich on oatmeal applesauce bread, but never cease to compliment the result. It’s a good one.

I wanted to try and recreate this lovely bread at home, and found a pretty good first attempt. It’s not exactly like the original, but still makes a really great sandwich. It’s dense enough to be filling with a nice, moist crumb and a subtle sweetness. It’s a serious win with peanut butter and some of this jam.

Oatmeal Applesauce Bread
Adapted from King Arthur Flour

3/4 cup lukewarm water plus 2 tablespoons, divided
2 cups old fashioned oats, divided, plus 2 tablespoons more for sprinkling
2 packets “highly active” dry yeast; or 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon brown sugar
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter or margarine
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

Combine the 3/4 cup water and 1 1/2 cup oats in the bowl of a stand mixer (if using) and let rest for 20 minutes. The oats will absorb the water and soften a bit.

Dissolve yeast in 2 tablespoons warm water with a pinch of sugar. It should start to bubble while the oats rest.

Add the remaining ingredients to the oats (including the yeast mixture and remaining 1/2 cup oats) and mix or knead until the dough feels springy (about 5 minutes by stand mixer) – it should be quite stiff.

Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl and cover. Let rise about 2 hours or until doubled.

Gently punch down the dough and shape into an 8″ loaf. Place the dough in a lightly greased 8 1/2″ x 4 1/2″ loaf pan. Cover loosely with lightly greased plastic wrap.

Allow the dough to rise again at room temperature for about 2 hours, until the dough has crowned about 1 1/2″ over the rim of the pan (if your pan is 9″ x 5″ like mine, you won’t quite get there). Towards the end of the rising time, preheat oven to 350°F.

Brush the top of the loaf with milk, and sprinkle with oats. Bake the bread for 20 minutes. Tent the pan loosely with foil (or parchment paper, in a pinch), and bake for an additional 25-30 minutes. When the bread is done, it’ll be golden brown and an instant-read thermometer inserted in the center will register 190°F.

Let the bread cool in the pan for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack. Cool completely before slicing and store well-wrapped at room temperature.

High-Altitude Notes: Make sure to focus on dough volume for each rise rather than the actual time. The first rise should only take about an hour and a half, and the second rise may take even less. Bake at 375°F.