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Oatmeal Bread (Three cups of oat flakes)
Three cups of oat flakes, one-half cup of molasses, one-half cup of sugar, one tablespoon of salt, shortening size of an egg, one quart of boiling water poured on the oatmeal, and let stand until lukewarm, when add one-half yeast cake dissolved in cup of warm water. Stir stiff with, wheat flour, let rise and make into loaves.
— Mrs. Eugene A. Chilson
A straightforward yeasted oat porridge bread, written for a cook who already knew what bread dough should feel like. The recipe omits flour quantity, oven heat and baking time, so all three have to be supplied.
- Wait for lukewarmThis is the hinge. A quart of boiling water on three cups of oats makes a thick porridge that holds heat far longer than you expect; stir it down and check that it is below about 110F before the yeast goes in, or the yeast is killed and the loaves will not rise.
- Half a yeast cakeYeast cakes of the period were not standardised, and the term covered both compressed and dry cakes. Taking a common compressed size of about 0.6 oz, half would be roughly 1 teaspoon of active dry or instant yeast. Dissolve active dry in the cup of warm water as written; instant can be mixed into the flour.
- Oat flakesRolled oats, the same product sold today. Old-fashioned rolled oats give the best texture; steel-cut oats will not soften in this amount of water and quick oats turn to paste.
- Shortening size of an eggAbout 2 oz, or 4 tablespoons. Lard or butter both work; add it to the hot porridge so it melts.
- Stir stiff with wheat flourExpect 6 to 7 cups of bread or all-purpose flour. The dough stays tacky because of the oats and molasses — resist flouring it into stiffness, or the crumb goes dry and heavy.
- SaltA full tablespoon is on the high side but reasonable for this much flour, and it also slows a sweet, slack dough. Fine salt measures heavier than coarse; scale back slightly if using table salt.
- RisingMolasses and sugar plus a modest amount of yeast means a slow first rise, 1½ to 2 hours. \
- Oven and yieldNothing is given: bake at 375F for 35 to 45 minutes, until the loaves sound hollow and register 190-200F inside. A batch built on a full quart of liquid will fill two to three standard 9x5 pans.
Oatmeal bread of this kind belongs to a whole family of American porridge breads — oatmeal, cornmeal, boiled potato, leftover rice — in which a cooked cereal is soaked with boiling water and then raised with yeast. The appeal was practical: the porridge stretches expensive wheat flour, holds moisture so the loaf keeps for days, and takes molasses well.