(Experiment 140)Oatmeal roll

When traveling to the US, I always notice that oatmeal rolls show up quite commonly at dinner, especially around the fall and winter months. Their exact origin isn’t super clear when you dig into it, but the timing lines up with the rise of Quaker Oats in the late 1800s. In 1891, the company actually printed an oatmeal bread recipe right on the back of its cereal box, one of the first instances of a food brand doing that, which likely helped popularize oat-based bread across American home kitchens.

In any case, these rolls are very easy to make and get eaten really fast, soft, slightly hearty, and just different enough from a regular dinner roll to keep people reaching for seconds.

Print Recipe

(Experiment 140)Oatmeal roll

Ingredients

• ~750g all-purpose unbleached flour
• 105 g quick oat flakes
• 43 g butter
• 8 g active dry yeast
• 65 g brown sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 45 g warm water 110F
• 2 cup of water

Instructions

• In a pot, bring the 2 cups of water to a boil then add the butter and quick oat. Stir and cook for a minute then remove from heat and let it cool.
• In a stand mixer bowl, bloom the yeast with the warm water for 5 minutes. Add ~3 cups of flour, brown sugar, salt and oats. Knead for a minute or two so everything combines and add another cup of flour. Knead another 2 minutes and touch the dough, what you are looking for is a slightly sticky texture that is smooth. Add additional flour until you get that texture.
  
• Lightly oil a bowl and put the dough in it, cover and let it rise until doubled ( ~1hour).
• Punch the dough down ( yes do that exactly, this releases the gas in the dough) and let it relax for 15 minutes. It’s now time to shape the bread, you can make 16-24 pieces of bread depending on what size you desire. Grease a baking tray with olive oil and put the dough pieces on it.
  
• If you want individual bread, allow some space between the dough. If you want a big bread with “tear apart” pieces, place them closer to each other. Let the dough rise for 40 minutes.
  
• Bake at 350F for about 20-25 minutes or until the top gets coloured. Take them out of the oven and place them on a cooling rack for ~30 minutes as the steam inside still cooks them.