As a child, I would have hated this bread. Back in those days I thought perfect white, fluffy Wonder Bread (which my family never bought) was the absolute best. Instead, my family usually had some sort of wheat bread. I wasn’t crazy about it – it tasted too healthy! And the loaves of wheat bread that have little pieces of nut or seeds mixed in? Forget it. I’d spend an hour picking out every single nut or seed so my bread looked like Swiss cheese.
But now, I love wheat breads, and I love trying new variations. I have another recipe that is still my favorite, but this version was wonderful and different from the usual. The addition of the oatmeal gave it a really great flavor, and it had a gorgeous tender texture, perfect for sandwiches. Not to mention, this loaf is a monster! Seriously, I have never seen bread rise quite this high. Now that’s partly my fault because I took a mini nap while it was rising, and it went a bit over the recommended time. But I really started out with a lot of dough to begin with before the rise. Ben was, of course, thrilled by the giant loaf of bread. Next time I think I may try increasing the amount of dough by just 50% and then baking it into two loaves. It’s always nice to end up with two loaves and then you can have one frozen for later. And good news – even Andrew likes this bread. Maybe he won’t be quite as picky a child as I :)