A Very Handy Recipe

Maybe this isn't true for every household, but in ours, it's surprisingly annoying to be without bread. Thanks to my foul flour situation, we have been without bread for five days now, and it has made me realize how reliant I am on it for quick meal additions. Toast is a lot faster than fried potatoes in the morning.

I still had two cups of flour from the bit Ms. Amelia gave me to make Jack's birthday pancakes on Sunday, though. And while two cups wouldn't get me very far with sourdough bread--each loaf takes at least four cups--it is enough to make this quick bread. 

I found this recipe a long time ago when I was searching for a way to use up the large quantity of quick oats and white whole wheat flour that we kept getting from excess commodities. I really like it because it's not as sweet and cakey as most quick breads--banana bread, I'm looking at you--but it has enough honey and dairy in it to make it a stand-alone bread. It's delicious with butter and jam, but it can also be eaten by itself.

I've changed some things in the recipe (of course), including doubling it for two loaves and nixing the unnecessary oats on the top and bottom, so this is what I do.

Full-Fat Honey Oat Quick Bread

Ingredients

2 cups quick oats

2 and 2/3 cups white whole wheat flour

2 cups all purpose flour

4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2.5 teaspoons salt

2 cups full-fat plain yogurt

2 eggs

1/2 cup coconut oil or butter

1/2 cup honey

1.5 cups whole milk

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees and grease two large loaf pans. (Use your butter wrappers!)

2. Melt the butter or coconut oil. I do this in a big Pyrex measuring cup in the microwave. Mix in the honey. Add the yogurt and eggs and combine thoroughly.

3. In a big bowl, mix all the dry ingredients.

4. Dump the wet mixture in the big bowl with the dry mixture and combine thoroughly.

5. Add the milk and stir until just combined.

6. Scoop half the batter into each greased loaf pan and smooth out the tops.

7. Bake about 50 minutes, until it's brown on top and a butter knife comes out clean when you poke it in there.

8. Slide the butter knife around the edges to loosen the loaves, then let cool most of the way before removing.

Notes

1. I usually freeze one of these, which is why I make two. So handy to be able to pull one out later without baking again.

2. I've never made these as muffins because I loathe cleaning my muffin tin, but I suspect this batter would be very good for muffins.

3. Because of all the dairy in it, I store this in the refrigerator. You can toast to heat slices, or use a microwave.

4. My children love this with butter and peach jam. It is, indeed, astoundingly delicious warmed in the microwave to melt the butter and then slathered with jam. Almost like cake. But way healthier.

I didn't take a photo of this when I made it yesterday, but here's one of Jack and Poppy enjoying a woodstove picnic, which later included a slice of this very bread.

Jack had a sore throat (the dreaded mucous season has definitely arrived), so I made them a fruit shake* and they drank it by the fire. Because the only way to drink something that cold in December is to be three inches from a heat source.

* For some reason, I dislike the word "smoothie." So I call them fruit shakes, which will probably ensure lifelong confusion for my children.