Baby Oatmeal Bread
Easy, soft, and nutritious bread that's friendly enough for babies and toddlers! With natural sugars, whole grains, and reduced salt, it's THE ideal bread for littles! Serve plain, as french toast, or with toppings such as cottage cheese, nut butters, or mashed avocados!
Prep Time: 30 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes minutes
Rise Time 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes
Total Time: 2 hours hours 25 minutes minutes
Author: Lori Vaughn
- 2 ¼ cups warm water
- 1 ½ tbsp instant yeast (*can use active dry yeast as well, just be sure to proof in the water before proceeding)
- ¼ cup date syrup (*optional - see notes)
- 1 ¼ cup old fashioned rolled oats
- ¼ cup coconut oil, melted (or grape seed oil or butter)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 cups (195 grams) whole wheat flour (can sub for additional all purpose flour, just plan to add a little bit more)
- 3 1/2 cups (437 grams) all purpose flour (weigh or spoon and level. Don't pack flour)
Egg Wash (optional)
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp water
- + oats to top (optional)
Making Dough
In an electric mixer with a dough hook (or mix by hand in a large bowl), mix together the water, yeast, date syrup, and oats. Let that sit for a couple minutes to soften the oats while you gather remaining ingredients.
Add the whole wheat flour (weigh or scoop and level; never pack flour), melted coconut oil, and salt. Mix together until combined.
Add remaining all purpose flour slowly while mixing. Depending on your elevation and humidity, you may need to add more or less flour. The dough will be ready when the the dough begins to clean the sides of the mixing bowl while mixing, comes together (not super wet), and is soft and elastic. Dough should not be wet (too little flour) or tough (too much flour).
Knead for 8-10 minutes. If you are kneading by hand: when the dough mixture becomes more difficult to stir and work with in the bowl (usually with about 1 cup left) I like to work in the rest of the flour by hand. Place the dough on a clean, floured work surface. Sprinkle a little flour on top of the dough and begin to knead. The quicker you work your hands, the less likely they are to stick. I like to knead by pulling in the corners of the dough with my fingers and then pressing down with heel of my hand, quickly and gently over and over again. While doing so, I continue to slowly add additional spoonfuls of flour. This will take about 10 minutes depending on how fast you knead. You know the dough is ready when it’s not too sticky, and very soft. After kneading, round out the dough into a ball; doesn’t have to be perfect. Grease or flour the bottom of a bowl, place dough in bowl, and cover. Let rise about 1 hour, or until doubled in size.
Forming loaves
Grease two 9x5 inch pans. Punch down the risen dough to release air bubbles. Divide the dough in half. Gently work your dough into a thick rectangle (about 12x8) and fold into thirds. Roll it up, pinch the seams together, and gently throw your loaf on the work surface to release any last air bubbles. (There are many ways to form a loaf. Do what's comfortable and what works for you.)
Place loaves in prepared pans, cover, and let rise again for about 30 minutes, or until the peak of the loaf is just arching over the rim of the pan. The dough should be soft and more airy. When you poke the dough, the mark should just barely slowly come back. If it bounces back immediately, it needs more proofing time. While dough rises, preheat oven to 350°F. (I like 375°F for high altitude)
STORAGE:
Bread can be stored in an airtight bread bag at room temperature for about 5 days and can be frozen for up to 6 months.
DATE SYRUP:
Date syrup is a fantastic natural sugar that has 30% less sugar than honey. You can substitute date syrup for honey (for children over the age of 1 year) or you can omit it all together. Without the sweetener the bread has less flavor, so I keep it a bread my whole family is willing to eat. However, your baby is not going to care, so if this is made just for them, feel free to remove it entirely. If you do remove it, you will need slightly less flour. Plan to add about 1/4-1/2 cup less all purpose flour
TIPS:
- To help dough rise quickly, place in a warm, draft free place. This is often my warm laundry room or closed oven door with the oven light on.
- The amount of flour you use and the baking temperature will vary due to the amount of humidity, temperature and brand of flour, and many other factors.
- Ensure your water isn’t too hot when combining with the yeast in the first step. If your bread is struggling to rise, it could be because the water was too hot and killed the yeast. You know your yeast is activated when it gets foamy within a couple minutes in the first step.