Whole Wheat Oat Porridge Sourdough Bread Recipes

Steps:

• Porridge
• Melt the butter in a small sauce pan, add the flaked oats and wheat (or just flaked oats), and stir to combine.
• Add the milk and cook on low heat for a few minutes.
• Turn off the heat and leave the porridge covered to cool and absorb any remaining milk.
• Autolyse
• Mix together the flour and water until they are thoroughly combined. Cover and let sit for about an hour.
• Mixing, Gluten Development, and Bulk Fermentation
• Add the sourdough starter and salt to the dough by gently folding and kneading it in. Cover and let the dough rest for 30 minutes.
• Laminate the dough to add the cooled porridge to it. The photo gallery below and a video in this article show how to laminate dough.
• Do two rounds of gluten development with 30-minute rests in between. I recommend stretching and folding for both rounds to spread the porridge more evenly through the dough. Add more rounds if your oat porridge seems very clumpy after the second round.
• Let the dough continue to rise for a few hours until it has increased in size by 60-70%. My dough fermented for a total of 5.5 hours in warm temps (low 80s) on a Raisenne dough heating pad. Depending on your starter strength and dough temperature, the first rise may be shorter or longer.
• Shaping and Topping
• Scrape your dough out of the bowl onto a lightly floured work surface.
• Gently stretch the dough outward a bit and then shape it into a batard, boule, or oblong loaf depending on your proofing basket shape.
• Evenly spread the 1/2 cup optional flaked oats on your work surface in the shape of the dough (round, oval, oblong). Brush or spray water on the top of your dough and flip it onto the oats to coat the dough surface. Then place the dough oat-side down in your proofing basket. Scoop up some of the extra oats and "drizzle" them down the edges of the dough to further coat it and prevent sticking.
• Final Proof
• Numerous proofing strategies are valid for this dough (and all doughs). I proofed at room temperature for 30 minutes, and then in the refrigerator for 12 hours. This increases the sourness of the bread a bit compared with shorter, all-room temperature proofing. I baked the dough straight from the refrigerator without warming it up first. If you want to proof the dough entirely at room temperature; 1-2 hours should be sufficient for the dough to rise 1-2 cm up the sides of the basket. (See the photo gallery below for target dough expansion.)
• Baking
• Preheat your oven and baking vessel to 500F for at least 30 minutes.
• Flip the dough out of the proofing basket and onto a sheet of parchment paper or onto the base of your hot baking vessel.
• Score the dough. This is easiest to do with scissors rather than trying to saw through the oats with a lame blade, then cover and return the vessel to the oven.
• If your baking vessel is made of ceramic/clay, bake at:
• 500°F for 20 minutes, lid on
• 450°F for 5 minutes, lid on
• 450°F for 10 minutes, lid off
• If your baking vessel is cast iron, bake at:
• 500°F for 15 minutes, lid on. At the 15-minute mark, place a baking sheet directly under the cast iron on the same shelf. This will prevent the base of the bread from burning.
• 450°F for 10 minutes, lid on
• 450°F for 10 minutes, lid off
• When baking is complete, the bread should have an internal temperature of at least 205F and it should sound hollow when you knock on the bottom of the loaf.

Steps:

• Warm the milk in a small saucepan to no more than 100 degrees F (40 degrees C). Sprinkle the yeast overtop and let stand until the yeast softens and begins to form a creamy foam, about 5 minutes; stir in the sugar.
• Whisk the whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, oatmeal, and salt together in a mixing bowl. Make a well in the center and pour the milk mixture into the well. Stir until the dough has pulled together. Turn the dough out onto a lightly-floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes.
• Lightly oil a large bowl. Place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a light cloth and let rise in a warm place (80 to 95 degrees F (27 to 35 degrees C)) until doubled in volume, about 45 minutes.
• Grease 2 8x4-inch loaf pans. Deflate the dough and turn it out onto a lightly-floured surface. Use a knife to divide the dough into two equal pieces - don't tear it. Shape into dough rounds and let rest for 10 minutes. Form the dough into loaves and place into the prepared pans. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise until doubled in volume, about 40 minutes.
• Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Bake in the preheated oven until the top is golden brown and the bottom of the loaf sounds hollow when tapped, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool in the pans for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.