Maple Oatmeal Bread Recipe

How to make it

---

• Dissolve the yeast in warm milk with 1 T of the maple sugar.
• Once yeast is foamy, set the bread machine to the "dough only" setting and add this mixture and all remaining ingredients. The machine will combine the ingredients, knead the dough and give it its first rise, then beep to indicate that the dough is ready to shape.
• Remove the dough (it will be shaggy) from the machine and transfer it to a flour-dusted surface. Pat the dough into a rectangle, about 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick, in which the narrow sides of the rectangle are parallel to the edge of your counter.
• Starting with the "top" of the rectangle, the edge that's furthest from you, fold one-third of the dough over. Now, fold the bottom third of the dough up over the other folded piece, as if you were folding a letter. Turn the piece of dough 90 degrees, then repeat the folds, folding the top third of the dough down over the middle. Fold the bottom third of the dough over the center. You should now have a thick, square-ish piece of dough.
• Turn the dough over so that the seam is on the bottom, and tuck the layered sides underneath so the entire exposed surface of dough is smooth. Place the dough in a pan that's been sprayed with oil cooking spray or coated with oil, and use your hands to flatten the dough a little towards the edges of the pan. The dough does not need to fill the entire bottom of the pan, because it will expand to fill the pan as it rises.
• Cover pan of dough with a dishtowel and allow to rise in a warm space. Dough should rise for an hour to an hour and a half or until it is doubled in size. A good indication that it has risen enough is if the dough has risen a little past the top of the pan, cresting about an inch or two over the edge of the pan.
• Brush the loaf with egg wash and sprinkle generously with rolled oats.
• Bake at 350 for 40 minutes. If the bread appears to be browning too quickly, tent it with aluminum foil for the final 10 minutes of baking. Bread will be done when its crust is firm and browned, and the underside of the loaf is also firm and makes a hollow sound when tapped.
• Remove the bread from the pan immediately and cool on a rack.