Oat Wheat Bread (Sharing Bread)

Doug asked for a 'square' bread for sandwiches. Maybe he really meant something fluffier. I made up my version of King Arthur's Sharing Bread - I cooked two loaves in 1/4 sheet cake size foil roasting pan. (This recipe makes 2 loaves!)

Ingredients:

• BREAD STARTER
• 8 ounces sourdough starter
• 4 ounces (White) Whole Wheat Flour
• 4 ounces water
• 1/4 teaspoon sugar
• 8 ounces lukewarm water
  
  DOUGH BASE
• all of the starter
• 1.5 tablespoons vital wheat gluten
• 4 ounces rolled oats + grains (I used Bob’s Red Mill 5 Grain Rolled Hot Cereal- about a cup of volume)
• (Optional - additional 1/4 cup unsalted sunflower seeds)
• 4 ounces Whole Wheat Flour
• 17 ounces Bread Flour
• 6 tablespoons white or brown sugar (or 1/2 and 1/2)
• 4 teaspoons yeast
• 1/4 cup flax meal
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil (or 4 Tablespoons butter)
• 2 ounces lukewarm water
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt OR 2 teaspoons table salt

Instructions:

1. Make up the bread starter by mixing 8 ounces sourdough starter (that you would remove when feeding your starter) with 12 ounces of water. (Place this in a stand mixer bowl.)
2. After the water is mixed in, add in the sugar and 4 ounces of whole wheat flour. 
3. Let rest at room temperature for an hour or so or more depending on when you want to bake.
4. After resting, stir the starter and stir in the yeast, rolled oats mix, sugar, flax meal, oil, 2 ounces of water, and 1 1/2 cups of the bread flour.
5. Stir salt in with remaining ~ 3 cups of flour, and mix into rest of dough.
6. Knead to make a smooth, supple dough. It should be lightly sticky, and not too stuff. (Add 1 or 2 tablespoons water if needed.)
7. Let the dough rise in in a lightly greased bowl until doubled in bulk, 1 to 1.5 hours. (Re-use mixer bowl if possible.)
8. After the dough has doubled, gently divide in half.
9. Shape each half into a 12” log. (Pat into a rectangle, roll up shorter end, pinching every rotation, and stretching out remaining dough.
10. Lightly grease two 12” x 4” loaf pans. Place one log in each pan.  (Or use a similar size foil roasting pan.)
    (Option - Make two loaves in each pan, by divide dough into quarters, and shaping each of the four pieces into a smaller log. Place two logs in each pan.)
11. Cover the pans with lightly greased plastic wrap. Let the dough rise till it rises about 1" over the rim of the pan. (This probably will take about 60 minutes.)
12. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat oven to 350°F.
13. Remove plastic wrap and bake the bread for 20 minutes. 
14. If you want a softer crust, tent the bread lightly with foil after 20 minutes.
15. Continue to bake for an additional 20 to 25 minutes, or until the center of the loaf registers 190°F on an instant-read thermometer.
16. Remove the bread from the oven, and place it on a rack to cool. After about 5 minutes, remove the loaves from the pans to cool completely on the rack. 
17. If you've made two loaves in a single pan, wait till they're completely cool to gently separate, cutting with a knife if necessary.
    Yield: 2 large loaves, or 4 smaller loaves.

Carole's Notes:

We liked this bread! I've been baking bread for lunch sandwiches, and have made this twice. We store one loaf tightly wrapped in plastic in the freezer, and eat the other one.

Lightly adapted from  http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/sharing-bread-recipe