Oatmeal Bread with Cinnamon, Raisins and Cardamom for WBD

Today is 16^th of October, it’s World Bread Day. As you all know Zorra came up with the great idea to organize World Bread Day, it’s already the 7^th edition.

Long before it’s WBD I’m looking for something special; a theme or country or ingredient. This time I went for an ingredient I hadn't used much.

I had rolled oats in my pantry and it’s time to let it out. When I was a child my father used to make oatmeal porridge and I didn’t like to eat it because it was to dry and it looked like concrete. Nowadays I use oats in oatmeal cookies, which are delicious. And now it’s time to put it in bread. I couldn’t resist and baked from Jeffrey Hamelman’s book Bread.

Now I realize my father wanted to give us a healthy start of the day. I just read you can take an oat bath for your skin ore eat porridge since it seems to contain more vitamin B and calories than other porridges. I like to eat healthy, but it also must be tasty. Some people are concerned about the amount of food in the world and the growing amount of people needing it. They outlined a scenario in which the planet was optimally used for food. They said we don’t need as much variety in vegetables and herbs as we do today. They classified earth to obtain high amount and nutritive value.
In a way they are right, but I think there are more elements than the amount of people to feed. The first thing that comes to my mind is the amount of food that’s discarded every day. To have more on your table to feed your guest (or eat yourself) than needed, is often culturally determined. Things like hospitality and munificence are manmade ideas and can change. Maybe the new world food cultural can be: enough = enough.
When I bake a delicious smelling and tasting bread we can eat the whole loaf at breakfast or lunch. But, we don’t need to. A wise friend said: ‘ask yourself if you need it or want it’. And, to be honest most of the time, we want it instead of need it.

I’m just sharing you my thoughts about the food problem, that shouldn’t be a problem.

Let’s go back to the bread for World Bread Day. As I said before, I choose Oatmeal bread with Cinnamon and Raisins. But I couldn’t resist adding also some Cardamom.

It’s festive, delicious and nutritious bread. 

Specifics
Name                               Oatmeal Bread with Cinnamon, Raisins and Cardamom
Adapted from                   Jeffrey Hamelman’s Bread
Yields                               1 medium loaf
Dough temp.                     24°C
Mixing                               6.5  minutes
Fermentation                     2 hours
Stretch/Fold                      one after 1 hour
Shape                               batard
Proof at roomtemp.           1.5  hours
Prepare steam/bake           1 hour
Soaking raisins                   30 minutes
Bake 230°C                       40 minutes

This is what I used:
Bakers formula                  %        grams
Flour                                100     301

Water                               62.5    188    
Salt                                  2.2      6.3    

Dough
Unbleached All Purpose flour        226 (Hamelman uses High Gluten Flour)
Whole wheat flour                       75
Oats, rolled                                 50

Water                                        188
Milk                                            33
Oil, vegetable                             22
Honey                                         22               
Salt                                             6.3
Yeast                                          3.3
Raisins, soaked and drained         100

This is what I did:

Soaking: pour warm water over the raisins and soak them for 30 minutes.

Dough: I placed the oats in the mixing bowl and added the water and left it for 20 minutes. Then I added all the ingredients, except the raisins. I mixed the dough for 3 minutes on speed 1 and 3,5 minutes on speed 2 until the dough had medium gluten development. Then I added the drained raisins and mixed on speed 1 until they were incorporated.

Bulk fermentation: transfer the dough to a slightly oiled container, cover and leave for 2 hours. Stretch and fold the dough one time after 60 minutes.

Shaping: I loosely pre shaped the dough into a ball. Covered with a towel and left for 15 minutes to rest. I placed it in a floured banneton, covered with a moist towel and a plastic bag.

Proofing: I proofed the loaf for 1 hour. Because of the warm/hot temperature in our house I watch them to prevent over proofing.

Pre heating: I pre heated the oven to 230°C and placed the steam pan with stones on the bottom of the oven.

Preparing and Baking: When the oven is hot enough I boil water and pour it in a glass bottle with a long neck. I pour some boiling water on the hot stones and quickly close the oven door to keep the steam in the oven.
I place the loaves on parchment on a peel. Transfer them to the oven and quickly slide the loaves on the baking stone. After some minutes I add some more water to get more steam.

I baked the loaf 10 minutes with steam and quickly removed the parchment paper and the steam pan. I baked the loaf for another 30 minutes. Bake until it is nicely brown colored.

Cooling: Let the loaf cool completely on a wire rack.

I send this to Zorra’s World Bread Day

What did you bake this month? Don’t forget to share it.