Cinnamon Oatmeal Bread

I found this recipe in Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads. It looked perfect for a rainy Sunday. And boy was it perfect! Yum!! I couldn't stop at just one slice!

Cinnamon Oatmeal Bread

1½ cup rolled oats

1½ cup boiling water

3 tbsp butter

3 tbsp honey

1 tbsp brown sugar

2 tsp salt

½ cup raisins

2¼ tsp yeast

2 eggs, room temperature

4-5 cup bread flour

3 tbsp butter, melted

1 cup granulated sugar

2 tbsp ground cinnamon

1.      In a large bowl mix together the rolled oats and boiling water. Stir to blend, and add the butter or margarine, honey, brown sugar, salt, and raisins. Let the mixture cool to no more than 130°.

2.      Add the yeast. Add the eggs and 2 cups flour. With a wooden spoon, stir vigorously for 2-3 minutes.

3.      Work in additional flour, ½ cup at a time, with the spoon first and then with your hands-or dough hook, if you are using a mixer. The dough will become a soft mass that can be picked up and placed on the work surface, or left under the hook.

4.      Knead with a strong push-turn-fold rhythm, adding flour if the dough is slack or wet and sticky. Knead for 8 minutes, or until the dough is soft and elastic. If under the dough hook in the mixer, add sprinkles of flour if the dough should cling to the sides of the bowl.

5.      Place the dough in a buttered bowl, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and put the dough aside to rise at room temperature until double in bulk, about 1 hour.

6.      Turn the dough out of the bowl and divide into 2 pieces. With the hands and a rolling pin, shape each piece into a rectangle about 8" wide and 12" long. Butter the dough and sprinkle on the sugar and cinnamon.

7.      Roll up the dough as for a jelly roll, and press the seams securely together. Drop each into a  medium (8"-x-4") greased loaf pans pan, seam down, and push into the corners and ends with your fingers.

8.      Cover the pans with wax paper and put aside to rise until the center of the dough is slightly above the edge, about 45 minutes.

9.      Preheat the oven to 375° 20 minutes before baking.

10.  Bake on the middle rack of the oven until the crusts are nicely browned, about 40 minutes. The bottom crust may be sticky with the melted sugar (which will harden as the loaf cools), but tap the crust to make certain it sounds hard and hollow.

11.  When the loaves come from the oven, brush with more melted butter and turn out onto a metal rack to cool before serving.