I love trying out new twists when baking bread, trying to find a good combination of ingredients and also the right proving. Sometimes it fails completely and all I get is a brick that smells good, other times it is a great success! And the fun is in the testing and tasting afterwards.

My recent recipe on an oats bread turned out very good, but was tempted to try a small alteration to that one too. This time around I made one using apple juice instead of soy milk, adding some great freshness and lightness to the loaf.

In a small bowl, soak the rolled oats in the apple juice.

In your stand mixer, add all the dry ingredients and mix on a low speed. Add the butter, soaked oats and 2/3 of the water and start the mixer. Increase the speed a little to end up at medium speed once all the ingredients are incorporated well. Add more water if the dough is too dry, but avoid it becoming soggy. It should be firm, but a little sticky. Let the machine knead the dough for 10 minutes at medium speed. Once it it well kneaded, rub some oil on the surface and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Set aside to prove in a warm area until at least double in size.

Tip:

If you have an oven with a proving program, used that or turn it on at 30 degrees and let the dough prove in there for approximately 1 hour. This will aid the prove and make the dough nice and stringy. But pay attention as you don’t want it to go too far and loose all it’s structure.

Once the dough is well risen, turn it onto a lightly floured working surface, knock back then air and knead the dough into the desired shape. This loaf was free shaped, so I made it into the desired shape and transferred it to a baking tray for the second proving. If you have a razor blade, you can cut grooves into the loaf as well.