Nova Scotia Brown Bread

I found a new blog:  http://www.docaitta.com/ and not only is it wonderful, it is located in one of my favorite places...Nova Scotia!  I have been making all sorts of recipes I have found there.  Though this loaf of bread is a bit sad looking, it is delicious and one of the best breads I have made.  If you visit his blog, you will see how beautiful this loaf can look.  Believe it or not, I am still adjusting to my new ovens.  One of the things I have not quite wrapped my head around is that the oven controls on the new ones are exactly the opposite of my old ones.  So, I keep inadvertently turning the oven that I need off when I am using both ovens.  That is what caused the sad loaf of bread as seen above.  I thought I was turning the proofing oven off but I turned the bread baking oven off instead. This bread sat in a semi warm oven for 30 minutes before I realized my mistake.  Yet, it still turned out to be a fabulous loaf of bread though a bit wobbly looking.  Just imagine how good it would be if I hadn't made this mistake?  Next time I will do better.

 Start the loaf by proofing 3 tsp. of rapid rise yeast in 1-1/2 C. of warm water, 2 T. melted butter and 2 T. of brown sugar.

Once the yeast foams, mix it in the bowl of your mixer with 1/2 C. of molasses and 2 tsp. of salt.  Add 1 C. of quick cooking oats and 4-5 C. of flour. Add only enough flour to form a ball of slightly sticky dough.

 Place the dough in a buttered bowl.

 Turn to coat it.  Cover it and place it in a warm spot to rise for about 2 hours.

 After rising, turn the dough out on to your counter. Cut about 1/4 of the dough off.

 Roll the remainder and place it in a greased loaf pan.

 Braid the 1/4 piece and place it on top of the loaf.

 It was already wobbly because I made the braid too big.  Cover and let this rise for about 1 hour.  Bake it at 350 degrees for approximately 50-60 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 190 degrees.

 Cool on a rack and brush with butter while still warm.

Make sure you roll the dough tightly into a cylinder before putting it in the loaf pan to avoid air pockets like you see here.  What can I say, I was excited to make this and I made mistakes!  This is just fabulous bread!  I am going to hang a loaf out of my window and see if it attracts Sydney Crosby!