After the past few weeks, I’m not sure I want to move ever again. Throughout the last year as our new house has been under construction, we’ve been steadily reducing anything superfluous around the house. My wife and I don’t have much “fluff” to start with (we try only to buy what we need), and yet, this move (just across town mind you) has been a sprint from start to finish. We had only a few weeks to fix all the small issues found by the inspector, prepare all the paperwork required, pack up our belongings, and finally do the last cleaning. Toss on a graduation trip one of the weekends plus visiting family, and that leaves only a smidgen of time to get all this done. But as is always true with me when it comes to baking, making this oat porridge sourdough bread was a priority.
We finally finished packing the track to the brim; furniture on top of furniture, kitchen stuff on top of bedroom stuff, clothes on top of everything else, but one sure thing was my starter acted as a co-pilot up front in the moving truck where I could keep a close eye on it.
Somehow we pulled it off and are now in a temporary abode until our home is finished hopefully only a few more weeks. Baking for the rest of the month is going to be tough, but it’s going to make moving into a home with a double oven that much better. I cannot wait to double my bread baking experiments.
Now that the moving gripes are out of the way let’s get started with this entry. I’ve been working on it for quite a while now through several attempts, failures, and successes. Let’s talk about oats.
My wife typically gives me dirty looks when she catches me finishing off the household’s supply of rolled oats before she can even get a few days of breakfasts in (since writing this I’ve started to stock these oats in bulk so we always have supply). I eat them just about every morning for breakfast with cut fresh fruit, pecans/walnuts/almonds, honey and either currants or raisins. It’s one of the only things I can eat in the morning that keeps me completely full until lunch. Given my high activity level (running, gym, dog walking, hiking, etc.) I almost always wake up ravenous, and oats do the trick.
A while back when I was flipping through Tartine No. 3, I stumbled on their oat porridge recipe and immediately read it with unwavering attention. So let me get this straight, oat porridge, my favorite breakfast concoction, cooked into a loaf of my already favorite sourdough recipe? I tell you I was ready to grab the package of oats from the cabinet and get baking straight away.
Despite my fervor for cooking this loaf, I’ve been hesitant to share my progress on until I finally tinkered and tested enough to discover some insight, with a bit of luck here and there, and a process that will deliver worthy results. Now that I’m happy with the outcome, and I’ve consistently made some exceptional tasting loaves, it’s time for me to share my findings with you.
Your first attempt at this bread might be more challenging than previous the recipes I’ve written in the past. I have never made a porridge bread before this, and I wasn’t sure what to expect, but really, what could be so hard about folding in some cooked oats? I’ve added all kinds of ingredients (walnuts, olives, sesame seeds, stout beer, etc.) and had smashing results so this shouldn’t be any different… Well, it turns out those cooked oats come with a lot of surprises. First and foremost, cooked oats do hold on to a lot of water, so you have to take that into account when hydrating your dough.
Additionally, the simple act of cooking oats pushes them into releasing much of their starches which in turn makes them very, very sticky (ever noticed if you leave your morning oatmeal in the bowl the oats stick to the bowl like glue?). Not only these two things but since they are sticky and hold together tightly after they are cooked, they can be quite difficult to properly mix through your fermenting dough without destroying the gluten network built up during bulk fermentation. Don’t worry though; we’ll work through each of these issues in turn.
Aside from all the doom and gloom, this is one incredibly moist, tender, light and tasty loaf. Once you get the hang of dealing with the porridge and the effect it has on your dough, you’ll be hooked on the results. This bread is one that’ll cause people to line up outside your door in the rain, hoping to get a loaf.
I’ve received a few comments and emails asking for me to show you a few of my “failed attempts” and the process from beginning to end, not just the final results. For this oat porridge bread, I chronicled each attempt, the results, and any notes and lessons learned. The method and ingredients directly below represent my best effort thus far, and the entries afterward show those that didn’t quite hit the mark. If you’re interested, read on as they might provide some added insight for those struggling with this tricky recipe.
Prepare the levain – 6:30 a.m.
The levain used for this bread is the same young levain I described in my last post. Start this in the morning when you wake, and it’ll be ready in around 5-6 hours.
| Weight | Ingredient |
|---|---|
| 18g | Ripe starter |
| 35g | Whole wheat flour (King Arthur whole wheat flour) |
| 35g | White bread flour, ~13% protein (Sangre de Cristo, a local high protein flour) |
| 70g | Water |
I try to keep the levain somewhere warm in the kitchen, at around 78°F (25°C). One handy little trick rick I’ll use if my house is still a tad on the cool side, especially in the early morning, is to put the levain in the oven and turn the interior light on until it warms up slightly (not the actual oven!). This setup provides a fairly sealed environment where the levain can do its thing for about 5 hours. If you’d like even more control, a home dough proofer is a way to go.
When your levain build is ready for use after its ~ 5-hour rest, first cook your oat porridge.
Oat porridge – 11:30 a.m.:
I cooked the following in a covered saucepan over the lower end of medium-low heat for about 16 minutes. You want the porridge to be creamy and ever so slightly on the liquid side. Don’t cook for too long or at too high a high a heat or the porridge will dry out and become very stiff. I’ve found that cooking this porridge requires a bit of trial and error; each person has a different idea of what “porridge” means and typically for me, it’s more on the dry side. When I made the porridge for this bread at a lower heat and only for 16 minutes, it was creamy with a whitish color that was easy to later fold and incorporate into the dough.
After this cooking time, I scooped out the porridge onto a baking sheet and covered with aluminum foil to cool but not dry out.
| Weight | Ingredient |
|---|---|
| 500g | Water |
| 250g | Bob’s Red Mill old fashioned regular rolled oats |
| A Pinch | Fine sea salt |
You’ll want to cook this far enough in advance to ensure it cools sufficiently before mixing into your dough right before the first set of stretch and folds during bulk fermentation. You don’t want to mix warm/hot oats into your dough; fermentation will pick up at a rapid pace I have nightmares about dough like this. I cook the porridge right before I start the 1 hour autolyse to give it much needed cooling time.
Now that the porridge is cooked and cooling let’s start our 1 hour autolyse.
Pseudo-autolyse & Mix – 11:30 a.m.
For this bread, I’ve found the best results with a 1 hour autolyse, which increases the extensibility of the dough. This leads to a more relaxed dough to help incorporate the oat porridge later in bulk fermentation.
I label this a “pseudo-autolyse” because it does include my preferment (levain), which isn’t typically added to an autolyse. For this mix, it makes sense for me to add my levain to the autolyse because the dough is rather stiff due to the lower hydration. Adding the levain, and all of its water, is necessary so I can effectively mix the dough.
Gather the following:
| Weight | Ingredient | Baker’s Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| 700g | White bread flour, ~13% protein (Sangre de Cristo, a local high protein flour) | 70% |
| 300g | Whole wheat flour (King Arthur Flour Whole Wheat flour) | 30% |
| 750g | Water | 75% |
| 150g | Ripe levain | 15% |
Then:
- In a thick bowl add in your 150g levain
- Add 700g of your total water to your mixing bowl and mix with your hand until the levain is wholly dissolved
- Add in your white and whole wheat flours
- Mix by hand until all the dry ingredients are incorporated
- Cover with wrap and keep covered in a warmish place in your kitchen at around 78°F (25°C) for 1 hour
After your one hour pseudo-autolyse, add to your mass:
- 25g sea salt
- 25g of the remaining water
Cut the salt through your dough with your hand and mix everything until it comes back together and becomes sticky.
At this point, as I was mixing in the 25g salt and 25g water, I started to feel a little anxious… I wanted to add more water; things just felt strangely stiff. You must fight the urge to add more water here, trust me. Once you add in your cooked oat porridge later in the process, the oats will release quite a bit of water into your dough, dramatically increasing hydration. Early attempts at this bread had me sweating as I was trying to shape hydrations that were undoubtedly more than 100%.
| Final dough temperature: | 79°F (25°C) |
Bulk Fermentation – 12:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Transfer your dough to a clear container to be used during bulk fermentation and let rest for the first 30 minutes.
After the first 30 minutes and right before your first set of stretches and folds, add in the oat porridge a little bit at a time folding well after each addition (as I show in my guide to stretches and folds). Use splashes of your remaining 25g of water a little at a time as your folding the porridge into your dough. You’ll have to make the judgment call here whether you’ll need the entire 25g based on how your dough feels. I ended up using it all, but it has been quite dry lately here in New Mexico.
Now that the porridge is incorporated perform the first turn set, and each subsequent, in 30-minute intervals. When performing each set, pinch any large clumps of oats with your fingers to break them up; we want a fairly uniform distribution of porridge throughout the dough and very, very few pockets of porridge hiding in your final loaves.
- 1:00 p.m. – Turn Set 1
- 1:30 p.m. – Turn Set 2
- 2:00 p.m. – Turn Set 3
- 2:30 p.m. – Turn Set 4
- 3:00 p.m. – Turn Set 5
- 3:30 p.m. – Turn Set 6
- 4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. – Rest on counter untouched
The dough was so wet I felt like I could have just kept strengthening it until the sun set. You’ll need to judge when the dough has reached sufficient strength to stop the stretch and folds. Six sets did the trick for me.
Pre-shape – 6:00 p.m.
Take the dough out of the container onto your work surface and sprinkle some flour on top before dividing. Divide into two halves and lightly scoot the dough in little circles across your work surface with your bench knife in one hand and your other empty hand. Let this pre-shape rest, covered with a damp towel or inverted bowls, for 20 minutes.
You want to do the pre-shape rather tight, a little tighter than you’d typically do for my standard country sourdough. The tight pre-shape will help strengthen the dough just a little bit more before your final shaping.
Lightly dust your proofing bowls/baskets with white or brown rice flour in preparation for the next step.
Shape + Proof – 6:30 p.m.
Take a clean kitchen towel and lay it on the counter. Spread flat some of the uncooked rolled oats onto the towel in a circle about the size of your desired finished boules. After shaping, you’ll quickly plop the shaped boule on top of these oats to coat the surface before placing into your proofing baskets, creating a nice dotted surface with a touch of crunch after baking.
Make sure you shape these boules tight to give them added structure during their overnight proof in the fridge.
For this wet porridge dough, I find shaping into tight boules produces a much better result than using Tartine’s “structural shaping” technique for a batard shape. Shaping here is your typical procedure, folding the dough up like a package and then twisting on the work surface to create tension. For a detailed explanation see this post’s section on shaping.
After each boule is shaped tight and resting on the counter, scrape up the first boule and gently invert and drop onto the resting rolled oats. Pick up the boule with both hands and gently lower into the proofing basket, seam side up. Spread out some more rolled oats for the next boule and repeat.
I found that this bread requires a little more proof time to get that fermentation active. After doing the final shape, I left these loaves out on the kitchen counter (ambient temp was around 74°F/23°C) for an hour.
Score + Bake – 9:00 a.m. (next day)
In the morning, preheat your oven with Dutch oven inside to 450°F (230°C). I usually leave the shallow side facing up on the left, and the deeper side on the right facing down. This way when it’s time to load the bread I can quickly grab the shallow side, slide in the dough, and then place back on the stone and place the deep side on top to cover.
See my guide to baking with a Dutch oven for more pictures and instruction.
After one hour, take one of your baskets out of the fridge and cut a piece of parchment paper to place on top. Take your peel and then put it on top of those two and quickly invert it, so the dough is now resting on the parchment paper and the peel.
For these oat porridge loaves, I have taken quite a liking to Tartine’s “zipper” like scoring. Grab your kitchen shears and do 3-4 snips across the top of the dough so that the shears are almost entirely parallel to the surface. This score opens up so beautifully and creates a very rustic feel to these loaves, which contrasts elegantly with the dotted rolled oat surface.
Wait at least 1-2 hours before cutting into the finished loaves to let the interior fully set.
Take out the shallow side of your Dutch oven and drag in your boule. Quickly place the pan back in the oven, cover with the deep side, and bake for 20 minutes. After this time, open the oven and take off the deep lid of the Dutch oven (set it next to the other half inside the oven, which will help regulate oven temperature for the rest of the bake), then bake for an additional 35 minutes or so, until the bread is to your desired doneness.
This oat porridge sourdough requires a little longer bake time to get that nice dark outer crust. Additionally, the interior, extremely hydrated by the porridge, takes several additional minutes to bake thoroughly. For this dough you’ll want to experiment with bake times and temperatures, potentially decreasing the heat towards the end of the bake to extend the bake time without scorching the crust. I ended up baking for a total of 35 minutes for the last uncovered portion.
Once your bake is finished, be sure to wait to slice it, and store it properly to keep it fresh for up to a week.
Conclusion
This first venture into porridge bread was a challenge for me; adding in another type of grain that has been cooked with additional hydration threw a wrench into my process and had me experimenting until things came out how I was hoping. The results, though, are pretty darn great. This bread has a very, very moist crumb with a fragile crust that stays good for many days after baking. I made toast almost a week after and the bread still tasted fresh to me.
Crust
Marvelously thin and unexpectedly soft, this crust was colored so well and had such a unique taste. It’s something different than the other bread I’ve made, hard to put into words, but if I had to sum it up, I’d say soft like silk. The super high hydration must leave its mark and the mark is very welcomed.
Just look at those colors. I heard myself saying “oooooh” in my head as I first saw that picture from my camera roll. I love the sheen and the shine, the striations of color, the dark spots and the light spots. The crunchy baked oats on top impart a nice crispness to the outside when you bite into the bread, I wouldn’t bake this bread without them.
Crumb
The crumb is just straight tender. Nothing I’ve had can compare to this light, stretchy and custard-like interior. My latest attempt produced an excellent and open result.
You can see in this shot the crumb was quite light and airy, I love this aspect of this bread. With my mixing and stretch and folding, I finally was able to sufficiently incorporate the oat porridge throughout the loaf.
Taste
Not much more to say here than already stated: it’s remarkable. This cooked oat porridge does not impart a particularly heavy “oat” taste to the bread, but rather, adds moistness and tenderness that hints at a light nutty flavor. For days after the bread remained moist inside, and when toasted, became crisp and continued to have that fresh-baked-bread taste.
I highly recommend trying this bread! If you have any issues or questions, drop me a post below, and I shall do my best to get you on track. For the curious, read on for some of my “missed” attempts including some notes, pictures, and my hypotheses on why things didn’t quite pan out.
Previous Oat Porridge Attempts
Attempt #1 – The Strong Dough
The following bake was my very first attempt at this recipe and my first endeavor into the world of porridge bread. As you can see in the following pictures, the results were less than stellar. I did not sufficiently mix the porridge through the dough, the crust was on the pale side, and hardly any oven spring. Also, there was almost no openness to the crumb — a rather dense product.
Yikes, that’s ugly! I followed the Tartine No. 3 Oat Porridge Bread recipe nearly precisely, except for two deviations: I only had Bob’s Red Mill Thick Rolled Oats on hand (this is what I typically eat for breakfast) instead of traditional rolled oats which are much thinner, and I upped the levain amount by 25g (to a total of 175g).
Using thick oats and cooking them uncovered at medium heat most definitely overcooked them and dried them out to the point where they became stiff & hard to integrate into the dough. These rigid pockets of oats were scattered throughout the final loaf and were both unsightly and not very pleasant.
For this attempt, I also only performed a 40 minute autolyse and the resulting dough was not extensible enough, adding to the difficult task of mixing in the dry and stiff porridge.
Key Lessons Learned from Attempt #1
- Don’t use thick rolled oats, instead opt for traditional rolled oats
- Dough needs at least a 1 hour autolyse to increase extensibility
- Mix in the porridge until it’s thoroughly incorporated
- Cook porridge covered to prevent it from drying out
Attempt #2 – The Hydrated Surprise
For my second go at this recipe, I vowed to rectify the stiff porridge by using regular rolled oats and upping the amount of water used during cooking. Instead of 500g for the porridge, I ended up using 800g, added in 100g increments after the 500g at the start. This was cooked again at medium heat in an uncovered saucepan.
In addition to adding more water to the porridge, I also increased the autolyse time to a full 1 hour. This length of time did help to increase extensibility in the dough to make oat incorporation easier.
When it came to adding in the porridge everything was looking good: the dough was rather tight, and strength was there, but there was some excellent extensibility thanks to the increased autolyse. A few turn sets into the bulk fermentation, and that’s when I noticed things were starting to go south on me… The dough became extraordinarily slack and was failing to hold any shape after stretching and folding. It was quickly turning into a nightmare scenario where hydration levels are pushed too far for the flour to handle. Cooked oats can absorb a significantly large amount of water, about 84% by weight, and that water is coaxed out of the grain later as bulk fermentation progresses. I ended up cobbling together some decently shaped boules, but at hydration that must have exceeded 100%, I was seriously having trouble.
The result was again abysmal. The crust was pale, displaying almost no caramelization during the bake and little dynamic oven spring.
The crumb was marginally open, but it was far too wet. After cutting into the bread, it had a shine to it that almost looked damp to me. The actual taste of it was not that bad, but it needed a good solid run through the toaster to firm things up, perhaps the loaf required a little bit more baking time.
Key Lessons Learned from Attempt #2
- Do not add excess water to the porridge. Shoot for the 500g outlined in the successful recipe above
- Cook the oats on medium-low heat to prevent burning and rapid cooking
- The oat porridge was incorporated more thoroughly but not quite enough; we’ll need to do more pinching and folding
- Because of the extremely high hydration here, there was not enough strength in the dough, causing poor oven spring
- 1 hour autolyse time right on the money
Attempt #3 – Oh The Beautiful Crust
My hopes and energies were high at the start of my third attempt. I felt like I had successfully flanked the two sides of this bread: one side was under hydrated with a stiff porridge, and the other side was way over hydrated with an almost soupy mess of porridge and flours. At this point, I surely could find the middle point and create something magnificent.
I reduced the amount of water in the porridge down to 500g but cooked it on medium-low heat, covered, for 18 minutes. The result was a more creamy porridge which was much easier to fold into the dough and thoroughly incorporate. There was still some work to do here though; I needed to continue to pinch any oat pockets found during subsequent stretch and folds to break them up and do a more intensive job of incorporating.
As I lifted the top part of the Dutch oven off, I noticed the oven spring for this attempt was respectable, but it did not hit my self-imposed goal. Crumb, well, there was some excellent openness to it, but it was still far too tight more deep holes and pockets, please.
I was happily surprised at the beautiful color and caramelization of the crust when baking these loaves. Beautiful dark colors at the edges and light centers where the scissors had left their marks. Gorgeous.
All-in-all it was a solid attempt with some excellent improvements on the outward appearance. With notes scribbled down in my notebook, I was determined to adjust a few parameters and give this another shot.
Key Lessons Learned from Attempt #3
- Cover the oat porridge while cooking to prevent burning and water evaporation
- Wait as long as possible before cutting into the baked loaves, at least 1 (seriously!) hour and preferably overnight
- Oats were incorporated much more uniformly, but still had some room for improvement here
Attempt #4 – Just Roll With It
I was eager, excited, and confident at the start. Keen to cook the oats to the correct creamy consistency, excited to get the hydration level spot on, and confident the result was going to be what I had been searching for the previous attempts. So. Close. Oh so close. My results had much promise, but there still were a few tweaks needed.
I found that the key is to cook the oats at the lower end of medium-low for a full 16 minutes, and covered. 500g is the correct amount of water for 250g of oats, and you want to add the pinch of salt at the beginning of the cook, right when you put the water and oats together.
The crumb for this attempt was really splendid! I think things could have opened up a bit more with larger pockets given additional proof time. Since I reduce the levain to a meager 150g I should have realized the proof time should have been extended until I noticed things were moving along far enough.
The crust on this loaf came out gorgeous, yet again. Perfect caramelization, dynamic movement from the excellent oven spring and the scissor snips again showed a great zig-zag all the way down with dark colors on one side and light on the other.
Key Lessons Learned from Attempt #4
- Cook oats covered on the low end of medium-low for 16 minutes, you want a creamy consistency
- Add porridge before the first turn of bulk, incorporate well
- The dough will become pretty slack, do vigorous turns
- The 50g you hold back should be used cautiously. If your dough starts to feel slack, don’t add it all in.
- Pre-shape tight and shape tight
- Ensure fully proofed
Fin
And so that’s all we have, folks. Many attempts led up to what I believe was the best loaf yet. I know there will be more and more improvements as I continue to bake this bread, and don’t worry, those will be chronicled and entered into a future post if the loaf improves sufficiently.
Even though some of these bakes were not encouraging, especially at the outset, this craft is one that takes patience and persistence. Sometimes I almost forget this axiom but then I’m reminded I always have something exceptional to eat, and my troubled thoughts vanish as I take the first bite. I think it was best said by Hamelman:
Experiment, play, realize that failure isn’t really a failure, it’s an edible part of your evolution as a baker.
Jeffrey Hamelman
Buon appetito!
If you use this recipe, tag @maurizio on Instagram so I can take a look!
239 Comments
Maurizio, why not incorporate the oats well before the first fold so as to not unnecessarily interfere with gluten formation? If using soaked rather than cooked oats they could be incorporated at the same time as the flour before autolysis. If using cooked oats, that might be trickier in which case they could go in with the salt water. Adriana
Yes, you can certainly do that. Sometimes I’ll add mix-ins/porridge right at the end of mixing instead of waiting into bulk. It really depends, though, because some ingredients can interfere with mixing and attaining a good gluten structure. Generally, though, at the end of mixing time is another place where I like to add.
You’re welcome, Candice! Sorry for the delayed reply. Yes, the hydration can quickly go overboard with this bread, it’s best to hold back water and be conservative. Even with caution, however, sometimes the dough gets the best of us. I hope your more-recent bakes have gone well — happy baking!
Maurizio, this looks like a challenge for this novice sourdough baker. To add an amazing new dimension to your rolled oats, sauté the dry oats in a couple of tablespoons of butter until lightly golden brown, then cook them as you normally would. The flavor is AMAZING and bewitching and you’ll never go back. I suspect they will be delicious in this bread.
It’s a challenge, but not really too bad once you get a hang of managing the hydration. I really like your idea of cooking the oats in some butter — I’m certainly going to try this! Sounds like it’d bring another dimension to this bread. Thanks for the suggestion!
Try the pilaf style oats in your porridge or bread. Be generous with the butter, 3 tbsp butter to 1 cup oats. You will never go back. I made some this morning and my house smells amazing! Adriana
Hi Maurizio, I am six months into my fantastic sourdough adventure and am loving the magic of experimenting and learning! Thank you for all the inspiriation – your site is a great resource. My interest is in creating a *delicious* bread that is as high in fibre as possible, but still has a great texture. I was inspired by your oat bread, but not being a porridge fan, I added my dry oats as if it were another grain and it worked beautifully. My ratios: 30% white flour, 30% whole meal flour, 20% oat, 20% rye.
Hey, Adri! Really glad to hear you’re enjoying my site and baking sourdough. Rolled oats are usually pretty thin so adding them straight away like that should work just fine. They might have a little more chew in the crumb than the porridge, but that’s ok, too! You could also try using “instant oats” instead of regular rolled: they’re even thinner and more like bits and ends. I’ve been using instant oats for a while now to top my loaves and they’re excellent. Thanks for that suggestion and happy baking!
This looks so lovely and I am excited to give it a try. If I took the whole wheat down to 200g and then added 100g rye do you think that would be okay? Or would that cause any issues?
Thanks! That’ll be just fine — you might see a slightly tighter crumb and a more active dough (in terms of fermentation), but the end result will still be delicious!
Everywhere I go, people want me to make this bread. I did not quite have my recipe memorized from Tartine, so I was so happy to find it here. I am in Vermont now, and made it with regular white flour, not bread flour. It seems fine too. I am visiting from Canada, and our flour is higher in gluten content than here. I happened to have bought a proofing basket on this trip, which is great. But for the second loaf, I find that as I need to use a regular bowl, the bottom can get overly moist. I add a second towel folded up in the bottom of the bowl to absorb the excess moisture.
Yes, totally ok to use whatever white flour you have, it sounds like its plenty strong to hold up to the porridge mix-in. Great idea with the added towel to absorb moisture! Thanks for the feedback, Valerie — happy baking!
I have been baking this bread from the Tartine book for a year now, following the original recipe. It works really well for me. I just have to break up the oats manually first (after cooling) before incorporating them. I squish them in with my hands, I don’t even attempt to fold them in. My question is that I have been doing this a sea level, but am visiting my sister in Colorado, who lives at the 7000 foot level. Are there any suggestions on how to bake this kind of bread at higher elevations? Thanks! You have great hints and suggestions.
That’s great — porridge breads are so wonderful. I live at 5280 ft and the two biggest things I’d say, are: 1) you’ll likely have to bake your bread longer in the oven to achieve the same level of doneness, but do keep an eye on it in the oven as each oven is different; and 2) your dough might be more active in CO than at sea level. You might want to end bulk earlier if you notice the dough is rising too much but make the call as you’re baking, it really depends on the conditions that day as I’m sure you know, things are always changing 🙂
Hope that helps and safe travels!
Thanks for your quick reply! I love this bread. I give loaves away to neighbours, and they tell me it is the best bread they have ever had. I like to also mix the flakes- rye, spelt, kamut, oat, and barley is also great. And add a bit of flax seeds at the end of the cooking time for the oats. It is one of the other recipes in the book. It stays moist for ages- doesn’t seem to ever go stale.
Hi Maurizio,
what is the purpose of cooking a porridge from the oats instead of just using oat flour in the dough? I can find recipes online that use either flour or porridge, but the difference is never discussed.
Daniel — what’s nice about rolled oats is they have a large capacity for absorbing water and bringing that into the dough without over hydrating it (if you’re careful). Additionally, the “porridge” brings a wonderful texture to the crumb, almost like a custard in the end.
I’ve never used oat flour, actually, and never even thought of it — sounds like a good experiment to me!
I tried it today.
360g mature levain (wheat, 100% hydration)
200g whole rye
180g flour made from toasted oats
420g wheat flour (type 630)
620g water
23g salt
1.8g baker’s yeast
https://imgur.com/a/hKZzGNS
It came out pretty nice, the crust is great, and the crumb is moist and a bit dense (as I hoped it would be). I think I let if ferment a bit too long, it’s more sour than I would like. Obviously I cannot compare it with a porridge bread, as I never made one, but I might try that next time.
Looks delicious, Daniel! Yes, likely a little too long in the proof — it might have also had increased activity due to the starches in the oats. If you get around to trying a porridge, I’d love to hear how they compare. Next time I see oat flour at the store I might try my hand at this as well. I also think it might work super well in a pan loaf…
Enjoy and thanks for reporting back!
Hi!
Many thanks for the incredible work you do here! Just wondering—in some of your more recent recipes, the levain is not part of the autolyse. I’m just wondering if you feel that would make a difference here, and which way would be preferable. Thanks!
Hey, Lauren! That’s right, I typically do not add the levain in with the autolyse (a “true” autolyse does not have any starter or levain) unless the autolyse is very short (< 20 minutes) and I'm working with a high hydration levain and low hydration dough (sometimes if the dough you're working with is so stiff, you have to add the levain otherwise it’s very difficult to mix the dough).
In this recipe I don’t feel it necessary to add the levain to the autolyse. The main thing to keep in mind there is that once your levain is mixed in with your dough, fermentation begins. If you’re planning on a long auto, this might mean your dough will over proof if left to ferment (especially without salt) for too long, Generally, less than 30 minutes this isn’t a problem, though.
Hope that answers your question!
Hi Maurizio, many thanks for the recipe. I baked my loaf this morning and it turned out quite well despite my initial worries that it won’t rise. I thought the dough was super slack and sticky and I thought I let the bulk fermentation go for too long. Because of these worries I didn’t leave it on the counter as you recommend but put it in the fridge straight after shaping. I wanted to ask you, how big is your proofing basket? After shaping a batard I made a quick decision to cut the loaf down a bit and folded that side under because I was worried it won’t fit in my proofing basket! The remaining dough I made into a little round roll (but I didn’t bake it long enough and it was a bit too wet when I cut into it).
Do you find the crumb is much wetter then in a standard white/wholemeal loaf? Also, is a very slight shine normal or a sign the loaf should stay in the oven a bit longer?
Thank you again!
Magda
Hi Maurizio! What an intriguing recipe. I love oats and can’t wait to try this. Can you please clarify one thing for me: do you use young levain (“Prepare the young levain” or ripe (as you mention in “Dough Mix”)? TIA 🙂
Finally got around to making this recipe and we love it! https://imgur.com/CTpam5D & https://imgur.com/IEjCDZv When I cooked the oats I steamed them like rice for 15 minutes and the oat flakes absorbed all of the liquid and were soft and sticky. This made it easier to separate the flakes and mix it into the dough. I also used fresh milled white wheat and kept the hydration the same as the recipe. The crust is thin but not too thin that it would be difficult to cut. The crumb is soft without being gummy even four hours after bake…it was difficult to wait! This will make a nice addition to breakfast in the morning.
I love that you added your previous attempts and what happened with those. It’s really helpful to see where I probably went wrong this time..
I decided to try and step up my game and do a porridge loaf yesterday and am getting results comparable to your 2nd attempt. After the bulk ferment I’ve ended up with a gooey over-hydrated mess. I’m guessing its as you said the oats are releasing their water and I’m going to have try and salvage this dough somehow…. It didn’t help that I watered my hands a bunch trying to incorporate the semi-dried out oats into the dough when folding the dough, which added even more water.
Will try again! Thanks!
Hi Maurizio, as many have said before I am so grateful that your site exists, it is incredibly helpfull. I do have one question for you, i too have the tartine ancient grains book and the oat porridge was one that really peaked my interest, when i saw your step by step instructions for it i was overjoyed. I just have one question, is there are a reason you choose to not use wheat germ? and would it be simple to include it within your version if this recipe? Also, since you are familiar with the tartine book i just wanted to ask about different steps of the rise processes and what over extending them at each phase could potentially do to your loaf. Multiple steps in the tartine method mention an overnight ferment which could potentially extend the process to 3 days or so. Thank you so much!
Hey, Alyx! You can definitely add the wheat germ if you’d like, totally up to you. It does add nice flavor and increased nutrition, just know that it may increase the fermentation rate in the dough and speed up the timeline of the whole process (just watch the dough and adapt to suit!). I do have some wheat germ here and I’ve been meaning to experiment more with it…
Your second question could require a very, very long answer. Each step is slightly different and each has a threshold for how long it can go before going too far. For example, with your bulk fermentation step: you want the dough to be sufficiently fermented (see my posts all over my site for indicators of this) but if you go too far it’ll be overly sloppy, difficult to preshape, and could over proof. The entire process is a continuum and each step is related to the others, if you go far on one you could recuperate by shortening the other, but there are limits to this. The best advice I can give here is to just watch the dough and see how it’s progressing, if it looks like it’s getting too aerated/bubbly/weak at any of the steps move on to the next.
I hope this helps and happy baking!
Thanks so much for your response, it definitely was helpful!
HI Maurizio, I have made this bread several times and it turns out very good, however there is a huge excess of levain. Will you check the measurements are correct in the recipe. Thank you!
Excellent, glad to hear that, Kim! Ok, just fixed the levain to build just enough needed for this recipe. Thanks for the suggestion, I’ve been meaning to do that for a while now. Happy baking!
Hi! Maurizio,
Thank you for your detailed instructions. My Oatmeal Porridge Bread was everything you said it would be and more! I felt like I was eating porridge AND oatmeal cookies. I spread lo-fat yoghurt on it and it was delicious. I used 50 grams Bob’s Organic Whole Grain dark Rye flour, 50 grams Bob’s Whole Wheat, 50 grams Spelt Flour and 25 grams Einkorn flour both from “Farmer Ground Flour” from Trumansburg, New York, 100 White Whole Wheat, 100 grams King Bread Flour, and 125 grams all King Arthur. The oats, whole grain oats, were the house brand from the local grocery store. The next time I’m going to try it with Wild Hive’s Multi Grain Blend Hot Cereal which has Soft winter wheat, oats, millet, rye, triticale, barley, spelt, corn grits, flax seed and use a different combination of flours. Check out my Instagram account for a photo of the bread on a pottery plate I made. http://www.instagram.com/roberts19 btw the bread in the photo was made eight days ago-still moist and tasty. Again, many thx!
Really glad to hear that, Frances! Your bread looks delicious, I’m glad I could help with this recipe. I find it does keep pretty well. Thanks for the update and happy baking!
Sandra, really glad to hear that! I love the tender interior of this bread and it sounds like you got it as well. Not a problem with posting your results (thanks for the attribution), I visited your page and your bread looks great! Happy baking 🙂
Ok….I CAN NOT wait to cut into these loaves! I ended up with over six and a half pounds of dough for some reason. So, i made three 2.4 lb. loaves. One, I’m going to give away to a young couple getting married later this afternoon. I’m going to do something similar to what Mary did in It’s A Wonderful Life when the Martinis moved into their new home in Bailey Park with it, a bottle of wine and a bag of sea salt.
I’m a little nervous about how they turned out because my oats were not creamy, but very thick. Either something is wrong with my scale (likely) and the amount of water was not enough (I ended up adding about another 1/4 cup as it cooked because it thickened up immediately when I added the oats) or it was that the oats were too thick. But my bag says traditional…so it’s more than likely the scale. I broke them up with a spoon and added a little olive oil to them before I added them to the dough. Once in the oven, it took a while, but all three sprung beautifully. However, I had to take them out of the fridge early because our realtor was potentially bringing someone by to see our house (which is not yet on the market) and I didn’t want it blazing hot for them. They show signs of not having risen enough (the ‘tearing’ at the sides) but look gorgeous none-the-less!
They sound great to me! What an awesome gift, too. Yeah I found the consistency of the oats to be a challenge for this recipe, requiring some tweaking and hydration adjustment. I have a feeling each source of oats perhaps rolls them differently and thickness probably varies quite a bit. I’m sure they turned out fantastic, though!
I wanted to give it a full day to settle, but had to cut one before the wedding. It was a late afternoon affair and they had come out of the oven around 10 am, so I cut one at 3 for a snack. They look more like your third batch (just a bit darker cuz….you know me and my whole wheat…although this was a bag of Bob’s Red Mill White WW). And have had to toast them every morning for breakfast, but they’re delish. The gift ended up getting frozen (by the groom’s mom) as did the third loaf. I’m hoping the freezing dries them just a bit.
All in all they sound great to me! I’m sure, even with them frozen, they appreciate the work that goes into making healthy and fresh bread. I freeze my loaves all the time, works really well on the defrost side!
After reading the comments, I am very excited to hear that this seems to be an amazing recipe. I will be trying it out myself! Can I use a sandwich tin (8.5×4.5) to bake this loaf? I realize I’d have to cut the recipe by a little more than 1/3 to get the volume down… Any recommendations on how to bake (temp/time)?
Yes, you can definitely use a tin to bake this loaf! I’d preheat the oven at a lower temp, perhaps 475ºF and then you might want to finish baking it at 425ºF instead of 450ºF until the interior temp of the loaf reads 205ºF or higher.
Happy baking!
Just baked this loaf this morning and it turned out really nice! I used 60% whole wheat and 40% white bread flour. Because of my time constraints I did not do the final 1 hour rise on the counter before putting it in the fridge. Mine went directly in the fridge after shaping at 3:30 pm and I baked the next morning at 7:30am so it had quite a long slow rise time in the regridgerator. The dough felt really wet right up to placing it into the oven, but it turned out beautifully. Thank you for your recipes, blogs, and love of sourdough. It definitely has me hooked!
That’s so great to hear! The changes you made sound spot on and really that’s half of baking: adjusting to your schedule and environment! This is definitely a wet dough and the oats, with all their starches, make it even more so.
Thanks so much for the update and glad you’re on the sourdough bandwagon — it’s amazing stuff!
great to read this,post…..tho wish i had read it yesterday! i had my first attempt st this very bread and will have to wait until morning to see how crumb is. i struggled with the porridge as it seemed 500g water was not enough and the oats cooked too quickly. i added more water to continue cooking. Also it was my first time incorporating anyone into the dough and i’m curious about how the porridge mixed through. And shaping was different in that what i am used to – actually feeling the change in tension in the dough – was altered by this texture of porridge in the dough. the end result looks very nice….tomorrow is the true test!
Yes, getting that correct consistency with the porridge can be tricky… It takes some trial and error until you get it just right. I add the porridge after the first or second fold during bulk fermentation but you could even add it earlier, perhaps when you add the salt near the end of mixing. I wet my hands and gently massage the porridge into the dough until it’s fairly well broken up (it also helps to break up the porridge into very small bits and scatter about the top, bottom and sides of the mass of dough). Hopefully it turned out great, I’m sure it’ll be delicious regardless!
This bread was SO GOOD. After a dozen breads in the last few months, many of them sourdough, this is the only loaf of bread I’ve made that I would buy from the store. My husband suggested I try more multigrain breads in the future. I think I’ll try making the full recipe (I halved it for one loaf) this weekend to gift one to my mom
Fantastic! This is also one of my favorite breads, the porridge really adds incredible texture and taste to the loaf. Thanks for the comments and I think your mom is going to be happy!
Hi Maurizio!
Congratulations on your new addition! She is gorgeous!
I have a question about the levain for this bread. I am making it for the second time. The first time it came out fantastic. It seems like there is way more levain than is necessary. Would it be ok to divide amounts in half?
Thank you! Avi, our new son, is a bundle of joy 🙂
Yes, feel free to reduce the amount of levain for this recipe. I keep meaning to adjust the amount so we only make as much as is needed for the recipe.
Happy baking!
I turned the leftover into pancakes (along with some mature starter because I needed to feed it). I’m now making good way too many pancakes and waffles because of my sourdough starter
Awesome, glad to hear that!
Hi Maurizio 🙂
Love your blog and I appreciate beyond words all the work you put into writing it. Also for all the feedback you have given underway in my baking journey. I keep coming back here for more 🙂
This was a great bake and had me on the edge more than once about things not going as planned. I started off with a lower hydration (65%) as I always do with new recipes, especially with scandinavian flour not being as strong.
I poured boiling water over the oats in the morning and left covered. The result was very dry so I added another 100 grams of water and that gave them a nice creamy consistency. They didn´t cool down fast enough so I spread them out on grease proof paper and put another on top to keep them moist.
At the time of autolyse the dough was very tight. I wanted to add a tad more water but didn´t following your instructions. I added 500 grams of oat porridge. The total amount of porridge was approx 800-900 grams of porridge and I thought that was too much in regards to the 1 kg of flour. The consistency was creamy and very easy to incorporate in the dough. The stretch and folds at ambient 79 F went as planned. The dough was very extensible after the addition of the oats yet came together nicely towards the end of bulk. Straight forward bench rest and preshape and retard for 12 hours at 38F.
Every thing was going as planned until I took them out of the fridge. I didn´t take in to consideration how large these loafs actually were and I thought I would be baking both like I usually do batards on my baking steel. I knew I was in trouble but they were already scored and ready to go so in they went lol. This resulted in them joining during the bake and I know that affected the rise. But they came out great, the texture and taste was so unique and amazing it was definitely worth the effort. I will definitely be baking this one again!
I have one question in regards to bulk. In most of your recipes you leave the dough untouched for approx 2,5 hours after the stretch and folds. For a while I have found that a 3,5 hour bulk (with hourly stretch and folds) has been sufficient and I preshape after that. Is there any particular reason for this at the end of bulk? I am going to try some of your recipes again and switch back to the long rest at the end to see if there is any difference. I think the reason for me stopping this was that in the beginning of my sourdough journey my doughs were very overhydrated and I wasn´t comfortable preshaping. It was a sticky disaster. I didn´t find that the case with this recipe. I did however give the dough a few very careful folds before I tipped it out on the bench. Do you do this or just carefullyl tip out the dough at the end of bulk without any folding? Thanks in advance 🙂
Allison, hi! Thanks so much, that really means a lot to me. Super happy you’re enjoying the site, I do like seeing your comments here and bakes on Instagram!
No worries about the size of the batards, it’s easy enough to reduce the total amount of ingredients here so things fit a bit easier next time. This really is one of my favorite recipes, I love the oat porridge in the result — it adds an awesome texture to the bread and results in a super moist crumb. When toasted it’s just perfect.
I like to leave the dough untouched for as much time during bulk as possible, within reason. Most of the time I do 2-4 folds and that ends up with at least 2 hours untouched time at the end of bulk. It’s ok if more folds are necessary (if the dough is overly slack or super highly hydrated) but leaving the dough untouched ensures we’re not knocking out gasses in the interior of the dough. In essence I just like to leave the dough and let it do its thing as much as possible 🙂
One consideration along with this, though, is that the dough does also benefit from periodic folding to ensure the temperature of the entire mass is somewhat evenly distributed. For example, if you didn’t touch the dough at all during the 4 hour period you might end up with slightly cooler dough up top and a warmer bottom, meaning the dough up top will have less activity. This isn’t so much of a concern most of the time but it is something to be aware of.
And finally, I don’t do any folds before tipping the dough out at the end of bulk. I just tip the container and help release it with my plastic tub scraper onto the bench. Then preshape.
Hope this helps and thanks again for the kind words!
I’ve made this twice now and it’s turned out really well both times. I’m so proud of my yeasties for all that rise they did :). Both times they have been my best ever sourdough-only bread so it’s inspired me to continue exploring. I had a question about why you choose to bake on parchment paper? I’ve never thought to do this with bread. Does it impact the crush at all? Putting the loaves into the pans is my most stressful moment of the whole process so I’m curious if using parchment paper is a big improvement on the tip-the-bowl-over-into-the-pan method. Also, thank you for your immense resource of a website. It is a wonderful accompaniment to FWSY and Tartine Bread.
Dan — super glad to hear that! I devised that parchment paper technique simply to ease the transfer of the dough to the Dutch oven, no other reason. Perhaps it helps insulate the crust a tiny, tiny bit and keep it from cooking too much but that’s not really significant. I have done the tip-the-bowl method and it is just too hectic for me with a super hot pan, plus, there’s a chance you could deflate the dough if dropped too far. Aside from the small bit of parchment that gets used each time (you can reuse the paper as long as it doesn’t get too burned) it’s a pretty solid technique, I think!
Thanks for the kind words and happy baking!