Vermont Oatmeal Maple-Honey Bread

To quote the author of this recipe, "Maple sugar and honey augment the very slightly sweet taste of the oats in this moist sandwich loaf." I couldn't think of a better way to describe this bread, aside from - completely delicious homemade goodness. Shane and I ate 1/2 a loaf as soon as it came out of the oven. It's a mixture of oats, whole wheat flour and regular all-purpose flour, and there are no refined sugars in it. The only "specialty item" you may not have on hand is Maple Sugar (pure crystallized maple syrup). I can find maple sugar next to the maple syrup at my grocery store, and it's also really good on hot oatmeal in the morning (which is why I usually have it in the first place). But, if you don't want to find maple sugar, you can just substitute brown sugar, and I'm sure it would still be great.

This recipe is straight forward - not tricks or tips you need to know. And this bread is good to eat by itself, with butter and honey, toasted with jam, or as sandwich bread. Mmmm...I love baking on the weekends.

Ingredients
2 1/4 to 2 1/2 cups boiling water
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup maple sugar or brown sugar
1/2 t maple flavor (optional)
1 T honey
4 T butter
1 T salt
1 t cinnamon
1 T instant yeast (SAF brand is the best)
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

Method
In a large mixing bowl combine water, oats, maple sugar, maple flavor, honey, butter, salt, and cinnamon. Let cool to Luke warm.
Add yeast and combined flours, stirring to form a rough dough. Knead (10 minutes by hand, 5-7 by machine) until dough is smooth and satiny. Transfer to a lightly greased bowl, and let rise for 1 hour - it should double in bulk.
Divide the dough in half, and shape into two loafs. Place the loafs in two greased 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch bread pans. Cover pans with lightly greased plastic wrap, and allow to rise until loafs have crowned 1 inch above the rim of the pan - about 1 hour.
Pre-heat oven to 350. Bake loafs for 35 to 40 minutes. Remove when they are golden brown and the interior registers 190 on an instant read thermometer. (I don't have an instant read thermometer, and I've never had a problem.)