PB & Your Choice

What is more fabulous, and I mean this seriously, than a good ole peanut butter sandwich? Pair your favorite peanut butter with a little something sweet (I love honey, Andrew prefers bananas, and Ella will only eat the traditional with jelly) and you have a perfectly balanced healthful treat. The real trick is the bread. You have to have the perfect bread. Here is the recipe for it (if Stephanie won't post this, I will!):

Honey Oat Bread

1C warm water
1 Tbsp oil
1/4 C honey (sometimes I use a smidge more)
1 tsp salt
1/2 C rolled oats
2 1/3 C bread flour ( I have subbed 1 C whole wheat, not bad)
1 tsp yeast

*Optional ingredients:
1/4 cup ground flax
up to 1/4 cup vital wheat gluten

Mix water, oil, salt and honey. Disolve yeast into this mixture and let it rest until foamy (5-10 minutes). Mix dry ingredients together. Add yeast mixtured and combine well. Knead 5-10 minutes until sticky and elastic. Add more flour or water to gain the desired stickiness and elasticity for bread dough. Let rise at least an hour. Punch down (I knead it again for a minute) and shape into a loaf; place in loaf pan. Let rest 10-20 minutes. Bake for 20-25 minutes at 350.

*A note on the optional ingredients: I made this the first time without the optional ingredients (but I did sub in a cup of wheat flour). It was perfecty delightful and immediately became a staple in our home. The next time I tried adding in about 1/4 cup of ground flax. The bread was a little too dry and crumbly. The last time I made it, I subbed in a cup of wheat flour, added the 1/4 cup of flax, and instead of the 1/3 cup of white flour, I used a few extra oats and 1/4 cup of vital wheat gluten. This made the most elastic, chewy, moist bread ever. It was amazing. But I bake at high altitude, so you may need to adjust for that and for your own taste. I think that, for most people, 2T of gluten will do the trick.