Fall is a wonderful time of the year for baking fresh bread. This overnight bread has great fall flavors incorporated into it. The combination of pure maple syrup, oats and whole wheat flour as the base is perfect to start any bread that you plan to serve especially in the cooler and cold months.

This bread is mildly sweet, hearty and full of rich flavors. It’s the perfect weekend home-chef project.

Overnight Maple Oatmeal Bread

Bread Sponge

(NOTE: Makes this 10-12 hours or overnight before the bread.)

1 cup of whole wheat flour

½ cup of water, room temperature

¼ teaspoon of dry active yeast, SAF brand if possible

Mix all ingredients together. Place mixture into a small oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise for one hour room temperature. Place your mixture into the refrigerator overnight. Also, the night or hours before, mix the milk and the oats, from the bread ingredients list, together in a bowl. Cover and place in the refrigerator.

Bread Ingredients

(about a 5-hour rise)

2 ¼ cups of bread flour

½ cup of quick-cooking oats plus a little extra for pre-baking garnish

2 tablespoons of pure maple syrup

2 tablespoons of unsalted butter, melted

1/3 cup of cool to room temperature water

½ cup of whole milk

1 ½ teaspoons of kosher salt

½ teaspoon of cinnamon

Break up the sponge quickly with your clean hand. Place your sponge into your stand-up mixing bowl along with all of your other ingredients and the soaked oats, but not the kosher salt. Mix the bread dough on low speed for two minutes, until all of the dry ingredients are combined.

Cover the dough in the mixing bowl for 10 minutes then add in your salt and mix on medium high for 6-8 minutes. When you take a piece of dough and stretch it, it won’t break. At this point the dough is ready for the first rise.

Cover the dough again. Allow the dough to rise two and a half to three hours. Oil a standard loaf tin. Pat the dough down onto a lightly-floured work surface. Shape the loaf into an even log and place it into the greased tin. Sprinkle some oats on top.

Cover with a lightly-oiled piece of fresh plastic wrap. This rise will be two to two and a half hours. The dough will be ready when it rises over the tin doubling in size. Toward the end of this rise, preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Place a water bath in the oven, setting it on the middle rack. About a cup of water into a small brownie pan.

Bake the bread for 45-50 minutes depending on your oven. After 5 minutes, remove the bread from the pan and set on a cooling rack. Serve when you wish. A flavored butter goes great as a topper.

Sarah Schweitzer is dual-certified in Culinary Arts and Baking & Pastry from the Escoffier School of Culinary Arts (www.escoffier.edu). Sarah is currently working as a Sous-Chef and pastry chef at Ateira’s on First. She can be reached at sarah.schweitzer18@gmail.com.