Marty Stewart's Honey Bread

One of my husband's nicknames around our house is Marty Stewart. He's very handy and crafty and enjoys cooking and baking. When he has a sweet tooth, he whips up chocolate chip walnut cookies from scratch and I love every minute of it (although it makes me feel like I need to step it up).

Lately, he's been on a bread baking binge and there will never be complaints from me.

Eager to use our sparkly new Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer, we spent the morning baking bread. Yes, you heard me loud and clear.

Our.New.Kitchen.Aid.Stand.Mixer.

As if last night could not have been better, Brandon's sister came to dinner with a very large, very beautifully wrapped package in the back of her car. It was an anniversary-birthday-Christmas-Bar-Passing gift! We couldn't be more grateful!

So here it is guys:

Marty Stewart's Honey Bread

You'll need:

• 2 cups boiling water
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup honey
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 4 cups bread flour

Step 1. In large mixing bowl, combine boiling water, oats, 1/2 cup honey, butter and salt. Let stand for one hour.

Step 2. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes. 

(I leave the kitchen for ONE minute and miss a picture of step two. Easy enough though, right?)

Step 3. Pour the yeast mixture into the oat mixture. Add 2 cups of flour; mix well. Stir in the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, beating well after each addition.

*If you don't have the stand mixer, then take the dough out of the bowl at this time, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic (about 20 minutes). If you do have a stand mixer, then we just let the kneading hook do the work for us for 20 minutes.

Step 5. While your dough is kneading, lightly coat a bowl with olive oil.

 Step 6. When your gorgeous stand mixer has finished it's job, use a spatula to scrape dough off of the kneading hook.

Step 7. Place the dough in the oiled bowl and turn to coat.

Step 8. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume (about 1 hour).

Hubby had barely warmed the oven before we put the bowl in (seriously, maybe 1 minute)

Step 9. Deflate the dough by pushing on it and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface.

Step 10. Divide the dough into six equal pieces

Step 11. Using three of the pieces, braid the bread (yes, braid it)

Step 12. With butter grease two 9x5 loaf pans and then sprinkle with flour

Step 13. Place one braid in each loaf pan

Step 14. Bake at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Brush the tops of the loaves with honey and sprinkle with oats.

Step 15. Enjoy! We like ours with honey butter (and I sprinkle a smidge of cinnamon on mine)


From Marty's kitchen to yours, bon appetit!