I created this recipe this evening to use up a lot of sour milk.  The bread is gorgeous and tasty.   This recipe makes 3 short loaves or 2 tall ones.  I formed two of my loaves into cinnamon rolls instead of loaves, yum!

2 1/4 cups sour milk (I am blessed to have raw milk. If you can't get raw milk and let some of it sour, you can put some whey or yogurt in with your fresh milk to sour it.)

1/4 cup butter

2 Tablespoons active dry yeast

1/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 cups old fashioned rolled oats

4 cups hard white whole wheat flour

1/4 cup vital wheat gluten

2 teaspoons salt

In a saucepan or microwave, warm milk and butter to about 110 degrees.  Pour into a mixing bowl and add yeast.  Stir until yeast is dissolved.  Add the 2 cups of oats and 1 cup of flour and mix well.  Let rest for 15 minutes.  (This will allow a sponge to form improving the texture of your bread, but also gives the oats a chance to absorb moisture so you won't add too much flour later.)

Stir down the sponge and add 2 eggs, salt, and gluten.  Mix well.  Add flour 1/2 cup at a time until a soft dough forms that is slightly sticky but pulls away from the sides of the bowl.  Knead by hand for 10-15 minutes or by machine for 6-8 minutes. 

Lightly oil the dough, cover and let rise for 1 hour.

Punch down dough and divide into 3 balls.  Form into loaves and let rise for an hour or until doubled.  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until the top of the loaf is brown and the bread sounds hollow when tapped.  Butter the crust if desired and place the pans on a cooling rack.

Note:  It just occured to me that I could have mixed the sour milk and oats on the counter overnight before adding the yeast to sponge.  This would have released a lot of vitamins and made the oats easier to digest.  Oh well…there's always next time.