Irish Porridge Bread

This is a recipe from my King Arthur cookbook.  It calls for you to use steel cut oats, and let them soak overnight in the water, then cook them on the stovetop for 15-20 minutes.  Well, I never plan that far in advance.  I wanted multigrain bread, DH picked this recipe out in the morning before church, I cooked it in the afternoon after church. No waiting time, so I measured out the weight of the Irish oats in rolled oats.  I roll my own oats from oat groats, so I don't figure it can be all that different.  Then I just microwaved the oats.  No soaking, and only 4 minutes in the microwave.  Still had to cool a bit, but I stirred in the butter, then the sugar, then I moved it to the mixer bowl, got out my ingredients and added the wheat germ and vital wheat gluten which I keep in the fridge or freezer.  That got it to cool enough pretty quickly so I could add the yeast without killing it.  That made this recipe take not much longer than any other bread recipe.  A lot more doable for me.

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cup water
• 3.75 ounces fresh rolled oats (about 1 cup)
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 4 Tablespoons butter, cut into cubes
• 1 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1/4 cup wheat germ
• 2 Tablespoons vital wheat gluten
• 2 cups unbleached bread flour
• 1/4 cup nonfat dry milk
• 2 teaspoons yeast

Directions

1. Combine water and oats (3.75 oz. oats) in a medium microwave safe bowl.  Microwave 4 minutes or until done.  Remove from microwave.  Stir in butter, brown sugar, and salt until melted.  Move to mixing bowl to cool.  
2. Meanwhile, take out remaining ingredients.  Either wait until oatmeal is only warm, or if impatient like me, add cooler ingredients first and add the yeast at the very end once the mix is cool enough not to kill the yeast.  (I actually did add an extra Tablespoon or 2 of flour this time.  I had a note that it was sticky written in my book.)  Mix ingredients until well combined - I let my mixer knead it a few minutes.  Cover and let rise until nearly double in bulk (1-2 hours)
3. Grease a bread pan with cooking spray.  Deflate dough and shape it into a log.  Allow to rise until is is 1 1/2 inches over the rim of the pan.  (45 min-1 hour)  Near end of the bread's rise, preheat the oven to 350.
4. Bake for 35-40 minutes tenting with foil after 15 minutes (I forgot to tent mine, and only cooked it 30 minutes.  It could have used the extra 5-10 minutes, but I was afraid to keep it in any longer since I had forgotten to tent it.  It was fine, just a bit soft in the middle, but I also cut it when it was still very warm.)