Outback Bread

Basically all bread has four ingredients: water, Yeast, flour, salt, (and typically oil too). What makes them different is the extra things you use (honey, molasses, EVOO, sugar, brown sugar, sun-dried tomatoes, etc). Also using a different flour can change the taste. Typically you use a little warm water to pull yeast out of dormancy. Then sugar is what the yeast eats to produce the gas pockets in the bread for when it rises. You mix it all in, let it rise, punch it down, then let rise one more time. Finally cook. Outback bread isn't that different according to a blog I read. Marcie and I went to Outback last Friday so I wanted to know if we could reproduce their amazing bread. Here is what I found.

• 2 packages dry yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 cup warm water
• 1/2 cup dark molasses
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 2 cups rye flour
• 2 1/2 -3 cups bread flour
• Shortening for greasing the pan
• 1/2 cup cornmeal
• Oats
  

Mix the first three in a bowl till you start to see a few bubbles. Then mix in the rest (minus the last three). Once that is smooth, mix in the bread flour to make the dough harder and more elastic. Let rise. Grease and sprinkle cornmeal on the pan. Add dough to pan and let double in size. Sprinkle oats and/or cornmeal on top. Bake 30 minutes at 375.