Little Bread Dude #1 requests oatmeal for breakfast every single day.  It can be hard to gauge how much to make, though.  Most mornings, he eats every bite.  But sometimes, like today, there was a lot left over.

I hate to throw it away, but eating day-old oatmeal just isn’t the same.  So I decided to try making bread using the leftover oatmeal.

For this recipe, you will need:

375g mix of All-purpose and whole wheat flour (I did 50/50)

275g warm water, divided into 250g and 25g

1-2 cups cooked oatmeal, room temperature.  You’ll want it to be mostly solidified, not runny

1 teaspoon active dry or instant yeast

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon honey

1/4 cup raisins (optional, but my leftover oatmeal included raisins so I added some more)

1. Mix together the flour and 250g of water.  Let sit for 15 minutes to autolyse.  I included this step because I am using whole wheat flour which has a hard time developing gluten.  I wanted to give it a head start with gluten formation before throwing in the rest of the ingredients.
2. In a small bowl or cup, mix together the yeast, honey and 25g of warm water.  Set aside until it looks bubbly.
3. Add the yeast mixture, salt, and leftover oatmeal to your flour mixture.  Using your hand as a paddle, mix well until everything is well-incorporated.  Cover and let rise 4-6 hours, doing stretch and folds every hour or so to make sure the gluten is forming well.
4. Shape your dough into a ball and place it seam-side up in a floured banneton.

1. Cover with a tea towel and place in the refrigerator for an hour.  Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F with a dutch oven inside.
2. Flip your dough out of the banneton and into the dutch oven, then score the top with a razor blade.  Let bake for 15 minutes with the dutch oven lid on, then bump the temperature down to 450 and bake another 15 minutes, then remove the lid and bake a final 10-15 minutes.

1. Remove your finished loaf and let it cool at least an hour before slicing into it.

Do you know of any other creative ways to use up leftovers?  Let me know in the comments!