Oatmeal Brown Bread
This is my mother-in-law’s signature recipe. And today is her birthday. What better day to feature this delicious recipe on my blog? The whole family loves this bread. For every holiday, family gathering, etc, it is specifically requested that she make it. It’s not that it’s hard…it’s actually really easy and quick to throw together. But for some reason, no one makes it quite like she does.
This is one of Mike’s favorites. It’s perfectly sweet, with a soft texture. It tastes like dessert, but because it’s bread, you can justify serving it as a side dish. As I said, Mike loves it and prefers it over any other quick bread I’ve made. And if you’re looking at the pictures thinking that it doesn’t look like anything special, Mike thought the same thing. Direct quote from my husband: “your pictures don’t make it look nearly as good as it tastes.” Not sure what that says about my photography, but at least you know how much he likes this bread 🙂
Oatmeal Brown Bread
Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup boiling water
1 cup quick cooking oatmeal
2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 stick butter or margarine
1 ½ cups flour
1 tsp. soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
Directions:
Stir together oatmeal and water. In a separate bowl, beat together sugar, brown sugar, and butter. Beat in eggs. Add remaining ingredients. Add in the oatmeal mixture and pour into greased bread pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes to 1 hr.
from Linda Gundy
Welcome! I'm Megan and it's my hope that here you'll find food that has been made with love and recipes that are shared with joy. Thanks for stopping by! 
This looks delicious and even fairly healthy! Yum!
Yum! This looks great! I've never heard of oatmeal bread before!
Oh that is a really delicious looking bread. The only kind of oatmeal bread I've heard of have yeast in them. I'd like to try this.
wow! this looks delicious!
question for you – how do you get the complete white background in your pictures? is it just a white table or are you photoshopping it?
I am the mother-in-law Megan is talking about:) I am honored Megan chose to post this recipe on my birthday. My family does indeed love this! I might add that I let the bread cool completely in pan (about 2 hours), then I remove it and wrap it in aluminum foil. Usually eat it after setting a day/wonderful!! (Hope you don't mind my two cents, Megan (Megan is actually the pro:)
The bread looks so yum!
I love using oatmeal in bread. It's such a healthy addition.
This looks really good… I really need to try baking bread again… I used to make Banana Bread all of the time, but I have since stopped and I really want to get back into it!!
Yum, that looks amazing. How would you eat that? As a sweet bread?
Sophia – yes, it's a sweet bread. Kind of like banana bread without the bananas 🙂
Simply Life – I'm actually not totally sure how the white background happened. I use an off-white tablecloth, and I guess the way the picture is framed, all you see is the tablecloth so it looks like a white background. Plus, (and I'm guessing here), since I was focusing on the darker bread, it kind of washed out the tablecloth so it looks completely white. I'm totally new to the photography thing, so I don't really know what I'm talking about. haha I wish I knew how I did it, because I would do it more often!
excellent–it's like cake disguised as bread! how nice of you to recognize your mother-in-law on her birthday. 🙂
Thanks for this new recipe Meagan. I made a loaf last night. My first ever cooking experience with Oatmeal Flour! It really tasts more like a cake than a bread (in a nice way). My daughter told me that I can turn it to an apple cake by adding a couple cups of apples. I am not sure about that, but I will definately practice more with my new Oatmeal!
I recently posted about an oatmeal quick bread on my blog as well! I love baking with oatmeal and the bread turned out delicious-I can't wait to bake your version!
Helen – I'm so glad you liked it! I think adding apples is a great variation – I may try it next time. Thanks for stopping back to let me know you tried it 🙂
This looks really delicious, I am always on the lookout for tasty quick breads! 🙂
This reminds of an oatmeal cake that I love. I'll have to give it a try!
This bread looks great. I love quick breads, and I think my hubby would enjoy this, too!
When I made this the center was not cooked and the top and sides were very done…..any ideas of what i did wrong? Thanks, Courtney
Courtney – I'm sorry it didn't turn out well for you! I haven't had that happen before, so I'm not exactly sure what went wrong. A couple suggestions: You can use a toothpick or knife to test whether or not the bread is done – the toothpick will come out clean (or with a few moist crumbs) if the bread is done. if it's not done, just put it back in the oven for awhile. If the top looks like it's getting too brown, cover it with aluminum foil. Another way to test if the bread is done – the top will spring back when touched with your finger.
Also, i used a good quality bread pan that always seems to bake evenly…not sure if that makes a difference or not. Or your oven temperature could be too hot? Again, I'm not sure, so these are just thoughts.
I hope you try it again with better results! Let me know if I can be any further help.
What size loaf pan do you recommend for this quick bread — 8 1/2 x 4 1/2, or 9 x 5? thanks.
Sarah – You can do either. The one in the picture was in an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2, but I've made it in a 9×5 as well. The smaller size makes it look more like a normal loaf of bread. It comes out a little flat in the larger size. Good luck! We love this bread 🙂
I'd love to try this, but am allergic to wheat. Do you think the wheat flour could be replaced completely with another flour?
Leigh – I've never experimented with other flours, but it would definitely be worth a shot!
I love and try everything made with oatmeal. This is truly delicious quick bread. I sprinkled it with sliced almonds and cinnamon sugar before baking. Your husband is right, the pictures do not do it justice! Thanks!
muffin926 – I'm so glad you liked this! Great idea to sprinkle with almonds and cinnamon sugar. 🙂
When you say 1 tsp of soda, do you mean baking soda or cola soda?
emac – baking soda
Megan, I've been following you for a while but this is my first comment. I LOVE your blog! Thank You, Thank You! I am always excited to see what you're making. I have shared your blog w/ a few friends. Oreo Balls are a hit! I have my first loaf of Oatmeal Brown Bread in the oven right now.
Renae
Renae – Thanks so much for your sweet comment! 🙂 I hope you liked the brown bread as much as we did!
Made the oatmeal brown bread today, it came out very nice. It soft and moist from the inside and the outer crust became a bit crunchy, the sweetness was perfect and the oatmeal made it chewy and with more fibre, it took 55 minutes though my oven was a bit slow. Thank you for this recipe and the others that work so well for me. God bless.
I was so AMAZED when I saw this recipe. I have grown up making this & my mother has kept it as her special family gift at holidays (using the small individual loaf pans).. or any time she wants to treat us. She has tweaked it a bit to help with health concerns (cutting some of the sugar back) yet it does still taste delicious!! (My 18 yr old son will sometimes not even slice his small loaf; “A waste of time”. My family lived in Arizona in the 1980’s, my parents were apartment managers & we had a great friendship with a lot of the tenants. A young wife from Wisconsin gave a gift of her hometown church’s cookbook and this was in there. It has since been lost and just the tweaked recipe exists. I am so thrilled that you have shared this!! I miss this sweet bread! Thank you so much!! God Bless You!!