Oatmeal Bourbon Bread

Bourbon in bread sounds wild, but it works. The alcohol burns off during baking, leaving behind a warm, caramel-like sweetness that pairs beautifully with the chew of rolled oats. This is a bread machine recipe stripped down to the basics: no butter, no oil, no eggs.

The oats give this loaf a denser, nuttier crumb than plain white bread. You get a slight sweetness from the sugar and skim milk powder, but the bourbon is the real personality here. It rounds out the flavor the way vanilla extract would in a cake.

Because there’s no fat in the dough, the crust comes out with a satisfying snap. The inside stays soft and slightly chewy from the oats.

Pro Tips

• Use room-temperature bourbon, not straight from the freezer. Cold liquids slow yeast activation.
• Add ingredients in the order your bread machine manual recommends. Most want liquids first, dry ingredients on top, yeast last.
• For a stronger bourbon note, brush the top of the warm loaf with a tiny bit of bourbon right out of the machine.
• This bread makes killer French toast the next morning.

Variations

• Stir in a handful of chopped pecans or walnuts for a bourbon-pecan bread.
• Replace the bourbon with dark rum for a slightly tropical twist.
• Add a tablespoon of molasses for deeper color and a more robust flavor.