The supermarkets put up rolled oats on offer quite often.  I get a 1kg-pack at around $5, which I then turn into plenty of breakfast granola because prepacked granola can be so expensive to buy!  Oat flour is another pantry item that is cheaper to DIY than getting store-bought ones.

There is only one ingredient needed to make oat flour: rolled oats.

And there is only one equipment you need to make oat flour: blender/ food processor.  You don’t even need to own one of those high-end blenders.  Mine’s a Sharp-brand; no-frills table-top blender and here’s the oat flour I made with it.

Blend rolled oats until you get a fine powder.  And that’s it!  Unbelievably easy right?  Transfer the flour to a container and use up in 1 month.  

Use your homemade oat flour to make bread, pancakes, waffles, muffins, and cookies.  I adapted my potato bread recipe by adding oat flour and shaping the dough into buns instead of a Pullman loaf.

Want to know the key to fluffy bread?  Knead the dough until windowpane stage.  That’s the stage when you can stretch and pull the dough thinly without tearing it easily.  Achieving this is important in breadmaking because that’s how you know the bread will expand and rise with a smooth and tight crust.

The buns turned golden brown in just 15 minutes, baked at 170C. 

To keep the crust soft, I brush oil on the buns immediately after they are taken out of the oven.

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Oat Flour Potato Buns 

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200g bread flour

20g oat flour
2 tablespoons milk powder, optional

1/2 teaspoon instant dry yeast

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

2 tablespoons raw sugar

100g mashed potato

1 large egg, beaten **

30-40g potato water ***

20g cold butter, cubed

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** I used large eggs that weigh 75grams with shell.

*** Potato water refers to the water that the potatoes were cooked in.  Cool it down to room temperature before using.

In a mixer bowl, combine bread flour, oat flour, milk powder, instant yeast, sea salt, raw sugar, mashed potato, egg, and water. Turn on the mixer with a dough hook attachment and knead these ingredients on the lowest speed (KA 1) till they come into a ball.  Continue to knead for 3 minutes, then stop the mixer and let the dough sit for 15 minutes.

Turn on the mixer again and knead for 1 minute before adding butter cubes one by one while the mixer is running on its lowest speed.  Keep kneading till there are no traces of butter left and the dough has reached windowpane stage.  At this stage, the dough will be extremely pliable and baby-bottom soft.

Leave the dough in the mixer bowl for its first proof of 60 minutes.  The dough will rise to double its volume,  punch down to deflate and transfer it to a clean worktop.

Shape into 12 x 40g buns and arrange them on a greased baking tray, proof for 50-60 minutes.

Bake in a preheated oven at 170C for 15 minutes until the buns are golden brown. 

Remove bread from oven and let them cool completely on a rack before storing in an airtight container.