The responsible thing to do right now is to stay put, so that’s what the Blue Apron Test Kitchen is doing. Just because we’re cooped up at home, that doesn’t mean we’re not cooking. For now, you’ll find us in our home kitchens, chopping, frying, and baking up a storm.
This week, Chef Ashley Giddens pre-heated her oven and spent some time with her pantry staples. Here’s the story, in her words:
I always have a bag of oats in my pantry. To be honest, I’m not sure why it’s there. I don’t even eat that much oatmeal! It just feels like one of those things I should always have.
Recently, grocery stores have been all sold out of my favorite sliced bread. In search of a substitute, I flipped through my favorite bread book: Bread Illustrated from America’s Test Kitchen. The first thing to catch my eye was a loaf of oatmeal raisin bread; I had never even thought of putting oats into a sliced bread, so I was intrigued. Best of all, the recipe called for things I already had stocked: oats, bread flour, yeast, salt, milk, butter, brown sugar, and raisins.
This recipe was super easy to make. My favorite part was rolling the whole dough loaf in raw the oats before baking, which resulted in a super crunchy and gorgeous exterior. The next morning, I sliced and toasted two pieces. My husband had his with a simple gloss of butter, and I opted for a more *extra* approach with cream cheese, cinnamon, and a pinch of sea salt.
