Oat Nut Rolls

Realizing I had some leftover pepitas (pumpkin seeds) in the pantry I decided to vary my usual 1-2-3 Quick Bread No Knead Recipe inspired by my recent honey oat rolls. Seeing how the honey had quickened the rise, I decided to keep the honey as an addition, I also added white sesame seeds, brown sesame seeds, and pecans along with the pumpkin seeds.

The oats and nuts pop through the surface of the rolls.

Mix together

3 CUPS Flour

2 TSP Active Dry Yeast

1 TSP Salt

1 TBSP White Sesame Seeds

1 TBSP Brown Sesame Seeds

3 TBSP unsalted Pepitas (pumpkin seeds)

2 TBSP roughly broken unsalted Pecans

Stir in 

1 + 1/2 CUPS hottest tap water and

as you add in the water drizzle in 

1 TBSP Honey.

Stir in an additional 

1/2 CUPS hottest tap water

then add

1/2 CUP Old Fashioned Oats.

This will create a very wet and sticky dough.

Cover with the dough in the bowl with saran wrap and let rise 1 hour.

After an hour, preheat oven to 450F.

Turn out the dough onto a prepared surface, generously sprinkled with flour and then 1/4 to 1/2 CUP Old Fashioned Oats.

Using a wide spatula, turn the dough out. Using the spatula lift the dough onto itself going around the sides. This keeps your hands from getting too sticky. Turn the dough so that it is well covered by the flour and oats mix.

Gently group the dough into a ball. Then divide it into 8 relatively equal portions. Turn each section, tucking it into a ball and flouring from the pan as needed to keep the dough off your hands. Place the rolls onto a parchment paper lined baking pan. Allow to rise 30 minutes in a warm area.

Bake for 16 minutes at 450F.

A cross section of a roll covered in honey.
I also served these with scrambled eggs for this morning's breakfast.
The oats, pecans, pepitas, and sesame seeds can be seen.

Enjoying a roll on the second day I put nothing on it, no butter, jam, eggs, peanut butter, nothing at all. It was wonderful. Here is a cross section, bite marks included.

The oats are in white. The green color are the pepitas, pumpkin seeds. The larger brown pieces are pecans and small sesame seeds are also visible. The crumb is dense yet small air holes are visible. It is moist but not doughy, well cooked throughout. What a wonderful bread. Opting for rolls with their slightly chewy crust was a good option.

Substitutions and Afterthoughts

Yes, feel free to use different seeds and nuts. Use whatever seeds you want, just mind the flavor profile you're seeking. Not everyone likes Seed Cake for example but I personally think a sweet cake with caraway seeds is nice. Maybe it's a Dutch thing? An English thing? For me Flax seeds are one seed I use in moderation. Find what you like. Use what you have. Experiment and have fun.

Another option for changing the flavor is to lightly toast the seeds and nuts. Sesame seeds can be quickly heated in a skillet for a couple of minutes. Don't overheat or keep on too long. Pecans are easily toasted in the oven. 

The pecan pieces I buy are uneven in size. Some are nearly a quarter shell or half shell size. Others, much smaller. After my first trial, I discovered that I wanted the pecan pieces to be more similar in size to the pumpkin seeds. Now I gently break them up a bit. It's "mouth-feel" thing as my husband would say. It's definitely a Princess and the Pea thing or should I say a Princess and the Pecan thing. That's a soft E and a soft A in pecan, you heathens from outside the genteel South. PEA-can (as in a tin can) is never, ever acceptable. Puh-cahn. Drag it out a bit when you say it.

If you opt for Chia seeds I have found that they start to taste a little off if added before the longer rise period so when I use them, I add them after I turn out the risen dough. Just sprinkle across the dough before shaping.

I considered Everything Bagel seasoning but most has garlic added in. Garlic can slow the rise time so add an extra 10-15 minutes if you think it's needed. Honestly, there's so little added it may not make a difference. You can always add the Everything seasoning to the outside of each roll when shaping. The onion and garlic wasn't what I was looking for taste-wise but it could make a nice savory roll. This recipe was more general and broad, accepting of sweet, salty, and savory additions.

One evening I didn't want much for dinner and just grabbed one of these rolls. Looking for a taste of sweet and savory I cut the rolls into mini sandwich slices. I thought the jam was nice and the peanut butter even better. Then I realized I could make a mini sandwich: tofurkey, mayo, Coleman's mustard, and lettuce. We default to buying Arnold's Oat Nut sliced sandwich bread when we buy sandwich bread. It serves as our go-to for everything. As I ate that night I realized these rolls were nearly the same in taste and definitely in their versatility as the Arnold's Oat Nut Sliced Bread. The difference is these are a lot cheaper and I don't have to wait until it's on sale.

P.S. I definitely like saying Pepita better than Pumpkin. Pumpkin sounds like someone's nickname. Besides it's usually pronounced Punkin around here. Remember to add a drawl and stretch it out a bit. See what I mean. Pepita, on the other hand, just bounces off the tongue.