Once every week, my Grandma made the most wonderful white bread in the world. The aroma of those loaves are, I hope, the first thing I smell when I get to heaven. Sadly, we must have thought Grandma would live forever, for none of us ever asked for the recipe.

I have found some good, fiber-filled substitutes though. My favorite, from an old Sunset magazine, http://www.sunset.com/, is called Pebble-Top Oatmeal Bread. It's fast and easy, makes two loaves, and always comes out great unless I've let my mind wander and left something out. It's also delicious (my neighbors swoon over it). Best yet, if you're not a huge oatmeal porridge fan, this gets you the health-giving oats in a tastier fashion.

Ingredients:

1-1/2 tablespoons instant yeast
1/2 stick of butter (4 oz.)
1/4 cup and 1 teaspoon (divided) of unsulphered black molasses
2 cups and 1/2 cup of old-fashioned rolled oats (divided)
3 tablespoons milk
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup brown sugar
4 cups of flour plus more for kneading

1. Put instant yeast* into a small cereal bowl. Add the teaspoon of unsulphered black molasses* and one-quarter cup of warm (but not hot) water, Let sit. NOTE: If you're not sure of the freshness of your yeast, leave it for fifteen minutes before going on to the next steps. What you want to see after the time has elapsed is a blanket of foamy bubbles covering the surface. At that point, you're safe to proceed.
2. Pour the 1/2 cup of oats into another small cereal bowl. Add milk. Stir and let sit.
3. In a big mixing bowl, put butter, remaining oats, salt (you can reduce this to 1-1/2 teaspoons if you prefer), brown sugar and 1 cup boiling water. Stir everything until butter has melted.
4. Stir in a cup of cold water. It is very important to do this before adding the yeast mixture.
5. Stir in yeast mixture.
6. Add 1 cup of all-purpose flour at a time, stirring well, until you have added four cups altogether.
7. Knead bread for ten or fifteen minutes until smooth and elastic. Here's a link to a baker with good kneading action: http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=kneading+bread&emb=0#
8. Wash and grease the big bowl Add the dough and turn twice to grease both sides. Cover with lint-free cloth and let rise one hour.
9. When it doubles in size, remove it from the bowl and knead lightly for a few minutes. Cut half, shape into two loaves and put in greased bread pans. Use a half of the oatmeal and milk mixture on top of each loaf (this is the 'pebble' in pebble-topped).
10. Cover and let rise another 45 minutes.
11. When loaves have again doubled, put them in 325° oven (350° if using metal pans) and bake one hour.
12. Put pans on rack for five minutes, remove loaves from pans and place them on rack, cover with lint-free cloth, and let rest at least twenty-minutes. After that, enjoy!

Note: Kept in plastic or wax paper bags (I use empty cereal box bags), this bread freezes beautifully and remains good in the refrigerator or cool-weather pantry long after store-bought breads have turned moldy.

• *I use Grandma's Molasses because I find it richer and more flavorful than others - and I like the name! I buy it at WINCO, currently, because the price is lower than in a regular supermarket. (WINCO stands for Washington, Idaho, Nevada, California, and Oregon, the states where they operate.)
• *I get SAF-Instant Yeast at Costco. It comes in a vacuum-packed bag but I put it into a wide-mouth glass jar or canister with a tight fitting lid and pop it in the fridge or freezer. It's much cheaper than other yeast products and stays fresh a very long time (up to two years).
• My old-fashioned Quaker Oats come from Costco, too, because buying in bulk saves me money, even when the membership fee is figured in.