With apologies to William Carlos Williams:

This is just to say
that I am not immune
to kitchen disasters

Lest you thought otherwise
witness this bread
made with such naive delight

It is terrible
so hard
and so flat

(This rose just fine during the first proofing stage, and it seemed to be doing fine towards the beginning of the second one, but then - in the oven - nothing. Oh, I wanted to cry. It smelled good while it was in the oven, but once taken it out it just had the strange, sour, unpleasant smell of a failed bread. But you try and reread More Home Cooking innocently one quiet afternoon and get out without being propelled into the kitchen and compelled to make something from it, I dare you.)

Oat Bread
Makes 2 loaves

1 cup oatmeal
1 cup wheat germ
6 cups white flour
1 tablespoon of salt (I used a little bit less)
1/2 teaspoon of yeast

1. Put the oatmeal in a blender and grind until fine. Put the oatmeal, wheat germ, flour, salt, and yeast into a large bowl. Add 2 to 3 cups of tepid water, enough to make up the dough. Knead it, roll it in flour and put it back in the bowl. Cover with a tea towel and let it rest.

2. The next morning, knock down the bread. Divide it in half and put each half into a buttered bread tin. Cover the tins with a tea towel and let rise all day.

3. When you come home, heat the oven to 400 degrees, paint the tops of the loaves with milk, and bake for 40 minutes, turning once. Let cool on a rack until cool enough to handle, then turn out of the tins and let cool entirely.