Whole Wheat Lite Oatmeal Bread

I make this recipe in my bread machine, using the dough cycle to do all the kneading. After the first rise, I remove the dough from the bread machine and either form it into rolls or place in loaf pans and let the dough rise a second time before baking. Bake at 350 for about 40 minutes.

The first time I tried this recipe I didn't have any vital wheat gluten but I went ahead and made it anyway; the bread barely rose at all. Don't skip this ingredient.

1 to 1 1/4c water (or milk, or veg stock, soymilk, any liquid you want)
1 1/2t salt (I use iodized sea salt)
1 1/2T sweetener (sugar, honey, corn syrup, molasses, whatever you want)
1 1/2T applesauce
1T gluten (or King Arthur's Bread Machine Boost)
1c oatmeal (quick cooking, regular, steel cut or any other grain--I use
it uncooked)
2 1/2c bread flour (I use 2 cups unbleached flour and 1/2 cup whole wheat flour)
2t yeast

You'll get best results with lots of machines loading this way--liquid,
dry ingredients, then flour, then yeast. Remember to never let the
yeast and salt touch in your abm for best rising results.