Soda Bread

There were a lot of Irish Soda Bread recipes on the web last week celebrating St Patrick's Day.  I really like soda bread, so I thought I would make some too.

Irish Soda Bread

275g wholemeal flour

75g plain flour, plus a little extra

50g pinhead oatmeal

1tsp bicarbonate of soda

11/2 tsp salt

1tsp sugar

1 egg

1 234ml carton of buttermilk (I didn't have any so used 2tbsp of yogurt and made up the liquid with milk)

1tbsp rolled oats (I used more pinhead oatmeal)

Preheat the oven to 190C/Gas Mark 5.  Grease a baking tray.  PUt the flours, oatmeal, bicarbonate of soda, salt and sugar in a large bowl and mix.  Beat the egg and buttermilk together and add them.  Mix with a fork and then your hands to form a smooth dough.  Shape the dough into an oval, add a dusting of flour, brush wiht milk and sprinkle with oats.  Use the blunt side of a knife to make indentations diagonally across the bread.

Bake for 50-60 minutes, then put on a wire rack to cool.

I found the oven was too hot as my bread had a bit in the middle that wasn't quite cooked,  I had to take it out after about 40 minutes or it would have burned.  I'll try again with a cooler oven.

It does taste fantastic though, the real deal!