Some tasty wholemeal soda bread

Hi everyone. This is my first post, obviously, but I'm really excited to be a part of this blog. I'm moving from Ireland to Istanbul, Turkey in a few days, and can't take all my cookbooks, so it will be great to check out your recipes to keep me going while I'm there. Here's a great Irish soda bread recipe that I love. Its quick and easy and I like it better than other soda breads I've tried to make. Oh, and sorry, its in metric and I don't have time to convert it at the moment. If you have a scale you'll be fine.

Ingredients:

400g fine wholemeal flour

130g plain white flour

50g wheatgerm

30g pinhead (nibbed/kibbled) oats- use more jumbo oats if unavailable

30g jumbo oats

1tsp bread soda (heaped)

1tsp salt (heaped)

70ml sunflower oil (I've never tried it, but regular vegetable oil might work too)

550ml buttermilk (if you want to make this vegan or dairy-free, replace buttermilk with 275ml water & 275ml soymilk curdled with a squeeze of lemon juice)

A handful of toppings: oats/pinhead oats/pumpkin seeds/sesame seeds

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Brush baking tray with oil. Into a large mixing bowl, sift the brown and white flour and the bread soda. Add the wheatgerm, nibbed oats, jumbo oats and salt and combine thoroughly. Next, stir in the oil and distribute evenly.

Now make a well in the centre of the dry mix. If using buttermilk, pour it into the well. If using soymilk, first curdle the milk with lemon juice and the pour it, along with the water, into the well. Use your hand to gently fold the milk into the flour. It is important not to over-mix your soda bread, so use as little mixing as possible to bring everything together. It will be of quite a sloppy consistency.

Turn dough out onto a floured surface and gently knead it into a round loaf. Use a knife to score a criss-cross shape across the top of the bread. Transfer to the flat baking tray and dust with a little flour. Pake in the centre of the oven for 45-60 minutes, until well-risen and browned on top. Turn it out onto a wire rack. Tap the base of the loaf with your fingers. If it makes a hollow sound, the loaf is cooked. Cover with a tea towel and leave on the rack to cool completely before slicing, quarter by quarter.

This recipe is from 'Cornucopia at home: The Cookbook' a collection of recipes from Dublin's Cornucopia Restaurant.