Oatmeal soda bread

Lire la version française ...

Yes, it's still a souvenir from our journey in Irland this spring ...

I almost thrown this bread away when it was raw. Because the dough just looks like ... nothing ! I wondered if it was worth heating my oven. It would have been a pity, this delicious bread is very different from the one I'm used to eat : very dense, quite dark, no rising, and especially satiating. Two slices are enough from breakfast until 3pm (interesting when I'm discovering streets and treasures from Paris)

The taste of this bread will depend on the oatmeal you. The first one was sweet, while the second was more neutral. So you can adjust the sweetness by adding honey, sugar or treacle. The main difficulty is to think soaking oatmeal with buttermilk a day ahead, too too hard ...

Oatmeal soda bread
(Modern Irish Food - Kevin Dundon)

makes one loaf - 28 cm cake tin
- 280g (3 cups) oatmeal (oat bran)
- 60cl buttermilk (2 1/2 cup)
- 450g flour (3 2/3 cup)
- pinch of salt
- 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

- pumpkin seeds for sprinkling (if you want !)

In a large bowl, soak the oatmeal with buttermilk overnight.

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Sift the flour, salt and bicarbonate of soda into the soaked oatmeal, then stir to combine with your hands. You may have to add some buttermilk (I had for both loafs) to get a soft consistency, but you don't want the dough to be too wet. Place the dough in the prepared tin. Sprinkle with pumpkin seeds. Use your hand to lightly press them in the dough. Bake for 50-60 minutes.

Remove the bread from the oven, let it cool a little, then unmold it on a wire rack to cool down. You can keep the bread for 5 days in a bread bin or a tea towel. You can also freeze it cut in slices.

Let's go back to the West !