Tasty brown bread
It's hard to beat a fresh out of the oven brown bread. My grandmother used to make them all the time and I have fond memories from my childhood of her busy at the kitchen table making the brown bread and treacle buns.
Whenever I bake bread, I always think of her, god bless her.
The best thing with brown bread for me is fresh out of the oven and still warm, cut 2 or 3 slices, lash on a good slab of real butter and top with ripe cherry tomatoes. Be sure to go for the more expensive tomatoes, the ones that you can smell that lovely tomato smell when you bring the pack close to your face.
I cooked a banana bread at the same time, scroll back a week or so on my page if you want the banana bread recipe.
Ingredients
2 cups wholemeal flour
2 cups all-purpose flour
4½ tablespoons granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1½ teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1½ cups buttermilk
Step1 - Preheat your oven to 200° C. Line a baking tray with baking paper or smear with some butter.
Step 2 Stir together in a large bowl the Irish whole meal flour, all-purpose flour, sugar baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Pour in most of the buttermilk and stir it into the dry ingredients. If the mixture still seems very dry, stir in the rest of the buttermilk.
Step 3 Sprinkle some flour onto a surface and spread evenly for kneading your dough. Empty the contents of the bowl prepared in step 2 onto the floured area.
Step 4 - Now we form a ball with the dough and place itbon the baking sheet. Use a sharp knife to slash the top of the dough a few times like the picture below.
Step 5 - Pop your bread into the oven for 10 minutes. Turn the heat down a fraction to 190° C and bake for 40-45 minutes. You'll know it's ready when its nice and Golden brown and the bread sounds hollow when you tap it on the bottom.
Step 6 - Remove the bread to a cooling rack and let it cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing it.
Serve slices of the bread with butter and sliced cherry tomatoes.
If you are keeping some bread for later, wrap it in cling film and it should keep for 2 or 3 days. A tip for when the bread is not fresh is to toast it, and it gives it some lovely flavour.
Thanks as always for stopping by
