Irish Brown Soda Bread

May 27, 2015

I had a splitting headache all afternoon but still needed to get dinner together. Daughter had an early soccer game so dinner could be slightly later. Maybe, I could have a little nap first...Husband wanted a steak, salad and bread for dinner. Thankfully, I had 3 pieces of steaks I had marinated and frozen for such an occasion. Bread? None to be found. So, I thought Irish Soda Bread. So much for me wanting to avoid carbs.

I looked online and found Irish brown Soda Bread by Merrill Stubbs on Food 52. I had all the ingredients, including buttermilk. I liked that this recipe uses whole wheat flour and oats, in addition to regular flour. I omitted the wheat germ it asked for, which I am sure I have somewhere in my pantry. Too lazy with the splitting headache to go looking for it.  

Adapted from Merrills Stubbs recipe on Food 52

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour, plus more for kneading and baking
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1/4 cup toasted wheat germ
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
4 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter, cut into bits
1 to 1 1/3 cup buttermilk

Place a rack in the center of the oven and heat to 425 degrees F. Sprinkle a baking sheet lightly with flour.

In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. Add the butter and toss to coat in the flour. Use your fingers or two forks to cut the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse meal. (You can also do this in the food processor if you'd like.) Gradually add the buttermilk and stir or pulse just until the dough comes together (you may not need all the buttermilk).

On a floured surface, knead the dough gently for about a minute until smooth. Shape the dough into a ball and transfer to the baking sheet. Pat gently into a 7-inch round and sprinkle the top evenly with about a tablespoon of flour; with your fingertips, gently spread the flour evenly over the top of the round. Using a very sharp knife, cut a shallow "X" in the top of the loaf. Bake for about 30 minutes, until the loaf is brown, and the bottom sounds hollow when you tap it. Cool on a rack for at least 2 hours before slicing.

N.B. 

1. I omitted the toasted wheat germ and increased the whole wheat flour by 1/4 cup.
2. Instead of using a floured baking sheet, I put a baking stone/ sheet into a cold oven and brought it to 425F and floured the bottom of bread before transferring it to heated baking stone.
3. I only used 1 cup of buttermilk. Maybe could have used a little more.
4. I did not wait 2 hours before slicing. It was a bit crumbly because of it but still tasted wonderful, hot slathered with butter.