Ross Lewis Brown Soda Bread

This delicious bread recipe is adapted from a Lucy Waverman adaptation of an Irish recipe from Chapter One (a fancy Dublin restaurant). My version of the recipe was a result of forgetting to add two of the ingredients, so it was really an error rather than a true adaptation. But do rolled oats really belong in soda bread? And who adds a single teaspoon of sugar to anything anyway? A cool thing about this recipe is that when you're putting some of the ingredients together it feels like you're participating in a crazy science experiment....you'll see what I mean, you mad scientist you.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 & 1/2 cup wheat bran
• 1/2 cup rolled oats (this is what I forgot to add)
• 1 & 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 & 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon sugar (I forgot to add this too. Big deal.)
• 650 ml buttermilk (approximately 2 & 1/2 cups)
• 1 tablespoon molasses
• 4 teaspoons baking soda

Methods:

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Grease a loaf pan and line it with parchment paper.

Combine all of the ingredients except the buttermilk, molasses and baking soda in a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment.(If you have one, otherwise use a large bowl and hand mixer). 

Heat the buttermilk with molasses in a pot until just warm. Stir in the baking soda (here's where the excitement happens), then add the buttermilk mixture to the dry ingredients and mix on a medium speed for 5 minutes. Increase the speed to high and mix for 2 minutes more.

Scrape the dough into the prepared pan and bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until the loaf is dark brown and hollow-sounding when tapped. Allow the bread to rest on a rack for 2 hours out of the pan.