Brown Soda Bread

Brown Soda Bread

I don't make bread often for two main reasons. One, yeast is very tricky for me. If you're not careful and treat it right, you've got a brick of bread. Trust me, I've done it. Second, I love bread. Counterintuitive right. I love bread therefore I don't make it. Exactly, I LOVE BREAD. I could eat entire loaf of fresh baked bread right out of the oven for dinner. I don't eat a lot of white carbs in an attempt to be healthier and work toward my weight loss goals so I don't keep good bread around because it is one of the hardest things for me to resist. Yeah I like cookies and cakes but it really is easy for me to pass them over. Bread, not so much. Its just so good.

But I've had this recipe for a while. I tore it out of a Cooking Light magazine earlier this year. Cooking Light is the only place that I will make "lighter" recipes. They do lighten up their dishes but without losing the identity of what they are making.

And because Avalon and I were slow moving today and missed open swim, we stayed in and cookied a whole host of foods. Fortunately today there were no misses cooking wise and this was our biggest hit. The addition of steel cut oats gives each bite some serious texture. Despite the large amount of whole wheat flour, this loaf was light and fluffy. Not sure why the strange nob appeared on top but it was tasty all the same.

As soon as I start rustling around the kitchen to make something other than dinner, Avalon grabs one of her little chairs and comes running, "I wanna cook too!" So with the help of Cooking Light and my little sous chef, we made Brown Soda Bread.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

In a large bowl mix up dry ingredients:

2.5 cups whole wheat flour, 1/2 cup of AP Flour

1/2 cup steel cut oats

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

(1 tablespoon wheat germ, I didn't have any so I left it out)

Here is the dry ingredients

In a measuring cup, pour 2 cups of buttermilk. (Or if you're like me and never have buttermilk, make your own by putting a couple tablespoons of vinegar or lemon juice in measuring cup and pour milk to the 2 cup line.) Let set 10 minutes or so and add an egg and beat slightly. Add to dry ingredients.

Have your sous chef, stir and stir and stir.

Really the recipe says to stir until combined but trying telling that to a three year old. And our loaf didn't come out worse for the wear.

Still in her jammies, helping Mommy make bread!

The bread ingredients all mixed together. Put in greased loaf pan and bake. I baked mine for about 40 minutes. The recipe said to bake it for closer than an hour. It's done when a toothpick somes out clean.

There is nothing better than fresh bread and real butter. We've been using Amish butter we got from a store called 2J's in Great Falls. And please, if you can eat butter, do. Margarine is about as gross as it gets. Ranks right up there with Miracle Whip and raw tomatoes.

Now I have to find someone else who likes it just as much as I do so I don't end up eating the entire loaf.