Back in the fall, I wrote about Yvette Van Boven’s book Home Made Winter
for Table Matters. One of my favorite things I made during the week I was cooking from that book was her Brown Soda Bread. If you’re still looking for some food item appropriate for St. Patrick’s Day, I urge you to try it.
Made with whole wheat flour, rolled oats, and oat bran, it’s a dense, nubby loaf that stands up well to toasting and dunking in bowls of soup. Just know this. If you don’t think your family can eat the whole batch within a day or two, make a half batch. It just doesn’t store well.
Brown Soda Bread from Homemade Winter
Ingredients
- 4 cups 500 g whole wheat flour
- 2 1/2 200 g cups rolled oats
- 1 2/3 100 g cups wheat bran
- 3 generous tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons sea salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 cups 500 ml buttermilk or whey, or more or less as needed to make a smooth dough
- 1 egg beaten
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add the buttermilk and egg and stir until the dough just comes together in a ball—no longer or the bread will be tough.
- Grease a round cake pan and pat the dough into it. Brush the top with some water and sprinkle with some bran or oats, then slash a cross into the top. Bake for about 45 minutes. Take the bread out of the pan and bake directly on the oven rack for another 10 minutes, until it is nicely browned and crisp. Let it cool on a rack.
Notes
Recipe from Yvette Van Boven’s book, Homemade Winter.
Looks and sounds yummy — just the thing for St. Patrick’s Day. I’ve got some Irish soda bread with wheat germ and golden raisins cooling on my counter right now. I can’t wait to break into it 🙂
I do like soda breads made with raisins. If only I didn’t live with a raisin hater! 🙁
Nice! I think I’ll have to alter it just a bit for what flour and grains I have but this will be perfect with the corned beef, cabbage and Guiness this evening!
It’s a pretty flexible loaf, so I’m sure it will adapt nicely to whatever flours you use!
Made today to serve for lunch with French onion soup after my sons & I spent a chilly hour digging the garden. Despite having to use 1/2 white flour, & substituting the brown sugar with honey it worked very well, & was thoroughly enjoyed by the boys.
So glad it worked well for you!
I’ve made many of the recipes from your book, yummy every one! Here in northern Minnesota we are still deep in winter so thinking about jams and jellies is quite some way off. Looking forward to getting your upcoming book – can’t wait to see what you’ve might be coming up with.
I am so happy to hear that my book has treated you so well so far! The next book is all about super small batches and slightly more sophisticated flavors. I think it’s going to end up being pretty fun! 🙂
I love Yvette Van Boven’s Home Made, so I am super excited to try this recipe!! Just one question – in your description you mention oat bran, but the recipe calls for wheat bran. Can I use oat bran? I have tons of it at home, thanks to a boyfriend who buys unnecessary quantities in bulk… 😉
Oops, sorry for the slip! The recipe does call for wheat bran, but I’m SURE you could sub in oat bran with no negative effects.
it does look delicious!