Recipe : Irish Brown Bread

Hello and happy Saturday!  Our Internet has been slow and/or non-existent for the past couple of days, so I am waayy behind on responding to any comments that have an e-mail address that I know.  So please don't think I'm blowing you off - things seem to have settled a bit, so you should be hearing from me all at once.  :-)

When the weather gets chilly, I enjoy baking even more than usual.  Of course, soon we'll be making cookies and other goodies as part of our Christmas celebration, but today I'm sharing my simple recipe for Irish Brown Bread.  This bread is so easy, and incredibly yummy - especially if you are lucky enough to have some Kerrygold butter to spread on it!  Even if you don't, it's good with just about anything on it, and is a perfect accompaniment to a cup of tea or a bowl of soup.

Irish Brown Bread

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F; grease bottom and sides of either a round cake pan, or two loaf pans and set aside.

You will need:

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 cup regular bread flour
• 1/2 cup wheat germ
• 1/2 cup oatmeal
• 1 Tablespoon baking soda
• 1 egg
• 2 1/2 cups buttermilk

In a large bowl, combine whole wheat flour, regular bread flour, wheat germ, oatmeal, and baking soda.  Make sure they are all well mixed together, and then add the egg and buttermilk (these two ingredients make the dough soft and easy to handle).  Mix by hand until well blended.

Form into one large round loaf if you are using a round cake pan; or, put the batter into two loaf pans.  Cut a deep cross into the loaf.

Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, then reduce heat to 200 degrees and bake another 30 minutes.  Let bread cool for 15 minutes, then remove from pan.

Wrapped loaves freeze well.

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I hope if you give this a try, you'll like it!