Monday, March 9, 2009

The bread

Atlas made a loaf while Paris and I made the other- I sort of combined two recipes... the first from epicurious.com and the second from williams-sonoma.com I didn't have any wheat bran or germ so I added more oats and I can't find buttermilk here and we didn't have any plain yogurt so I made my own buttermilk with milk and apple cider vinegar... And it is perfect toasted with a lot of butter and jam...

Brown Soda Bread
Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
3 tablespoons toasted wheat bran
3 tablespoons toasted wheat germ
2 tablespoons old-fashioned oats
2 tablespoons (packed) dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces
2 cups (about) buttermilk

preparation

Preheat oven to 425°F. Butter 9x5x3-inch loaf pan. Combine first 8 ingredients in large bowl; mix well. Add butter; rub in with fingertips until mixture resembles fine meal. Stir in enough buttermilk to form soft dough. Transfer dough to prepared loaf pan. Bake until bread is dark brown and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Turn bread out onto rack. Turn right side up and cool on rack.

Irish Soda bread (williams-sonoma.com)
Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups bread flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup wheat bran
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
4 Tbs. (1/2 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 1/2 cups plain yogurt
Directions:
Preheat an oven to 425°F. Place a baking sheet in the oven to preheat.

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, oats, bran, baking soda and salt. Using a pastry blender or 2 knives, cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add the yogurt and stir to blend, forming a rough ball. The dough will start rising as soon as the baking soda comes in contact with the yogurt, so work quickly to form the dough.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead gently for about 30 seconds. The dough should feel soft to the touch. Dust a clean work surface with flour and set the ball of dough on it. Flatten slightly into a 7-inch dome and sprinkle with flour, spreading the flour lightly over the surface. Using a sharp knife, cut a shallow X in the loaf from one side to the other. Transfer the loaf to the preheated baking sheet.

Bake until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom, 30 to 35 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool slightly. Serve warm. Any leftover bread can be stored in an airtight container for up to 2 days. Makes 1 loaf.

7 comments:

365 said...

Yum! sounds so good....I'm going to try it! I'm having fun reading about your adventures and am still dreaming about a trip over there!
Anne Smoot

ps. Allie wants to get chickens now! She was asking what kind you had.

charles said...

I'm going to try both!

Chris said...

When I think of baking I think of you. I am there in spirit with lots of butter and jam on top.

Cammie said...

fancy pants in the kitchen!! Your cake was so good yesterday.

mmattin said...

I was just telling someone about you and your gardening and the beautiful lemon tree-still alive, yeah!-and how much I miss ya'll.

Unknown said...

We'll give it a shot. We've gotten pretty good at whole wheat bread, so on to something new. Hope you guys are well. You finished with school yet?

Grandma Dunn said...

Hi Bridget! Saw this blog through Paige's. Do you remember the Dunn Family in Fallbrook? Well this is Linda, the mom,! So you're in Scotland, lucky you. What a darling family you have. Did you know my major at BYU was dance. We have alot in common!
I've been trying to contact your mom. Patsy Needham is the only person I've kept in contact with over the years and she had no clue where Darla had moved to. Would you send me her phone number? or e-mail address? mine is lindasletters1@yahoo.com.
My husband, daughter Stacey, and I are going to England this monday. Mike works for Boeing and has a project to oversee so this is the perfect time for us to visit the UK. Hopefully we can tour Scotland a day or two and maybe get to visit with you and your family. We want to go to Ireland, Wales and France also. I'm not going to make this any longer, not sure if you are going to get this before we leave. Please e-mail me if you can, love to hear from you. Linda