Irish Brown Bread

After two years of living here I am starting to develop an appreciation for soda bread. Vivienne has loved it from the start, gobbling up the obligatory slices that accompany any order of soup in any restaurant in the land. Often it is the type of bread served as toast as well, and it is always an option when ordering a sandwich. What can I say, I am a yeast-lover through and through. Give me a crusty, gooey baguette any day of the week, but in the interest of health, and seeing the gift of the family-secret recipe bestowed upon me by my doctor, I decided to try making my own. The four year old loved helping with this because it is a mushy dough to mix with the hands. And it makes the house smell good. And it is nice, hot out of the oven, smothered in Irish butter. With some local smoked salmon and my homemade potato-leek soup, you might forget we are mere "blow-ins."

2 kg wholegrain wheat flour
2 oz. wheat bran (also optional to add, wheat germ, oat flakes, nuts)
2 Tablespoons baking soda

2 oz. sunflower oil
2 eggs
1 carton (1 liter) buttermilk

Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celcius. Mix first 3 ingredients together in a large bowl. Make a little well in the center of the dry ingredients and incorporate the next 3 (wet) ingredients. This can be mixed with hands. Dough should be rather wet and sticky. Yogurt may be added if more moisture is needed. Once all the dry ingredients are incorporated, transfer dough into 2 floured loafpans. Bake for approximately 1 hour.

Makes 2 loaves.