Soda Bread

There's no need to go without your weekly loaf of bread with this quick and easy Irish soda bread recipe which doesn't need bread flour and requires no kneading. If you don't have any wholemeal flour, substitute for any other type of flour - plain, rye or spelt flour work just as well. Add 1 tbsp of dried oregano or thyme for some extra flavour, or incorporate in-season wild garlic for a delicious homemade garlic bread.

Method

1. Preheat a Miele Oven on Fan Plus 200ºC. Lightly flour the baking tray.

2. Put the flour, oats, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a bowl and rub in the butter.

3. To make your own buttermilk, simply mix 400ml whole milk with 50ml lemon juice or vinegar, stir, leave to one side for 20 minutes and then proceed with the recipe.

4. Stir in the buttermilk and mix well. Using your hands, bring the mixture together to form a dough. Slightly flatten out the dough and cut a cross in the top. Place on the baking tray and leave to rest for 5 minutes.

5. Brush the top of the dough with the remaining buttermilk and sprinkle with the oats. Select the Moisture Plus function at 200ºC, using 2 bursts of moisture right at the beginning of the cooking stage. Bake for 45 – 50 minutes. If Moisture Plus is not available, bake the loaf on Fan Plus 200ºC and spray a little water into the oven before sliding the baking tray in.

6. Transfer to a wire rack to cool before slicing and serving.