Easy home made brown bread
Ah, Sunday morning. The perfect time for pottering in the kitchen. There’s coffee on the stove and a satisfying stack of papers to get through. This morning I fiddled with my recipe for brown bread and it came out rather well, even if I say so myself. This recipe is an adaptation of one of Rachel Allen’s, but as usual I’ve fiddled and twiddled just a little bit. I can’t help myself. Have a go. You won’t be disappointed.
100g white bread flour
450g wholemeal flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tsp salt
400ml milk
Juice of 1/2 lemon (or use buttermilk and omit the lemon)
1 egg
2 tbsp oil
1 tbsp treacle
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees/gas 6 and oil a loaf tin. Now put the flour in a bowl and sieve in the bicarb (omit this step at your peril – nasty green lumps don’t add to the flavour). Add the salt and stir it all together.
Now, measure out the milk and squeeze in the lemon, or just use buttermilk. Add in the egg, oil and – while you have a nice oily spoon – the treacle. Whisk this lot together until it forms a completely revolting-looking brown gooey liquid (persevere, the treacle takes time to mix in). Now, just slosh the liquid into the dry ingredients and mix into a big wet mud pie. Thinking about it – this would be a great recipe to make with children – lots of mess and goo involved here.
Pop it into the preheated oven and enjoy your pot of coffee and stack of newspapers for an hour while the kitchen fills with the droolworthy smell of baking bread. As usual, make sure the loaf is done by tapping its bottom (ooer) and making sure it sounds hollow, otherwise give it a bit longer.
This doesn’t keep well, being yeast-free, but if you slice it and freeze it, you can toast it straight from frozen (if it lasts that long). Feel free to fiddle with this by adding seeds or nuts, or even dried fruit (use only 1 tsp salt if you do). Everyone should make their own bread, and when it’s this easy it’s criminal not to. Go on, then, off to the kitchen with you.
Oh and PS, I’m on Desked! Fame at last, eh?
18 Responses to “Easy home made brown bread”
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Rach: Ooh you must send me the recipe. I’m going to try and put some seeds in next time x
Baino: You could. And you should!
Thrifty! You’re…er…Thrifty. I love making bread but I’m just so impatient – all that rising and kneading and stuff…meh.
ps you have a lovely desk……..send again, we like updates
I would love to be the kind of mum who potters in the kitchen for fun!
Sandra: Yes, try again. Oh I’m always pottering. I have loads of disasters too but I don’t tell you lot about those. Hee!
Elf
Caroline
greeting from Ireland! your brown bread is delicious, i’ve made it 3 weekends now, however -slight problem, it rises up much more on 1 side than the other, I don’t know if it’s the oven, everything else i bake turns out okay, any idea what might be causing it? This weekend, i put the temp down a bit & put the bread on a lower shelf but it’s still up like a camel’s hump on one side!
thanks a mill, kind regards,
A.
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