Irish Buttermilk Brown Bread
There was still King Arthur Flour's Irish-style flour that J kindly gave me last Christmas, and it was the weekend after St. Patrick's day. Making Irish soda bread sounded appropriate. Not a sweet American style soda bread, but a classic Irish soda bread, made with brown whole wheat (brown) flour, baking soda, and buttermilk. I adapted a recipe from King Arthur Flour's website that was actually identical to one on the back of the flour package. I replaced buttermilk with a mixture of low-fat yogurt and low-fat milk. I chose melted butter instead of vegetable oil, and used European-style "cultured" butter. According to King Arthur Flour's blog about the bread, the dough is "probably more of a stiff batter than a soft dough." Mine was a medium-soft dough that was neatly mounded in the center of the pan. Following the recipe, I brushed the top with the melted butter, and waited 5 minutes for liquid to be absorbed by the flour before baking. Hm, the butter didn't look like being absorbed, but then what could I do? I just placed the pan into the oven, hoping it would be alright.
